Katy Perry is living life on top at the moment... well when it comes to her music career and not her love life. The singer sent five singles off her Teenage Dream album to the top of the charts, and recently found new single "Part of Me" reaching number one as well. The singer seemed to have plans to break the late King of Pop's record for most number one singles from an album, so the idea of a re-issue of her hit album emerged. Officially released today, the new edition features all the tracks on the original track list along with three brand new songs, remixes of previous hits that I was not fond of, and a megamix of the six singles off the album. Perry may have had a huge impact on the pop genre and mainstream radio for the last two years, but was the re-release really needed? Let's breakdown the three new tracks.
After venturing and experiencing the original Teenage Dream track list again, the new material begins with current new single, "Part of Me". I wrote a small review for the track a few weeks ago expressing why I loved and hated it. When I came across the demo almost a year ago I thought it was the best song that Perry had released up to that point in her career. The song had conviction, emotion, and a great beat I could sing along to. However, when the final version was released, something had changed. The vocals seemed tampered with, and the production caused the song's initial strong punch to be reduced to a soft nudge. The demo version is far superior to this version, I'll stick to the one I have already.
While many will say that Perry is weakest when it comes to ballads, pointing out that "Thinking of You" is her lowest charting single and "The One That Got Away" was the album's first single not to hit number one, I will beg to differ. Both songs are some of the artist's most respected work in my eyes. Perry tries her hands again at a low, heart-felt ballad with "Wide Awake", but unfortunately it does not come across as believable or heartfelt at all. The production does increase the feeling of sadness and despair, but the song falls flat when it comes to the writing and actual vocal performance. I do not think the song should be released as a single and may just be for her die-hard fans.
Perry alluded to the inclusion of a up-tempo track titled "Dressin' Up" a couple of months and we have learned the artist was not just spreading rumors. The track is another sex-driven pop track with lyrics anurse taking one's temperature and Perry being their fantasy. The beat is slightly addictive and some clever lyrics are thrown in, but if I wanted to hear a song of sex from Perry I would put on "Peacock". The song is not bad, and it is actually the best of the three new songs, but I do not know if it fits in with the Teenage Dream era. If it was included on the artist's debut album my review for it may be a little better, but the song is nothing but your average, poppy, carefree song.
Teenage Dream originally received a 76% from me when it first hit shelves, but I must be honest and say a few songs I gave initial negative reviews, like "Peacock" and "Firework", grew on me a bit, so I may have increased the rating by a couple of points if I updated the review. However, the re-release brings the quality down when viewed as a whole and not just as three seperate songs. Perry has never been the greatest vocalist on the music scene, and we have learned her songwriting skills need a lot of work, but she has been able to craft music that crosses over to many age groups and genres, that needs to be complimented. While "Dressin Up" is adventurous and fun, "Part of Me" and "Wide Awake" now sound bland and boring and do not add anything new to the album experience. The re-release receives a 73%.
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