"This is How We Do." - Katy Perry- Pop Song Review

Pop Radio play: 18

Katy Perry singles from Prism seem to be hit or miss with me and the general public.  There is a continuous up and down pattern from this album era from the number one hits of “Roar”, and “Dark Horse."  However she had two top 20 hits with “Birthday”, and “Unconditionally.”  Her odd number singles seem to hit number one as oppose to her even number singles. If the pattern is correct than this next single should be huge.

Number 24 was the peak?! Darn the pattern isn't correct here.  It could go up a little higher with more radio play and more sales since it has only been out for two months. Generally pop songs usually peak around 12 to 18 weeks on the Hot 100 chart. The only problem I foresee is she has the temperatures of the seasons going against her, as the song life span on the chart continues on.  I doubt any of you want to hear this song in the winter time.

 Katy Perry’s Prism album has unrealistic expectations of trying to live up the chart, and radio success of her most successful album Teenage Dream.  The original version of the album produce five number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100. The album reissue of Teenage Dream  produced a number one hit with "Part of Me", and a number two hit with "Wide Awake"

Katy Perry’s hit  “This is How We Do” sticks with the formula of her biggest party hits like “California Gurls, Last Friday Night, and I Kissed a Girl.”  That is not necessarily a problem since I have enjoyed many of Katy Perry's party singles before, so I promised I will go into this single with an open mind. 

The production goes with the dancepop formula we are all very accustomed too from Katy Perry, but it is slow down to 95 BPM.  It is good to hear Katy Perry's voice at different speeds. I have been so accustomed to hearing it at 120 BPM for so long you forget she can sing at different speeds. It is at the same speed of Lady GaGa’s “Do What U Want” for comparison sake. The song adds some  hip hop flavor synths washes, to make it sound more distinctive. 

Katy Perry voice on the song  is the final  deal breaker if you like the song or not.  She sounds like a 21 year old who just found out about the bar scene. Personally, I don’t mind her voice on the song too much. The bridge part where she talks and gives "shout outs" is pretty annoying though.  Vocally, she seems very  interested in the song unlike “Birthday” which is a complete bore fest where her vocal range does not change. 

The chorus is pretty catchy. It has a nice walking down the city as if you own the street vibe to it. It is best part of the song lyrically. 

 The lyrics of the song sounds like a paper list of things that Katy Perry does for fun.  The song goes on to describe a perfect evening with her friends in California.

Slow cooking pancakes for my boy,
Still up, still fresh as a daisy.
Playing ping pong all night long,


Here Katy Perry was up all night long playing ping pong, but the morning after she is still awake after a fun night. She still has  plenty of energy to make some Katy Perry branded pancakes. Coming soon to your nearest Wal-Mart. One last thing Katy Perry, make those pancakes faster. I’m starving.

Chanel this Chanel that, hell yeah,
All my girl's vintage Chanel baby.

I hate when artists include product placement in their songs.  If there is clever way of doing it in the lyrics, then I am usually okay with it. The song's attempt is not even trying to hide it. I'm sure Katy Perry had a deal in place with her friends, that at the end of the song; she would get her purses back.

It's no big deal, it's no big deal.
It's no big deal, this is no big deal.

This is the pre chorus to the song. Katy Perry states that she likes to party for the thrill of it, and doesn’t care.  What would be a big deal is if you didn't complete Chanel endorsement earlier in the lyrics.  You probably lose out on that deal endorsement.  

I’m going to skip the chorus because there really isn’t much to it. It is mostly the repetition of the song's title. 

Big hoops and maroon lips,
My clique hoppin' in my Maserati.

We find out here that Katy Perry likes the hipster guy; however, I doubt he would like the expensive car, Maserati, because they were popular with the underground pop singers first.

 Santa Barbara chic at La Super Rica,
Grabbin' tacos, checking out hottie's.

It is reference to one of her favorite places to eat  in Santa Barbara where Katy Perry grew up.  I believe Katy Perry is trying to make me hungry with every verse of the song. First pancakes, and now tacos. I wonder what would happen if you combine those two foods together? Get on that internet.

Now we're talking astrology,

That sounds incredibly boring thing to talk about, especially at a party too.  Next line of lyrics please.

Day drinking at the Wild Cat,
Sucking real bad at Mariah Carey-oke.

Katy Perry doesn’t mess around with her parties. Day Drinking too? When does she sleep? 

 This one goes out to the ladies, at breakfast,
In last night's dress. Uh-huh, I see you.

Katy Perry is embracing the walk of shame at breakfast.  I hope Katy Perry is paying for the pancakes. The reviews for the home made pancakes were not great from what I saw on Twitter. 

