I devote almost no time to 21st century pop culture because it is mostly vapid, tends to celebrate a fascist mindset of social and physical superiority, and because it will all be quickly forgotten anyway, as the seasons change and tastes lurch into some new direction.
Example: Will anyone admit to obsessing over Glee, that dated once-center-of-everything?
No! The phenomenon of how pop culture is discarded by its supposed devotees is a fascinating mix of shame and true, oblivious amnesia.
In the end, only the nerds have the strange compulsion to remember anything, which is why if you care about your legacy, you better not piss off nerds. Not geeks. Nerds. They literally carry our entire heritage forward in their wondering brains. And each prideful generation had only castigated them for it.
I'm not for pop culture, but I have come to love some Katy Perry songs.
Since I have no pop culture bio to clutter my perception of her, I'd like to think I see straight to the music, no marketing filters.
"Last Friday Night" is great music. The guitar part has a cool, minimal strum. The vocal melodies are imaginative and catchy.
There is one qualm I do have about this song and nearly every other Katy Perry song: They all settle in with one chord pattern and never change it. They are allergic to true development. Check it out for yourself - they disguise this fact by changing the singing melodies and usually adding more instruments to elevate choruses. Sometimes middle bridges change chord pattern but usually (as in this song), the same chord progression is just played at a softer volume.
I cynically believe that this one-progression mega-trend (it is everywhere now!) is caused by producers who don't want to "waste" catchy chord progressions by lumping more than one into the same song. Maybe my industry/producer type friends can confirm or deny this.
But in the case of "Last Friday Night," the effect is cool, and I do somewhat like the theme and variation challenge of the compositional style. I just wish it wasn't so slavishly ubiquitous every time I venture to a pop radio station.
Listening to it now, something else about this song shines. The whole stupid party story used to make my eyes roll back. Plenty of other people attacked it as everything up to outright immorality. Now, I see the song as an account of the flippant, innocent memories shared by so many who found prosperity and new hope in the Obama years, a lightness we've quickly fallen out of in the new normal.
I share this historical perspective, and I celebrate Katy Perry for you now, because I am a nerd.