The song is a refreshing departure from the plethora of New York love-in seen in the music world (as in many other areas) since September 11 (while for a while it seemed natural to sing "New York State of Mind" and "New York New York" as tribute to the iconic city's fallen, but Madonna's "I Love New York" in 2005 and particularly the Jay-Z/Alicia Keys hit "Empire State of Mind" seemed to be pushing the term to some of us over here). What happened to the days of "California Dreamin'" when we wished they all could be California girls and the city of L.A. knew how to party? Time will tell if Perry (a Santa Barbara-born California girl) and Snoop (an outspoken fan of L.A. and a self-confessed former member of the Crips, a gang in South Los Angeles) are able to bring the wave of affection Westward, as it seems to be considered universally appropriate to praise New York whereas doing the same for California and L.A./Hollywood in general tends to evoke more negative reactions from outsiders (they're just jealous).
The track, musically at least, is perfectly engineered to be a summer smash, with many of the desirable traits for chart domination during the hottest months of the year: upbeat ("I Gotta Feeling" '09, "London Bridge" '06, "Crazy in Love" '03, "Hot in Herre" '02), catchy (most alums), summer- or party-themed ("I Gotta Feeling," "Umbrella" '07, "Hot in Herre,"), sung by an established chart-topper ("Boom Boom Pow/I Gotta Feelin;" '09, "Umbrella," "We Belong Together" '05), for example. It also cleverly manages a sound with widespread appeal, not utilizing the deep beats or electro rhythms (or, thankfully, Auto-Tune!) on which much of 2010 pop has thus far relied while still managing to sound entirely current, which means it won't turn off the segment of audience currently undecided on the electro-pop bearings of current pop but neither will it offend those who fully support it, and even some of the alt-rock crowd should find it not sufficiently odious to their senses or philosophies.
If this is the case, Perry could be looking at her second summer smash in three years (the first, of course, being the sophomore single that launched her to fame, "I Kissed a Girl," which stood at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for seven weeks, between July 5 and August 22, 2008). Give it a listen and let me know what you think in the comments!
LA needs a good song the way NY has so many. Nothing that is all rap or ruling the city or a bit ironic like "I Love LA." After hearing "California Gurls," I realized that it and "California Girls" are really about SoCal girls. I guess that is as close as we're going to get to "New York, New York" or "Empire State of Mind" or much of the Billy Joel canon.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, although that's still a heckuva lot broader area (and, accordingly, larger number of inhabitants) being complimented than the five boroughs of NYC. And as far as Perry's or the Beach Boys' definition of "California Girls/Gurls," I'd argue that geographically it extends, at least along the coast, as far north as the bay area. Either way, I'll take it after being worn out by the NYC superiority complex.
ReplyDeleteBut NYC is superior to LA in almost every way. Better than moving the comment to your blog, do a good songs about LA playlist. Find a song that makes me feel as good about Los Angeles as "New York, New York" or "Empire State of Mind." Heck, even "Grey in LA," while nice to the ear, is pretty sad.
ReplyDeleteI'll gladly take up your challenge, but I should point out that I don't see what that will necessarily prove - I mean, that suggests we can leave it up to songwriters to decide and/or verify matters of contention such as this, and songwriters - like fiction writers, screenwriters, and a disheartening proportion of journalists - do not, in their ... See Morework and subject matter, cover all aspects of life with equal importance, or at least the relative importance of the many puzzle pieces that make up existence. Instead they write about things dramatic; things majestic; things fantastic; things traditionally accepted as compelling - all traits NYC has adopted not as an actual brick and mortar city but as an idea. Los Angeles, too, exists both in the corporeal and the ideological, but as a different entity in each; the legend of LA is not one outsiders in 2010 look to as aspiration. To write a song about it in that vein would be dismissed as laughable.
ReplyDeleteSo in a way, LA is to Britney Spears as NYC is to Bruce Springsteen - both in their own right exceptional artists, but only one of whom, for whatever reason, is generally considered to have any amount of legitimacy and merit among the pan-generic music industry and critical scene. Or, to tie it into my entire point in creating Vertigo Shtick, NYC ... See Moreis indie music, and LA is pop: one enjoys an unimpeachable air of acceptability and esteem, while the other is usually shunned and considered unworthy of even the same critical analysis or insight - despite the fact, as I constantly have tried and will continue to aim to prove or at least defend, that both types of music are comparably or even equally legitimate, complex, and important to contemporary music as an entire, broad cultural phenomenon. To convince me otherwise, about Los Angeles or pop music, will take a lot more than some old Rat Pack standards, a Madonna filler track, or an egomaniacal and tired recyclable rap by Beyonce's husband.
I'll gladly take up your challenge, but I should point out that I don't see what that will necessarily prove - I mean, that suggests we can leave it up to songwriters to decide and/or verify matters of contention such as this, and songwriters - like fiction writers, screenwriters, and a disheartening proportion of journalists - do not, in their ... See Morework and subject matter, cover all aspects of life with equal importance, or at least the relative importance of the many puzzle pieces that make up existence. Instead they write about things dramatic; things majestic; things fantastic; things traditionally accepted as compelling - all traits NYC has adopted not as an actual brick and mortar city but as an idea. Los Angeles, too, exists both in the corporeal and the ideological, but as a different entity in each; the legend of LA is not one outsiders in 2010 look to as aspiration. To write a song about it in that vein would be dismissed as laughable.
ReplyDeleteSo in a way, LA is to Britney Spears as NYC is to Bruce Springsteen - both in their own right exceptional artists, but only one of whom, for whatever reason, is generally considered to have any amount of legitimacy and merit among the pan-generic music industry and critical scene. Or, to tie it into my entire point in creating Vertigo Shtick, NYC ... See Moreis indie music, and LA is pop: one enjoys an unimpeachable air of acceptability and esteem, while the other is usually shunned and considered unworthy of even the same critical analysis or insight - despite the fact, as I constantly have tried and will continue to aim to prove or at least defend, that both types of music are comparably or even equally legitimate, complex, and important to contemporary music as an entire, broad cultural phenomenon. To convince me otherwise, about Los Angeles or pop music, will take a lot more than some old Rat Pack standards, a Madonna filler track, or an egomaniacal and tired recyclable rap by Beyonce's husband.
LA needs a good song the way NY has so many. Nothing that is all rap or ruling the city or a bit ironic like "I Love LA." After hearing "California Gurls," I realized that it and "California Girls" are really about SoCal girls. I guess that is as close as we're going to get to "New York, New York" or "Empire State of Mind" or much of the Billy Joel canon.
ReplyDeleteBut NYC is superior to LA in almost every way. Better than moving the comment to your blog, do a good songs about LA playlist. Find a song that makes me feel as good about Los Angeles as "New York, New York" or "Empire State of Mind." Heck, even "Grey in LA," while nice to the ear, is pretty sad.
ReplyDelete