Yo, this goes out to all you kids that still have their cars At the Club Valet, and it's Tuesday.

I would think you would get your car back on Sunday. Those parking fees might be high enough for the rent you pay for an apartment out in California.  At least she isn’t advocating drinking and driving here, so congrats on that one, Katy Perry.

Yo, shout out to all you kids buying bottle service
With your rent money, respect.

Well, that is where the rent money went too, bottle service. LA party folks are pretty smart with their money.  I did some research on the matter and from what I saw online bottle service prices are 200-500 bucks per weekend. If you multiple number that by 4 weeks you get 1400 dollars. That is about the average cost for an apartment in California. 

What? Wait, no no no no, bring the beat back.
That's right.

In my opinion, the song could have ended have ended 28 seconds earlier than the original length. It just drags out the beat a bit longer than needed. 

I feel like this song is about Katy Perry doing Katy Perry things. For instance here a few changes to the  lyrics I made. The song could still work with these changes.

1. “Cleaning dishes, and vacuuming floors,

      My clique hoppin on my Netflix. “

2.  “Now we're talking school work”

3.  “Gettin' my DVDs sorted all reverse alphabetically.”

See, that song is a guaranteed hit from the lyric changes I made. Watch it fly up the charts now.

The music video is very simple, but as stated in previous reviews, simple is better.  She uses a short video showing off the all the things she does with her friends when she parties. Anyway, here are a few highlights I noticed.

Twerking Ice Cream. 

I hate it when ice creams cones decide to twerk. How am I supposed to eat it now? It is covered with ice cream booty. 
Katy Perry- Making the good ice creams cones go bad.

The next cereal outage. Thanks to Katy Perry.

"This is How We Do"  is a bland song that anybody could have sang, but having Katy Perry singing it bothers me. Katy Perry is going to turn 30  this year, and while I wouldn’t mind her singing this in her 20s, I feel like it is a bit immature.  I feel this song was originally written for Kesha in mind ,because of the sing talk style of the song, but she rejected it. 

One last side note before I give out the score. I feel this song should have been the fourth single from the album. It is clearly made to be blasted down the road in your car with the windows down. It sounds like a summer song by the way the lyrics are constructed. Additionally, the beat is fun and lighthearted.  On the other hand, “Birthday” is bland, boring, and forgettable.

Final score: (3/5)

Production: Neutral on this song.  It rides a simple dancepop beat, but it never really changes up.

Vocals: Katy Perry's voice on this song is either a highlight or it is not.  It didn’t bother me that much given the subject matter, but I can see why people would hate it.

Lyrics:  I never got a complete story out of the song. It is more about what Katy Perry does for fun in a written word list that was turn into a song.

I like to see Katy Perry release “Walking on Air” as the next single. I enjoy that song.

Cartoon Clash 5 - Oh Duck, There Is More!

Welcome to another duckstatic edition of Cartoon Clash. In Part 1 I examined “The Mighty Ducks” and “Quack Attack” so check the last version of Cartoon Clash if you want to read my thoughts on those shows. Part 2 I’ll be reviewing “Duck Tales” and “Darkwing Duck” two cartoons from the Toon Disney era.  As before I’ll be reviewing the shows based: catchiness, lyrics, and memorability.  Time to start quacking; oops, I mean to start reviewing these shows.

Duck Tales: (1987-1990)

Catchiness: The song starts with a thumping catchy 80s bass line which I am an immediate fan of it. The song is complete with trumpet work, and basic synth lines. The chorus is pretty damn catchy. So far so good Duck Tales.

Lyrics: The lyrics for this song are very well written, and in fact the best I have ever reviewed. Because the lyrics are so good for this song I’m doing a lyrical analysis for them.

Life is like a hurricane here in Duckburg
Race cars, lasers, aeroplanes, it's a duck-blur!
Might solve a mystery
Or rewrite history!

In these lines the narrators says life in Duckburg is not boring at all. In fact life in Duckburg is pretty exciting so much so that the narrator says race cars (not the political kind) are pretty prevalent in Duckburg. 

DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Everyday they're out there making
DuckTales! Woo-oo!
Tales of daring do bad and good
Luck Tales!

Every day they are making stories about rich ducks with power to control time, and rewrite history. Money can truly buy happiness if I’m correct.  This song has the best chorus written I have reviewed.

Not pony tales or cotton tales, no,
DuckTales! Woo-oo!

Who would write a show about pony tales or cotton tales? Oh wait the former actually exists.

Memorability: This song was designed to be stuck in your head by the way the singer sings it. The chorus is wonderful, and the instrumentation is fantastic.  Memorize the song is easy, and fun to do.

