Music Theory, Song Writing and Katy

I'm not much into pop and not much into Katy Perry. I concede that she's OK to look at and her song productions are entertaining. I also concede that I'm just a nubie when it comes to music theory and song writing. Still all in all, this article was fun for me... "Explaining the genius of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream”—using music theory" http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/culturebox/2014/03/katy_perry_s_teenage_dream_explaining_the_hit_using_music_theory.html .

Interesting read, thanks for sharing!

I love all kinds of music, and this song for me is a prime example of how to write a hit song. It's hook after hook after hook and the production is, like you said, very entertaining.

A key thing to remember about Katy Perry is that she isn't new to the game of music. She has been around for years, having a christian music career and even being the singer of a band with super producers THE MATRIX. Her first record, before Teenage Dream, did quite well also. The producer of this song, Dr. Luke, was the guitarist on SNL for over a decade and all the hands in making her music are great musicians as well as pop song writers.

Where as not all pop music has such a strong muscle behind it, I have always enjoyed Katy Perry as her and her team are great musicians that also know how to win over a mainstream audience. Cool article and thanks for sharing!

- Douglas

And thanks Douglas for the backstory. I didn't know about Dr. Luke's role. :)

Just a little somethin' extra here...An important thing about theory is knowing how to use it creatively and that's what this story is really about, I think.

I think of it in terms of being a master craftsman. You can make a gorgeous piece of furniture only by having the creatively to think it up and then have the skills to execute it.

They are hand in hand in many ways.

Good article, thanks!!

Great article!

Dr. Luke and Max Martin are two of the best songwriters/producers alive today. Anyone interested into modern pop songwriting and producing should get familiar with those two guys.
Katy did a lot of homework on songwriting and it's not like she was just born with the ability to write/cowrite cool hooks and melody lines. Songwriting is really a craft once you get to know it form the inside.

This article blew my mind :D

This is great! So many musicians I know scoff at pop music, but it wouldn't be popular if there wasn't something to it. I don't know why people are so quick to dismiss the amount of work that goes into a musician's career, no matter what the genre... Anyways, I've read a lot of songwriting books referencing pop music for lyrical content and structure, but this is the most in-depth I've seen for the actual music theory behind it. Great article!

Thanks for sharing! Pretty interesting article