“My music is about to get real fucking dark. I’ll be shoe gazing. You’ll never see my face because my hair is in my face.”
– Katy Perry
Do you think Katy Perry intended to use that pun? Do you think Katy Perry actually listens to shoegaze? Oh my god, do you think Russell Brand introduced it to her? ‘Cause, you know, he’s British and they’re British and all that? Or did the Radiohead Dude from “The One That Got Away” put on Loveless one fateful night when they were cuddling on the Kitty Cat sofa? Well, know what? I don’t think the Socratic method is going to help me uncover any traces of some greater, MBV-inspired project looming beyond the VeVo ads and golden spit buckets.
Maybe we’re just stuck with a skewed sjuzhet until Prism’s released in its entirety. And maybe it’s best not to read too deeply into “Dark Horse,” the album’s latest single, at least from a lyrical standpoint (although it makes for a good “spot-the-cliche” exercise!). Think of it instead as a sultrier take on her equally-dopey, equally-divine classic “E.T.”: pastel-goth pop with a raunchy beat that will may raise some soccer mom eyebrows. For the guest rapping honors, Perry recruits Juicy J; although he can’t reach the astronomical heights (ha!) of Kanye “pockets on Shrek” West, his similarly robotic delivery makes him the perfect fit for a spaced-out dance track like this one. All in all, this horse is as about as dark as a Lisa Frank unicorn and about as shoegaze as said unicorn, too. But that hasn’t stopped my fellow TMT KatyCats, so why should it stop me?
• Katy Perry: http://www.interviewmagazine.com/music/katy-perry#page4
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