Notability: Some have called this song one of the best cartoon theme songs of the late 80s to early 90s.  It was so memorable that a YouTube video using real ducks reenacted the song opening credits.

Notes: There are several different versions of the song.  The Disney afternoon version cuts another verse. The full version extends the song for two minutes and it sounds like heaven unlike the last review.

The full version of the song includes an extra verse, and more of the bass line between the songs.  It could be the video I was listening to the song, but the audio quality on the full version has more harmony than the original.

Darkwing Duck: (1991-1992)

I always thought this cartoon was good but I never realized how good it was until I was an adult. I watch a few episodes of Darkwing Duck and found it hilarious, because the main character is an egotistical duck. He provides his own narration between scenes  and takes full of credit everything. Darkwing Duck gets thumbs up from me for being a different and hilarious cartoon.

Catchiness: Pretty catchy song. The song chants “Darkwing Duck” ,  “Let’s get dangerous” , and “When there’s trouble call DW” as the main choruses. The song is built with a funky 80s beat similar to Duck Tales, but faster bpm.  I like the harmonization effects when they repeat the show name.

Memorize: A few passes on the song you’ll get the most of the lyrics. On the first pass I remember Darkwing Duck, and let’s get dangerous. Unlike the last few cartoon shows I reviewed, this song has a cool beat that inspires you to learn the words.

Lyrics: The lyrics are well done here. They explain who Darkwing Duck is as a character, and what his job is for the city. 

Notes: The ending credits contain an awesome saxophone work with the song. I still prefer the original opening credits of the song. There is not much else to say about it. It is a fantastic theme song that deserves a listen for you. (I’m serious go listen to it now!)

Enough Musical Analysis: Who won the battle?

This was an extremely tough decision for me personally. I enjoy both shows theme songs very much, and there were no significantly visible errors on both shows. However I can’t let a tie happen since no one likes ties at all. That would be a boring conclusion to this review. Instead I rather cause fan wars, which on paper seem like a better choice. Here are the scores for each show.

Duck Tales (5/5)

Darkwing Duck (4.5/5)

What decided it for me was the baseline for Duck Tales.  Duck Tales is easily sing able, and as bonus danceable.  The easy rhymes provide nice ear candy and this song has never worn its welcome out for me. Darkwing Duck is a different vibe show, and everything about the song fits very well.  The mysterious tone of the music, and superhero rhymes work do justice to the song.  In the end the songs came down to personal preference for me.  Now my integrity and my reviews are not for sale,"Wait a minute, how much are you offering, Mr. Scrooge?" 

I'm $ean rich.

Me: Glad that review was over. Toughest decision I had to make on Cartoon Clash. 

window breaks

Me: Who is there?

DW: Darkwing Duck, the master of surprise and of his odd analogies. 

Me: Never heard of ya.

DW: I am the terror that flaps through the night.  I am the brick that breaks your window.  I am Darkwing Duck. 

Me: Darkwing Duck, why are you here?

DW: I saw your blog post, and I’m not happy about the result.

Me: I didn’t even post it yet. How is that even possible?

DW: Let’s get dangerous!

Me: Someone help me. A duck has kidnapped me.

DW: No one is going to believe you. Since you prefer dancing ducks to me. Mu ha ha ha

DW: I’ll get Quack Pack  to help you make the right decision between shows.

Me: Nooooooooooooooooo!

Will Sean be able to get himself free from the clutches of Darkwing Duck? Will he make the right decision between shows? Find out next time on Cartoon …

DW: Actually I’m going to be anticlimactic and let Sean go. The Quack Pack crew was too much trouble to bring to my hideout. 

Me: Last time I do anything related to ducks on this blog for a while.  All this trouble over a simple blog post. No more bribes from fictions cartoon ducks.

Me: Duck me, side ways.

Cartoon Clash 4 - What the Duck!

Welcome to the first installment of a two part series of "Cartoon Clash." In these next articles I'll be reviewing cartoon theme songs that are based on ducks.  Today I'll be reviewing  "Quack Pack" and "The Mighty Ducks." If ducks and/or hockey are not your thing I would sit out this review.

Quack Pack:  (September 1996 - December 1996)

Quack Pack

Catchiness: Teenage rebellion and ducks, what more could you possibly ask for in a theme song? Something better than this song.  I hate to be Debbie Downer, but this one is not very good. 

The song is composed of a lite grunge flavor rock  of the 90s with duck related  lyrics. The theme song starts with a classical number from a Donald Duck cartoon. The kids interrupt the show, and play clips from "Quack Pack" while the rock theme song starts.  I would expect this kind of show. given the cast of characters, to have a theme song design like this.

