This Week On Billboard: Katy Perry f. Kanye West - E.T.

This Week On Billboard is where I unabashedly critique the current no. 1 hit on Billboard.com, the major yardstick for what's "hot" in music today. In order to simplify the review for those who don't want to read the whole article, each song is given a "!" rating, in which the finest grabs five of them. It's been gone for a while, now it's back after a 22-month hiatus.

A review of this week's number one single right after you fill Katy Perry with your poison






The last time I wrote a This Week On Billboard entry was six weeks ago. This isn’t a sign of me being lazy, or having a full plate, or running out of things to say; I was just patiently waiting until Lady Gaga’s “Born This Way” decides to vacate the top spot. With all the airplay and publicity it’s getting, and Maria Aragon’s cover of the song becoming a massive Internet hit, it seemed like “Born This Way” wasn’t going to relinquish its stronghold on the Billboard chart any time soon. It’s not that I didn’t like this song—in fact, my (t5!) score may have improved from a !!! to a !!!! after a few more listens—but I’m ready to move on. I love giving my two cents on these medallions of pop victory and fragments of the cultural landscape, and Lady Gaga is depriving me of that joy. So, thank you, Katy Perry and Kanye West, for keeping the charts from being stagnant with “E.T.”.

My first thought after listening to “E.T.” was how much it reminded me of t.A.T.u.’s “All The Things She Said”. It made me recall how terrific that song was, with its fetching minor scale melody, apocalyptic atmosphere, and captivating video. It’s unfortunate that the song’s quality was overshadowed by the Russian duo’s controversial girl-on-girl act, and it was never really judged appropriately as a result. I wouldn’t be surprised though if it’s discovered down the line that Katy Perry is genuinely an enormous t.A.T.u. fan, considering that she tried to debut with her own revamped version of a lipstick lesbian persona in “I Kissed A Girl”. I would be a bigger Katy Perry supporter if she released “E.T.” with the intention of giving “All The Things She Said” a proper homage.

Honestly, I haven’t been the biggest Katy Perry supporter in the world, and that’s mainly due to the fact that I can’t stand her voice. Her bellowing voice had been so awful that it spoiled perfectly constructed pop songs before (e.g., “Teenage Dream”, “Thinking Of You”). In “E.T.” though, her vocals aren’t damaging anything. She usually gets in trouble when she switches from her modal voice to her falsetto; but in “E.T.”, she manages to minimize these awkward transitions by singing a vocal range that doesn’t fluctuate as much within portions of the song. Actually, when she sings the entire bridge in falsetto, she nearly sounds celestial.

I’m assuming that Kanye West’s involvement in this track is also having a positive effect on Katy Perry’s performance. Not only is his ambition—this belief that his art can raise the bar for everyone else—infectious, his intense work ethic also extracts the best efforts from everyone around him. It’s akin to when the most talented player on your team is also your hardest worker on and off the court. When you’re associated with a colleague like that, you almost feel like you’re obligated to follow his lead. Sure, he’s still improving as a lyricist, as witnessed in the very weak verse in the middle of the song, but his ebullience on “E.T.” is evidently making Katy Perry rise to the occasion.

"E.T." may not be a perfect single (I'm giving this a perfect score but it should really be a !!!!.5), but it is very exhilarating to listen to in more ways than one. Every single off of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream has been summery and cheerful that it's starting to get stale. In "E.T.", Dr. Luke Gottwald has assembled a pleasantly dreary gathering of torrential synths and distorted lead tones to go with the angsty minor chord melody. Furthermore, it's refreshing to hear a rock stomp in pop music for a change. I appreciate a hulking electrostomp track as much as the next guy, but when every single release on the radio contains that 4/4 thumping, it's easy to get tired of it. And like I said, it also dethroned an irritatingly ubiquitous "Born This Way", so I'm very grateful for that. I thought I wasn't going to write a This Week On Billboard until next year.



(t5!) score: !!!!!