So, do I like the new Katy Perry album?

I don’t necessarily consider myself a music connoisseur.  I suspect one has to be a kind of purist to acquire that title.  My personal taste in music ranges from everything on the one side to anything on the other.  If it’s good, I like.

I bought Prism yesterday.  The new Katy Perry album.  And it’s good.  And not good like in I’m glad I got it; good like in this is f*cking awesome.  I know I’m quoting Macklemoore here, but no other words could express it more effectively.

Am I a fan?  Not sure.  Did I buy her previous album?  Yes, eventually, after Princess begged me. Was “Roar” good enough for me to want to buy this album?  No.  Is she hot enough for me to buy the album? Yes. (Stupid question.)  Was that my motivation for buying the album? No.  So why did I?  Because of “Unconditionally”.  The song.  (Don’t you just love conversations with yourself?)

“Unconditionally” is a celebration of song writing.   I jumped to the song, revelled in it for a while, then proceeded to listen to some of the other tracks.  Wow! Her voice blows my mind and it’s sort of freaky the way she manages to sound different on the various songs.  Her ability to capture a specific and unique mood in every song is quite impressive.  From silly pop hooks and playful melodies to heart wrenching soul searching outpours of emotion.

To isolate highlights from this album is easy as I just copy the track list, but I’m gonna try and limit my love to a precious few.

• The hook and message of “Love me” is pretty awesome.
• I enjoyed the unique Indian-ish vibe of “Legendary Lovers”.
• Then there’s the haunting threat of “Dark Horse”.
• The obvious brilliance of “Unconditionally”.
• The truth spoken in “This moment”
• The surprise that is “Double Rainbow”
• And the soaringly inspirational “By the Grace of God” right at the end.

Any album is worth every cent when, as a listener, you don’t feel the urge to skip songs.  Unfortunately this happens twice.  No-ones perfect!  It would have been much better had she left “International smile” and “This is how we do it” on the production floor cause they’re pretty crap.  Chances are they are probably going to grow on me at some point.  I’m shallow that way.

All in all, a really great album, ranked up there with the great’s that is Linkin Park’s Thousand Suns, The Script’s #3 and anything by P!nk.  And this people, is just my humble opinion.

So if there’s anyone in the audience who doesn’t like Katy Perry, could you please stand up.  See, I told you.  Everyone loves her.  It’s not just me.