The show has a catchy chorus using the word "Quack." The chorus is "Quack ,Quack, Quack Pack"  I won't give the show too much heat for relying on a simple chorus. Repetition is key to any song getting stuck in your head.  Overall the song production is okay ;it is just hard to hear in certain areas, due  to the sound effects going on. 

Lyrics: The song is about teenage angst of  the Ducks that Donald Duck raises.  Every line in the song has the word, "quack" in it. I get they wanted to make the show about ducks ,but including too many lines of the word "quacking" is a bit excessive. Don't believe me? Here is an example of the song lyrics below.

“I feel like Quacking so, I think I will

I’m gonna Quack Quack until I get my thrill.”

Revised Rude Teenager Version.

I feel like crapping so, I think I will

I’m gonna mock mock until I get my thrill.

Memorability:  At the time this is what  kids and teenagers were listening too ,Grunge Rock.  I can't fault them for choosing this genre to make the show theme song about. I have strong feelings that the rock music and vocals provided, don't mix well in this case. There is conflicting interest between the sound effects and the vocals. As a result the song's final mix sounds messy.   I'm sure I thought this was awesome to listen too back then, but looking back this is a bad theme song. 

Notes: I listened to the ending credits theme song as well, and it is an improvement over the opening credits. The song is filled with more guitar work and less vocals; however, why on Earth did they include Donald Duck bad laugh in the song.


One last thing: I didn't need to hear Tommy Pickles scream ,"oh" in the beginning of the rock section.  I get enough of that in the "Rugrats." I feel bad for Donald Duck during this series.  These kids have to be torture especially if  he had this kid.

The Mighty Ducks: (September 1996- January 1997)

The Mighty Ducks

Catchiness:  If you learn anything from watching the show opening it is all about  hockey, hockey, and more hockey. The show sticks with a simple, but easy formula for a 90s cartoon theme song. A rock theme song with clear vocals.  The show sticks with repetition of two words, "Ducks Rock" as its main chorus. I'm okay with that since  simple is always better. The show's theme song shines through all of the sound effects.

Lyrics:  The show keeps the duck mentions down to one. I counted only one mention of “Quacking” so I’m happy about that since that other show mentions it way too many times.  The lyrics explain why the ducks are on Earth, and are trying to save the world. Additionally, the lyrics are full of hockey related references.  

Memorability:  There are a lot of lines to this song, so I highly doubt you’ll remember the verses. “Ducks Rock” is at most you’ll remember from hearing this song.  

Notes: Good rock theme and the lyrics are decent. The show was only on for one season.  I only thing I bet will remember about  this show is the amount of hockey stuff you see in the opening credits. For example, the asteroids in the beginning are shape like hockey pucks. That is not a complaint against the show since I'm a hockey fan in real life.

Enough Musical Analysis: Who won the battle?

The Mighty Ducks (3.5/5)

Quack Pack (2.5/5)

I felt that "The Mighty Ducks" theme song had more creative care put into it compare to "Quack Pack". "Quack Pack's" theme song seems desperate to me. I get they are ducks ,but overusing the word "quack" is too much.  Donald Duck and kids screaming at me while I'm listening to this song didn't help its case for it either.  I would have give it a higher score if those noises were not in there. While "Quack Pack" had a catchier theme song it lack the interesting music and clear vocals. I could understand everything that "The Mighty Ducks" theme song was singing about, and the music production was excellent.  

In other words hockey wins this one out.  Ducks Rock! I wish this series was on longer.

Coming Soon Part 2! Take a guess in the comments which shows are next to be reviewed. Hint: They have "Duck" in the title.

"Wasted" - Tiesto feat. Matthew Koma - Pop Song Review

Hot 100 rank: 49

Pop Radioplay: 21

Mixshow Radioplay: 2

Many songs compete for song of the summer title, and it always surprises which songs get embraced. This year we had two songs competing for the title with Magic’s “Rude”, and Iggy Azalea’s “Fancy.”  It was tossup year which one was the better of the two, but I had to pick one it would be “Fancy.” It was not a strong year for EDM singles for song of the summer title except for Calvin Harris; however, Tiesto decided to make his own bid for the song of the summer.  

Run those red lights of slot machines!

Tiesto hasn’t impressed me this year. I feel all of his competitors in the dance industry beat him on catchier pop songs with more interesting beats.  He first got a pop radio hit with “Red Lights” which had moderate success on the charts. "Red Lights" sticks with typical dance pop formula we all know very well. Catchy chorus, dance friendly beats, and short verses. Unfortunately, “Red Lights” is one of these pop song chords songs too. 

