The Beauty of Song, Part Two: Katy Perry

Katy Perry is part of a new generation of edgy female singer-songwriters - she is not the second coming of Joni Mitchell! - and she gets as much attention for her fashion sense as her music. And her music is getting a lot of attention.



Her breakthrough hit was 2008's "I Kissed A Girl," not to be confused with the song of the same name from Jill Sobule. Perry, the daughter of evangelical ministers, defends the song in these terms:

"Love it, hate it, for me it was about us girls. When we're young, we're very touchy-feely. We have slumber party sing-alongs, we make up dance routines in our pajamas. We’re a lot more intimate in a friendship than guys can be. It’s not perverse but just sweet, that's what the song is about."