It’s been six years since Katy Perry announced herself with
“I Kissed a Girl,” which became her first hit single (and somehow made
Chapstick sexy). Ever since, her immense popularity has stemmed largely from
her ability to straddle that divide between Madonna (one of her idols) and girl
next door. Far more wholesome than that twisted genius Lady Gaga, Perry still
exudes vastly more heat and sensuality than, say, Taylor Swift. Part of that’s
due to Perry’s top-heavy physicality, but her sly lyrics and full-throated
delivery deserve credit, too.
In her music, all of which she co-writes, she handily mixes
innocence with lust. She wants to be your homecoming queen and made her mark
singing about reading Seventeen and learning how to shave her legs. But she
also yearns to melt your Popsicle and see your peacock, cock, cock. When you
add in God—she was raised Pentecostal and once recorded on a Christian
label—things get even more complicated.
