One Of The Boys | 
| Manufacturer: Capitol
Buy New: $7.99
Rating:  81 reviews
Sales Rank: 77
Genre: pop-music
Media: MP3 Download
Running Time: 0 Minutes
ASIN: B001AACEP8
Publication Date: June 17, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 76 more reviews...
 Bubblegum hybrid rock June 19, 2008
Tommy M. (Berkeley)
57 out of 88 found this review helpful
It's no surprise that the ghost of Alannis wanders throughout this album, since Glen Ballard was on production duties. Unfortunately, Perry is no Morrisette. Perry has lots of bark but little bite, and One of the Boys is firmly targeted at the teenage crowd who will probably enjoy it a lot. But for the rest of us, there isn't much to sink your teeth into.
The beats are catchy, and the choruses will probably stick in your head for a while. But ultimately, it's the kind of album you may listen to a lot and find stuck in a CD binder years later. You sit there and stare at it for a few moments, wondering if it's worth another spin. And you usually decide it isn't.
Personally, I think it's a little too polished to really rock out, and the lyrics are generally clever posturing instead of having the subversion strongly suggested by getting Madonna's seal of approval. She has a great, throaty voice that slips easily in and out of falsetto. But the package is over-produced, frankly. This slick, meticulous engineering is constantly at odds with her adventurism, to the point where you wonder how much substance is underneath all the stifling gloss and flourish.
I think she could have a really hot album on her hands -- if and when she cuts herself free from the Starmaker Machine. If she stays on this path, she'll probably make a lot of money from touring and another album or two, and shovel more money into the coffers of people like Ballard. Then her fan base matures and starts listening to other stuff. And unless you're a Madonna, you're not going to be able to adapt.
If she could make a real rock album, instead of this bubblegum hybrid, who knows. Sky's the limit. Joan Jett's the only one who's gotten close, and that was a while ago. You don't have to be another Avril Lavigne. One is more than enough.
Edit: There's also Sleater-Kinney -- I can't believe I forgot them. Unfortunately, they disbanded a few years ago. But they might actually rock *too* hard for Perry's liking.
Katy Perry's Strong Debut June 17, 2008
Antoine D. Reid (Durham, NC United States)
30 out of 34 found this review helpful
There's a lot to like about Katy Perry. Her song "I Kissed a Girl" is reigning high on the iTunes chart right now. For those unfamiliar with her, I'd place her sound and style in the genre of pop. Her sound is reminiscent of 80s pop and with a bit of a edge that makes her comparable to other new acts like Sarah Bareilles. Don't be fooled by the cover; Katy Perry's music is far from frilly and girly. In fact, often times it's the opposite as she spins out songs and lyrics that have caught the attention of pop royalty such as Madonna.
What you'll like about "One of the Boys" is the chances Katy Perry takes with her lyrics. The song "I Kissed a Girl" isn't truly groundbreaking or edgy but it's a rock-style song with Perry bending gender a bit, taking on the position of a 'girl gone wild' whose just out to have fun and experiment rather than looking for love. The other stand-out song "Ur So Gay" plays with the beat, with Perry's voice dripping and hanging off words and phrases as she rips into her loving boyfriend whose qualities brings questions to her mind. This is what makes Katy Perry so appealing; her music doesn't sound like anything being played on American radio and sounds very fresh and appealing to all audiences. Other stand out songs are "Lost" which is rather ballad-like without being overly mushy and features some great vocal work on her behalf, the very 80s-pop orientated "Mannequin" and "Self Inflicted".
What you may not like are the down-tempo songs that definitely feel like a let down compared to her up-temp songs. While these are okay, they distract and feel like filler-tracks or like something that any other new-act would put out. They sound far too safe for an artist that has the ability to pen some great lyrics and match it to a unique and fun beat. These tracks make the cd drag out and feel a bit unbalanced.
In all, a great debut that deserves your attention and is worth your money. Check it out.
Misandry (n.): Hatred of Men July 16, 2008
Rudy Palma (NJ)
22 out of 47 found this review helpful
Sometime, 20 years from now, when the teenage girls of today are in their mid-late 30s are single and jaded, with the marriage rate declining and divorces on the uprise, they will look back toward their youth and wonder what made the difference between their generation and those that came before. That the music of Katy Perry and the sentiments of misandry it pushed upon their young, impressionable minds will be no small part of it I have no doubt.
Although she is heavily aided by a bevy of experienced songwriters and producers, I will give Perry credit where it is due. This is some very catchy pseudo-rock (no matter how gritty the music may pose itself to be this is pop at its purest, but people are more likely to buy it if it's marketed as rock), and I have no doubt she has more than enough hand in these songs with their unshakable melodies and smart, sassy wordplay.
However, the sentiments they put forth are equally angering and saddening.
Take club hit "UR So Gay," for instance. While in the context of the song there is nothing directly homophobic, by using this slur as the title and centerpiece of her song she pits straight men and gay men against each other. How? By using an anti-gay slur to cripple a man's sense of masculinity (read: straightness, since in the contemporary woman's world straight men and gay men are always polar opposite stereotypes of masculinity and femininity, respectively), she therefore validates the fact that the term "UR So Gay" is indeed insulting. This will certainly not make straight men more accepting of their gay counterparts any time soon. The man behind this review doesn't care for the fact that she tries to emasculate the subject of her song for being a vegetarian, either. Here's wishing a nice bout of Mad Cow on you, Miss Perry. How low can you go?
