Spend any time listening to the recent discussions about artists who become commercial products and one's mind inevitably gravitates toward Katy Perry. And before any diatribe on the subject begins, let's first mention a tweet Ms. Perry squeezed out Tuesday evening that read “Using blasphemy as entertainment is as cheap as a comedian telling a fart joke.”
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She just had to drag fart jokes into this, didn't she? One tends to
assume that because of Perry's Christian upbringing, she still holds
certain spiritual tenets to be sacred, hence the blasphemy bashing. There's some conjecture that Perry was referring to Lady Gaga's “Alejandro” video, though no names were named in the tweet.
But
does Perry really consider herself an arbiter of what entertainment is or
isn't cheap? This is the same, presumably heterosexual songstress, who
chirped about kissing a girl, right? Cheap pandering.
The same girl who
is now cashing in on America's perennial obsession with California
Culture via her latest single “California Gurls?” (Incidentally, it just made No.1 on the Billboard charts today.) Cheap rip-off of the
Beach Boys during their cheapest incarnation.
She's even collaborating
with hip-hop icon Snoop Dogg. Cheapest go-to move imaginable. In an
interview with multiple media outlets backstage at Sunday's MTV Movie
Awards, Perry was asked by one reporter why California Girls were the
best. The pop-tart replied that there was something down to earth about
them. She added, “I'm not talking about Hollywood girls because we know
most of these girls that are fresh off the bus, and get boob jobs, and
climb over everybody to get to the top and we want to puke.”
Her
comments were a cheap jab at girls who turn to plastic surgery, unlike
the naturally sculpted and aesthetically “talented” Perry. Which brings
us to her performance at the movie awards. Talk about phoning it in.
Flanked by professional dancers throughout the performance and backed up
by Snoop, who spent a good portion of his time sitting languidly in a
palm tree throne, Perry listlessly waved her arms, and shook her ass. It
worked well. She was a joy to watch. One of her best moves was a
simple, but heart-skipping widening of her eyes–a maneuver that
demonstrated even when she's phoning it in, Perry has genuine star
quality.
And this is what makes her such a terrific product. She's
artistically inexpensive. There is no assembly required. She's out of
the box and rearing to go. Cheap, easy and the personification of
artistic blasphemy. As long as she has decent producers to work with,
she could have at least 10 years of solid work in front of her. But one
has to wonder what would happen, if as a friend of mine obsessed with
the leggy performer once opined, Perry did something truly bold and
collaborated with someone like Flaming Lip's front man Wayne Coyne.
Artistically speaking, she might appreciate in value. So that's it. The
usual ranting. And don't try to point out the irony of how cheap it is
for me to write a blog on Katy Perry.