Pop song chords. Infecting dance music too.

 It is not that interesting musically it can sum up how pop music sounds in 2010s. It is complete with one of the stupidest choruses I have heard in a pop song in a long time. “We can run them red lights…” Really? This is what happens when you run a red light.

“Red Lights” always sounded to me like a blander Calvin Harris track.

This brings me to “Wasted” the second pop single from Tiesto’s latest album ”A Town Called Paradise” featuring Matthew Koma. First impressions of "Wasted" is that it is a crowd pleasing edm pop song, but that is really all you can good you can say about it.  It certainly has a catchy chorus.

Production wise, “Wasted” starts out with an acoustic guitar stringing along with crowd noises, and dogs barking mix in there. I actually like this production here; it brings a nice summer feeling of being outside going to park vibe. The song clocks in at 112 beats per minute which is slower than a typical dance song which clocks in at 128 to 130 beats per minute. Tiesto gets points for doing something different with the speed of this song.

The edm drop here is particularly strong here, and by comparison is way harder than “Red Lights” was.  Tiesto adds some “oh(s)!” in the drop to provide crowd chanting effects.  After the first verse the chorus is placed on top of the edm drop.

Matthew Koma sounds like a girl in this song.  I don’t know if it was Tiesto idea to raise the pitch on Koma’s voice, or Koma decided to have a girl voice on one song.  It sounds like to me that Koma’s voice was raised a few pitches in post production to make him sound preachier.  I would have preferred Koma use his regular singing style like for example on  Zedd's "Find You."

“I like us better when we're wasted,
It makes it easier to fake it”

Lyrical analysis: Tiesto and the narrator make it very clear that they prefer to be drunk to have fun. The narrator doesn't care what happens tomorrow as it is all about this moment.   A word of advice, make sure your shoes are off before something bad happens.

“The only time we really talk,
Is when our clothes are coming out”

The narrator doesn’t know this girl well enough for a conversation and instead wants to make love with her. 

“I like us better when we're wasted
It makes it easier to say it
Lay all your laundry on the bed
And then I'll lay it in instead
I like us better when we're wasted”

Before we get to smush time we have to finish this chorus the narrator proclaims!  I wish it was about that. Instead the narrator states he is drunk and he find it easier to talk about his problems in this condition. He gets the realization that everything is better in this condition. #whiteboywasted

One side note when Matthew Koma sings "whoa" he sounds like a fast food order box . This happens before the first edm drop.  Way too much pitch adjustment in this song, Koma singing must have been all over the place. 

“You are my glass half empty
Sipping my ocean dry”

Seems like the conversation hit a snag with this girl he is talking to tonight.  The significant other is doing all of the talking while the narrator is bored to tears. He receives no enjoyment from this conversation. As Kesha demonstrates below this is what essentially he is hearing  all night. 

Talking nothing but BLAH BLAH BLAH.  

 “Emotionally spend me
Til none of our planets could align
But I could stand you one more night”
 

They have different personalities sober, and both have conflicting interests.   The secret ingredient, alcohol, fixes this problem. Happily ever after ending is coming, right?

“You are a catch 22, either way I miss out.”

Darn it! I was hoping for the happy ever after ending following the conclusion of verse 1.  What’s the problem, Matt? I think you pick the wrong girl at this party to talk too.

“All of the grief I give you
It's energy I can't live without
But I could stand you one more night”

In the first line here at least you admitted that being together in the long run is a bad idea.  In these lines the narrator admits the stress of the relationship is something he can live without.  The narrator admits that he has problems as well, and they can try being an item.  

The video shows a bunch of girls having the time of their lives, but here they show a bunch of desserts too.

Looks delicious. I approve of this party so far.

 The video shows the  typical singing in the hairbrush, and mirror moves after they had a few beverages.  Other than that it isn’t much going on in the video except girls jumping up and down which what I was expecting for a song like this.  Party on with those desserts.

The audio quality for this  hair brush is incredible, Diane.

If this song had a  smell through my laptop speakers it would be a frat party. The smell is cheap cologne, and booze all over the place. The song knows it purpose for the spring/ summer season for being cheap easy listening crowd friendly edm pop music. I feel the lyrics only really work with college age kids and daylong parties.  

Ironically the song was originally written as “Naked” which would flow a lot better with the narrator intentions. I guess they had to change it for the US radio before releasing it. 

Production: Sounds like summer song. It is the real positive to it. 

Vocals: Matthew Koma is too pitchy here. 

Lyrics:  Meh on the lyrics.  Nothing too special here.

Memorable: I highly doubt any of you remember this song from over the summer.  If you did I'll be amazed. 

Final score: (2.5/5)