The double standards this 23 year-old promotes are downright horrendous, and legitimize hostility toward men, keeping women safely sequestered from ever being able to truly understand the opposite sex. This makes Miss Perry the absolute, POLAR opposite of Alanis Morissette, whom she has been touted as the natural successor to. Morissette's talents as a songwriter are unprecedentedly eloquent, due in no small part to the fact that, while certainly a feminist icon, she realizes there are differences between men and women that she will never come to fully understand, and that men, like women, are responsible for much of what is good and harmonious in the world - it's not all black and white; Perry's sentiments are the stuff of a very simple mindset.
Whereas a song on Morissette's new album is titled "In Praise of the Vulnerable Man," Perry wields the proverbial ax at men in many of her songs such as "Hot 'N Cold" (You change your mind like a girl changes clothes/Yeah, you PMS like a bitch, I would know) only to proudly declare "I Kissed a Girl" and title her album "One of the Boys," wearing the very badge of semi-androgyny she denies her male counterparts, although she cops out on the title track.
These lyrics from "If You Can Afford Me" may be the most offensive here. Strongly holding men to outdated tenets of masculinity that reigned a half-century ago, at the same time Perry declares her right to break free from similar chains, all the while cheapening herself:
"If you want me you're gonna have to break the bank tonight/`Cuz some don't have the patience, some call me high-maintenance/But you pay the bill, cuz that's the deal/If you wanna ride, just name your price, don't play cheap with your heart/Don't make a bet if you can't write the check for me, for me/`Cuz I can be bought, but you'll pay the cost/If you can afford me."
She later goes on to stipulate that one thing will be free - "a lovin' me." Of course, love only arrives after the wallet has been taken out. How convenient.
If young women continue to have sentiments like these bombarded into their consciousness by popular culture, they will never find intimacy with men, and why would any man want to put up with such double standards? More and more women will wonder why they never found the right man, and men will remain bachelors for their whole lives, never allowing themselves to be vulnerable to women beyond one-night stands. Furthermore, sentiments like these are mighty egotistical and self-aggrandizing. Feminists from groups like the AAUW argue that girls these days still suffer from intense insecurity and are "shortchanged," but if Perry and her music are any example, what they really need is a good dose of modesty.
It may sound like a lot of pressure to put on a pop music album, but that lyrics like Perry's have been accepted with open arms and little scrutiny sure says a lot about current culture's hostility toward men. As a man, I consider myself a feminist, but this is surely the most convoluted, unfair feminism I have witnessed on a mass scale.
Indeed, as she puts forth on the emotionally weighty conclusion "Fingerprints," which shows her great songwriting potential, "I'm leaving my fingerprints on you/Representing you and me/Don't you wanna go down in history?" Indeed, she is leaving her fingerprints on the minds of young listeners and representing their generation. How it will all go down in history, however, is not something to be lauded if my predictions are grounded in truth.
 Utter Crap July 1, 2008
J. T. Estes (Midwest Coast, USA)
19 out of 37 found this review helpful
The music is like Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne got together and had a satan child. The content is nothing but gender stereotypes and stupid cliches. If you have any taste, you will avoid this album at all costs.
Not your little sister's pop June 23, 2008
Lee Gaiteri (Syracuse, NY USA)
18 out of 22 found this review helpful
After lately hearing plenty of songs I like that don't have a CD full of similarly good stuff to back them up, I was pleased to finally find a must-buy when I was impressed by "I Kissed a Girl" on the radio. Katy's CD is exactly the kind of debut I like, showing off a range of song styles but still fitting firmly within the pop genre. I'll begin by debunking two criticisms I've heard: The CD is supposedly too slickly produced, and some say she tries to be edgy without going far enough. Such cookie-cutter criticisms should be saved for cookie-cutter groups. Claims of overproduction ring false when you can occasionally hear vocal slips that add humanity, and as for edginess I think one of the things that pleases me most about this CD is that Katy is very good at pulling off brash and irreverent flair without being obnoxious. I wish I could say the same of a lot of other acts.
Pop is Katy's strong suit but her songs mostly resist pigeon-holing past that point. Not a single song fits the bubblegum Disney mold, another bogus criticism I've seen aimed her way. "I Kissed a Girl" is almost bouncy rock, unlike anything else I've heard on the radio. The title track, "Waking Up in Vegas", and "Self-Inflicted" are the closest to "classic" pop that she gets; the latter two are among the best tracks on the CD. "Hot n Cold" is another mold-breaker though, reminding me very much of an early '80s sound with a more modern twist to some of the vocals. And I would be remiss not to mention "Ur So Gay", easily the most playful song on the album but one I would hardly classify as pop; hearing only this single would give anyone a very distorted picture of Katy's repertoire because it's little like any of her other songs musically, but among the rest it doesn't feel out of place.
While most of the rest of the CD is likable pop, there are a few slower ballads like "I'm Still Breathing", "Lost", and "Thinking of You". Each of these is different in some way, but "Thinking of You" has the strongest melody and complements that with beautiful vocals. Two days after first playing the CD, this song found its way back into my head and I was pleased to remember it so well.
Katy Perry is a breath of fresh air in an industry that seems to like churning out one-hit wonders with boring CDs, one-style-fits-all vocalists who have no ability to mix it up, or in-your-face yet unoriginal attitude. I like her style, range, and voice, and she manages through it all to be boisterous but not annoying. For me this is a winner.
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