Well now, aren’t we all so special?

I’m not ashamed to admit to enjoying some pretty cheesy pop tunes. On some of these pop artists, I agree with many music critics who say that they are manufactured fluff, but others I believe are bringing a little more to the table.  Lately, I’ve had a workout/running mix that includes Lady Gaga, P!nk, Katy Perry, and Ke$ha. All of whom currently have songs out about being special or being yourself. NPR’s Soundcheck recently had a discussion about whether or not these women are the new gay icons or just pandering to a gay audience. The general consensus among guests and callers was that Gaga had earned her stripes, but Perry and Ke$ha, not so much. Pink was up for debate. I agreed and wondered, why was it that these white women felt the need to establish themselves with songs about being genuinely different, as in and P!nk’s “Raise Your Glass” or being special in Katy Perry’s “Firework” or just being yourself as in Lady Gaga’s  “Born This Way” or choosing your lifestyle as in “W R Who We R” from Ke$ha?   Were they special? And would any of them be around in ten years?

My favorite of these four is Lady Gaga, who I think is the one most likely to last.  Clearly inspired by Madonna, Gaga also has the voice and writing chops to back up her outrageous wardrobe and catchy dance tunes.  Most music critics agree with me, likely due to a leaked video of her when she was still Stefani Germanotta and singing songs with just a piano at NYU.  I warmed to her when I saw her on Saturday Night Live where she played piano and changed up her current hits. Everyone can admit that Gaga, at the very least, is her own manufactured fluff. There wasn’t a misstep on her first album, The Fame, which is one of the few in this genre that I own. Generally, I just pick up cheesy pop tunes as singles.  What was brilliant about her album, wasn’t just the catchy dance melodies. The songs were about things that listeners can relate to, but said in a way that no one had before.  “Just Dance” was about being drunk in a club, losing your phone, being confused, and deciding to just dance it out. Who hasn’t been there? If you haven't, one of your friends surely has. And “Poker Face,” really, no one had thought of writing a song about how you’re not going to let someone know how you feel by showing them your poker face?  There’s a moment of ‘duh, obvious topics for pop tunes’, yet brilliant when you realize no one had put it down like this before.   

Gaga’s latest song, “Born This Way” is the first single from her new album of the same title due out in May.  The lyrics get right to the point “I’m beautiful in my way ‘cause God makes no mistakes.”  She encourages everyone “No matter, gay, straight or bi, lesbian, transgendered life...No matter black white or beige chola or orient made” to be who they are. I don’t think she’s missed anyone so we can all celebrate our birthright here.  For Gaga this works. She brings everyone in and she connects. I’m looking forward to hearing what Gaga puts out in May. She and her fans, whom she calls “Little Monsters,” will likely be around for a long time.

P!nk has already been around for a long time. She has five albums and released a greatest hits last year.  She set out early to establish herself as different and came across as a reluctant pop star with mohawks and pink hair.  It’s as if she would have rather led a punk band. Her latest song “Raise Your Glass‘ initially sounds like just another party tune. Most people who hear the song catch the part about raising your glass to the underdogs, but the lyrics go on, “so raise your glass if you are wrong in all the right ways...we will never be anything but loud and nitty gritty dirty little freaks.”  Dirty little freaks. Really?  I received an ecard over the holidays from someone at work whose 11 year old son had selected several songs to accompany a bunch of family photos and “Raise Your Glass” was one of them.  I didn’t have the heart to tell this father of four that his son was listening to a song about dirty little freaks.  Most of P!nk’s songs are like this.  She has underlying hints of wittiness, sarcasm, and anger. If not directly in the song, then she’ll do something in the video. For example, she turned the romantic “Please Don’t Leave Me” into a kitschy Stephen King horror clip where she breaks her boyfriend’s legs to make him stay. 

While I like P!nk, I’m rarely motivated to pick up an entire album. The singles are generally good, but the rest of the album is inconstant. It’s like she’s still finding her sound.  Maybe her songs could be more fun if they were faster and edgier. That said, I doubt she’s going anywhere too far a field.  She has managed to deliver pop hits for more than ten years now and she doesn’t seem to be slowing down.

In the shorter distance, Katy Perry has had a good run with her mediocre voice. She’s not a terrible singer, but I saw her on Oprah’s Oscars special and I felt bad for the kids from PS 22 in Staten Island who sang with her.  She carried the tune, but couldn’t hit the high notes.  Not that those kids cared, they went bananas when they found out they were singing with her.  Perry’s latest song “Firework,” while catchy and seemingly inspired, falls down when you examine the lyrics. “Cause baby you’re a firework, come on show ‘em what you’re worth, Make ‘em go “Oh oh oh” as you shoot across the sky-y-y-y.”   I do think most music critics are particularly hard on Perry. I agree that she’s really nothing special, but people love a catchy tune that makes them feel good. If she’s the one to deliver it, good for her.  Although, I don’t think she’ll be able to keep up for much longer.  

Finally there’s Ke$a, the weakest singer of the bunch, if you can even call what she does singing.  She sounds more like she’s talking, which should absolutely not be confused with the poetry of rapping.  It’s been said that Ke$a writes her own songs. Props to her for that, but I’m not sure this is something to celebrate?. “Tonight we’re goin hard hard hard ha ha hard, Just like the world is our our our ah ah ours, We’re tearing it apar par par pa pa part, You know we’re superstars. We R who we R”  I heard her on an interview once, and she didn’t sound like a complete idiot, so maybe she is manufacturing her own fluff as well? She turns out the hits and has that funky spelling of her name, but I think eventually audiences will tire of her and move on. She’s the least special in this pop crowd.

All four of these songs are currently on my iPod. Each one is a great running tune. The steady dance club beat helps you keep a pace. They all follow a classic pop song formula; slow intro, building to a steady four four beat, then the hook and crescendo of either orchestral strings, electric guitar, or piano. None of these songs or the singers are special. They are standard pops songs sung by white, straight, middle-class women with music industry dollars behind them.  Yet, millions of people like them for a reason. The formula is irresistible for most of us. They certainly help me get through three of four torturous miles doing something I don’t enjoy that much. But I want to feel inspired when I run, and here Perry and Ke$a fail sooner rather than later. The songs fall by the wayside much more quickly than the Gaga and P!nk tunes. I’m not likely to listen to Perry and Ke$a in a few weeks.  Whereas with Gaga, not only do I come back to this song, most of the songs on her previous album get rotated into my running mix again and again.  Perhaps Gaga will prove to be special after all?






SWIK Music playlists on iTunes
I created a playlist on iTunes so you can download this mix and buy the songs, but I have yet to understand how to share it. In fact, I've made a few mixes under SWIK Music and DJ Kyrawoman. If you spend some time searching, you may actually find them in the iTunes store, but it's not easy. Personally, I think iTunes sucks.  I am attempting to be all honest and legal by giving people links to buy the songs, but sharing the mixes is a challenge. There was an early version of iTunes where I could get a direct link to the playlist, but that seems to have disappeared.  If you know how to share iTunes playlists, please let me know. I would love to make it easier for everyone to buy pre-made music mixes.  For full albums, I will continue to refer readers to Amazon, but I can't create mixes there.