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Audio Recording Critique: Katy Perry, “One of the Boys,” from the album One of the Boys
Biography
Katy Perry is one of the most popular and sought after artists in contemporary popular music. Although this popularity has led some to label Perry as a simplistic product of large record companies, she struggled early in her career. In 2001, Perry released an unsuccessful gospel album under the name Katy Hudson. This failure helped steer Perry’s musical sensibilities away from the world of Christian music and towards more mainstream pop aesthetics. Also in 2001, Perry met Glen Ballard. Ballard had produced one of the most successful female albums in modern history, Alanis Morissette’s Jagged Little Pill (1995) and he provided stability and experience in terms of producing popular songs. It is surely Ballard’s early influence that helped shape Perry’s singing style. In fact, she admits to emulating Morissette’s vocal timbre and writing style. In 2004, Perry signed with Columbia/Sony records. Columbia immediately paired Perry’s potential talent with the proven success of The Matrix, a music production team. Although they recorded almost a full-length album, Columbia dropped Perry from the label before it was finished. Many artists have had their careers end at this point but Perry persevered and was signed in 2007 to the Capitol Music Group. It is her work with this label that produced “One of the Boys.” On the surface, this tune may appear to be a superficial pop song, there is a great deal of music-writing craft incorporated into it. This song exemplifies high-level pop sensibilities. From the beginning to the end “One of the Boys” is composed and performed to satisfy the generic requirements of its target audience. While analyzing certain musical elements such as timbre, word/music relationships, and form, one can conclude that “One of the Boys” succeeds in conveying a specific message to a targeted audience.
History of the work
The album, One of the Boys, is Perry’s second studio album and features hits “Hot n Cold,” “Waking Up in Vegas,” and “I Kissed a Girl.” The popularity of all three of these singles helped raise Perry to nearly iconic status in the popular music world. Perry is frequently labeled as a shallow product of the popular music industry, but the narratives of many of her songs are often times personal or a commentary on current social issues. In fact, most of the tracks on One of the Boys deal with personal or social issues. For instance, “I Kissed a Girl” is a nod to the forbidden excitement of lesbianism, “Ur So Gay” is a musical response to a bad relationship, and “One of the Boys” frames the youthful infatuations of young women.
One of the Boys was initially criticized for its overtly pro-homosexual themes. Credit should go to Perry for her attempt to include this marginalized culture into popular music. Perry’s work was an important step in recognizing the LGBTQ+ community into popular music. Of course, Perry did not create this album alone. Producers such as Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, Max Martin, and Cathy Dennis contributed significantly to the album. The remarkable popularity of One of the Boys helped make these producers extraordinarily successful.
Although Katy Perry sings “One of the Boys,” the bulk of the composing and background performing duties were done by Butch Walker. Walker has produced hit songs for well-known artists such as Avril Lavigne, Pink, Weezer, Dashboard Confessional, and American Hi-Fi. Walker’s experience and success clearly indicates that he knows how to reach an audience. In Perry’s case, the audience is largely comprised of young women mostly between the ages of 13 and 18. How does Walker/Perry connect with their audience? I argue that they manipulate timbre, dynamics, form, and lyrics in order to communicate with their audience.
Analysis of the work
The form of “One of the Boys” is relatively typical of many popular songs. The form is as follows:
Introduction
A
A¹
B
C
A²
A³
B
C
D
Interlude
C
Introduction (again)
The majority of “One of the Boys” is constructed as A A B C. This is a very understandable and powerful form. Its comprehensibility lies in how it unfolds over time. For instance, in terms of volume or dynamics, A begins at the lowest level, that level increases in the B section, and reaches it peek in the C section. Of course the C section is the most important section because that is where the “hook” resides and where the title of the tune is stated. The next section, the D section, consists of a lower volume and intensity level that is increased again through the Interlude and peeking in the C section again. Now that the form has been established, a chronologically-based examination of “One of the Boys” is appropriate.
The Introduction contains some important timbral elements. First, the background instrumentation consists of drums, bass, guitar, and keyboard. The keyboard’s timbre is particularly important. The keyboard sound echoes many of the sounds produced in the 1980s. This decade is sometimes referred to as innocent and “clean.” Many of Perry’s young fans could be listening to this music in the presence their parents, who could interpret this 80s-derived timbre as inviting and fun. Secondly, Perry herself sings non-sense syllables like “Do doo doo.” She sings these syllables in a playful manner, once again, putting potential eavesdropping parents at ease.
In the A and B sections there is a powerful relationship between words and music. In one A section the lyrics read: “I started reading Seventeen and shaving my legs.” In the following A section the lyrics are: “And I walked right into school and caught you staring at me.” The proceeding B section contains the following lyrics: “Maybe one day but not until you gimme my diamond ring.” First, these lyrics are specifically intended for young women. It can be assumed that many young women have hygiene, boys, and marriage on their minds. Secondly, these lyrics are emphasized by the background musicians. For instance, when Perry sings “diamond ring,” the backing band almost stops playing. This causes attention to be focused only on the lyrics. In fact, the background instruments continually emphasize words such as “shaving,” “diamond ring,” and “make out” throughout the song. This emphasis is no accident. These words are the supposed to be especially important to target listeners.
The talents of Katy Perry and Butch Walker helped make “One of the Boys” a meaningful song to millions of people. The preceding analysis shows that connecting to an audience, even a young one, requires the expert manipulation of specific musical elements.