“Whatever person exists beneath Perry’s wigs and costumes is irrelevant to her music. Her process of self-creation is the purpose and sum of her art.
It’s enough to millions of listeners — especially young women — because this kind of constructed self has been a feminine reality since long before Peggy Olson started hawking Pond’s cold cream. “Put your hands on me in my skintight jeans,” Perry murmurs to a paramour in the title track, but it’s the clothing that matters more than the chance to get naked.”
Ann Powers, who I also dearly love, with a considerably more positive (but equally well-written) take. On the other hand, she did like Ke$ha’s ‘Animal’. Great, now I may actually have to swallow my Max Martin/Dr. Luke gag reflex and make up my own mind.
