Katy Perry – Teenage Dream – Crumbs
I love Glee and Darren Criss just as much as the next person, but I also have to admit that this song really isn’t constructive. In fact, it’s pretty destructive, since it adds to the flood of media telling teenagers what their dream life is.
The lyrics actually seem pretty innocuous at first, so let’s take a closer look.
You think I’m pretty
Without any makeup on
You think I’m funny
When I tell the punch line wrong
I know you get me
So I let my walls come down, down
So far so good. Love based on more than appearance: check. The reasons for loving him (I’m assuming it’s a him, though the song doesn’t specifically say) are a bit shallow, and seem to be more based on him complimenting her rather than his actual qualities, but this is more nitpicky than anything.
Before you met me
I was alright, but things
Were kinda heavy
You brought me to life
Now every February
You’ll be my Valentine, Valentine
This verse is quite sweet, and it’s fantastic that he touched the artist and changed her life so wonderfully.
Let’s go all the way tonight
No regrets, just love
We can dance until we die
You and I will be young forever.
Um. What?
Now, opinions vary on the right time to have sex, and my personal opinion isn’t quite relevant at the moment. The main thing is that teenagers are already bombarded by the message that sex driven by love in the heat of the moment is perfectly fine and has no consequences. “No regrets”? I’m sure that some teenagers have had sex and gone on to be quite happy and free from regret, but there are also many others who have deeply regretted their decision. It seems irresponsible to propagate the myth that sudden decisions about sex probably won’t have negative consequences.
And despite the wonders of plastic surgery, people cannot stay young forever. If sex is involved, it seems like it’s about time to grow up.
You make me
Feel like I’m living a
Teenage dream
The way you turn me on
I can’t sleep
Let’s run away and
Don’t ever look back
Don’t ever look back
My heart stops
When you look at me
Just one touch
Now, baby, I believe
This is real
So take a chance and
Don’t ever look back
Don’t ever look back
It just keeps getting worse. By the sounds of it, the artist is not a teenager herself, and yet believes that what she is describing is the dream situation for a teenager.
And that’s exactly the problem. It’s a dream. In this dream situation, two teenagers fall madly in love and will love each other forever and have passionate sex and run away from home and live perfectly happy lives. But real life has problems, including but not limited to unwanted pregnancy, drugs, alcohol, STDs, poverty, divorce, etc.
Now, I’m not saying that if you have sex as a teenager you WILL have ten kids out-of-wedlock with no money and lots of addictions. But I am saying that these are very real problems that are often not acknowledged by the media, and this song contributes to that myth.
We drove to Cali
And got drunk on the beach
Got a motel and
Built a fort out of sheets
I finally found you
My missing puzzle piece
I’m complete
And now we add alcohol. It was bound to happen. While it doesn’t sound like the artist is speaking as a teenager, this IS described as a teenage dream, and adding alcohol to this dream is underage drinking, which is illegal.
And there’s more sex.
I’mma get your heart racing
In my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight
Let you put your hands on me
In my skin-tight jeans
Be your teenage dream tonight
While it sounds like our couple is clothed now, this is still perpetuating the belief that physical intimacy is the key to a dream teenage life. While it is important, of course, it isn’t the most important thing in a romantic relationship, and is by no means the most important thing in a teenager’s life.
On a more positive note, I would highly recommend checking out Boyce Avenue’s absolutely phenomenal cover of Teenage Dream, complete with fantastic lyric adjustments that would upgrade this song to four or even five out of five cupcakes.