Katy Perry: Part of Me

Today I had a "me party". An entire day where I was free from work and social obligations and got to do whatever the hell I wanted. Well…for the most part.  I’d been needing some introvert time and seeing as the roommate was peacin’ out for the weekend I decided to take full advantage of my Saturday.

First off I stopped by my local library and got a card. I really should have done this long ago because I could have been saving a small fortune from the money NOT spent on Redbox and iTunes downloads. I was a little bummed because my main goal of going to the library was to come out with some Dusty Springfield music, who has become my recent pop obsession, and the book “Perks of Being a Wallflower.” My tiny neighborhood library had neither but they are being ordered and should be here soon. I can hardly wait. I did come out with the Joni Mitchel album Blue so it was not a total bust.

After that I was itching for a good ol’ thrift store run. The two years prior to moving to Dallas I went through an unhealthy addiction to thrift stores. While I was in AmeriCorps I am fairly certain I visited every salvation army between Michigan and Louisiana. Damn I had some good finds back then. I really just love the challenge of looking through tons of shit to find an inexpensive diamond in the rough, be it vintage t-shirt or fun vinyl from the 60’s. Today I went to a St. Vincet de Paul and I can’t say that I was that thrilled by the selection I saw there but I did find a great framed daisy cross hatch from the 70’s that’s gonna go great with my duvet cover and strangely the green frame matches my dresser perfectly. And all home décor was 30% off so I spent a total of 2 bucks. Hollerback girl.

I decided I needed to take some time out of my day to be productive so I ended up going to work and doing stuff that we graphic designers do. I won’t bore you with the details but it ended up being time well spent. As a reward to myself for being diligent and productive on a weekend I decided it was time to see me some Katy Perry: Part of Me in 3D. And considering the fact that my newfound friend Matt Jarrell is the only person I’ve met who was equally excited about seeing the movie as I was, I figured I was best off seeing it alone. Plus, I kind of have a weird thing where I really enjoy seeing a movie alone in theatres despite being told by most people that it is awkward and a form of social suicide.

Ever since “I Kissed a Girl” was the free iTunes song of the week I’ve been a big fan of Katy Perry. I’ll admit, I assumed that she was going to be just another one hit wonder but she has certainly proved me and a lot of people wrong. Since 2008 I have bought both her cd’s, seen her in concert, lost sleep on nights before one of her music video’s premiere’s on Vevo, and  learned how to play “Thinking of You” on my guitar. You can see now why I was super pumped for the documentary to hit theatres. Sadly I don’t think it’s been as much of a success as people were thinking it would be. I can verify this because for the first half hour I was the only living soul in the theatre….which was kinda great/awkward all at the same time. But I am here to say that the film is good and worth the 10 bucks! The thing that really comes across in new movie and the thing I appreciate most about Katy is she’s very different from a lot of other pop singers out there these days because she kind of seems like the only normal one. Gaga? Anything but normal. Britney? Heavily medicated. Christina? Diva. Rhianna? Hot Mess.  The main premise of Part of Me was to show the kind of work that goes into making a world tour and to show what it took for her to get to this point in her career. It as pretty crazy to see how far she’s come. I know when I saw her in concert back in 2009 it was at a small venue in Seattle where I think she had two costume changes at the most and played all her songs on guitar. It was awesome by the way but these days her shows are played out in huge arenas with extravagant sets, costume changes, and cannons of whipped cream. 

One thing that is really interesting about Katy’s life is the fact that she was raised Pentecostal in a very conservative Christian home. I can totally relate. Not the Pentacostal part because I would say we leaned more Baptist but there were things she would say that totally resonated with  my upbringing. Luckily for me I was still permitted to watch “The Smurfs” and eat my Aunt Carol's “Deviled Eggs”, although I wasn't allowed to browse through my latest issue of National Geographic until my parents had torn out the pictures of naked tribal women...let me tell ya it made reading articles about Aborigines in the Outback very confusing and challenging. Another thing Katy and I were both limited to was listening only to only Christian music. Now don't get me wrong, I loved me some DcTalk and Michael W. Smith but a little Michael Jackson or Madonna here and there would have been a nice change of pace. One time in 5th grade my friend Tim came over and brought a Limp Bizkit cd with him and he insisted we should listen to it. Right away I was intrigued because the cover had a sticker that said Parental Warning. I had no idea what that meant but I knew it couldn't be good. Pretty sure I locked my bedroom door, popped the cd into my boom box, and played it just loud enough so we could barely make out the lyrics because I was worried Mama Sesser would barge in with a fresh plate of cookies at any second...to this day I've never felt so rebellious/terrified in my entire life. Obviously Katy has taken aspects of her life in a different direction than the one it seems her parents had in mind. That’s something I can also relate to and it was great to see that despite differing opinions, at the end of the day her parents are still very supportive and loving of their their little girl.

Going into it, I knew Katy Perry: Part of Me wasn’t going to measure up to the masterpiece that is “Britney: For the Record” but it was still very well done and fun to watch. I would say that having this sort of film made was a bit premature. Mainly because her career took off hardly 4 years ago and she only has two albums. That and there really hasn’t been that much tabloid drama in her life aside from her recent divorce which is what a majority of Americans hope to see in these sorts of things. Still I think it shows the importance of having dreams and working your butt off to achieve them. It also showed just how much talent Katy does posses as an actress, songwriter, and singer. So if you missed her California Dreams Tour and are wanting a taste of the Candyland empire she’s built and the road she took to get there, you won’t be disappointed.