It goes without saying that "Glee" along with programs like "American Idol" and "The X-Factor" are the biggest bastions of assembly line pop in today's music industry. These television shows are designed specifically to either find artists who can fit into the pop music landscape and sell a bunch of singles or, in the case of "Glee," just sell a bunch of singles. But if there's one artist on the radio right now who is taking the assembly line method to heart, it's Katy Perry. Once a super earnest Christian rock artist, Perry got scooped up by the major label system half a decade ago and has since been a conduit through which superstar producers and songwriters get their songs to the radio. Since then, she has scored an unbelievable nine chart-topping singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, a number that leaves her tied with legendary musical acts like Paul McCartney, Elton John, and The Bee Gees. All of that has been accomplished over the course of just three albums, suggesting that either is Perry really, really talented or her producers have figured out a computer algorithm that spits out exactly what mainstream audiences want to hear. In most cases, I'd lean toward the latter. Not that Perry isn't without talent. She's got a great recording voice, and the moments where's she's allowed to write from an autobiographical standpoint (like on some of the tracks off her latest album "Prism," which was originally supposed to chronicle her break-up and divorce from Russell Brand, until label execs got in the way) suggest that there's an artist fighting to break free from the candy-coated pop star shell. For now though, Perry really does seem like a computer-generated specimen, from her flawless good looks to the mathematical success of her singles. Then again, maybe Perry is simply a human being fooled into thinking her world is real, a la "The Matrix." In that scenario, the major label executives are the machine overlords, and Perry's pop songwriter/producer collaborators (namely Dr. Luke - the ultimate recycler of pop sound bites) are the Agent Smith figures, punishing lawbreakers and keeping everything in line. Yep, that must be it.
Craig is a Chicago-based freelance writer who like to talk incessantly about music on AbsolutePunk.net. He also does writing for marketing companies to "pay the bills," but his true passion lies with the pop culture sphere.
