[bobbymfw]

Originally posted by madonnas

Her songwriting has no tact, and when she wants to convey complex emotions she sounds like a 5 year old.

Those lyrics are above average for her but still not that good.

Cut her some slack though; Katy's no worse a songwriter than Madonna was at this stage in her career. People dwell too much on petty shortcomings instead of taking a step back and seeing an artist's full potential.

[madonnas]

Originally posted by Onen

but, the whole thing is about jesus.

the hammer and slander relates to when he hung on the cross...

she's singing about jesus forgiving her for her past mistakes. how is that hackneyed or lacking inspiration?

Oh... well then I'll give you this one.

Still, I've listened to One of the Boys.... the amount of bad outweighs the good.

[madonnas]

Originally posted by bobbymfw

Cut her some slack though; Katy's no worse a songwriter than Madonna was at this stage in her career. People dwell too much on petty shortcomings instead of taking a step back and seeing an artist's full potential.

I guess you're right, though Madonna didn't really write much of her first two albums, so it's harder to compare.

[gagakyle]

It seems like you're wanting people to say why she's a bad lyricist, yet making them use only the song you've posted to justify their answers. We've seen people post examples from other songs, and you've only posted one song. What others songs do you think demonstrate her lyrical ability?

[Onen]

Originally posted by gagakyle

It seems like you're wanting people to say why she's a bad lyricist, yet making them use only the song you've posted to justify their answers. We've seen people post examples from other songs, and you've only posted one song. What others songs do you think demonstrates her lyrical ability?

No, I posted two songs.

I didnt want to make the OP too long, but her whole first album is a good example of her lyrical ability.

[Pop pop123]

Compared that to this and see the difference:

My old man is a bad man but
I can't deny the way he holds my hand
And he grabs me, he has me by my heart
He doesn't mind I have a Las Vegas past
He doesn't mind I have an LA crass way about me
He loves me with every beat of his cocaine heart

Swimming pool glimmering darling
White bikini off with my red nail polish
Watch me in the swimming pool bright blue ripples you
Sitting sipping on your black Cristal
Oh yeah

Light of my life, fire of my loins
Be a good baby, do what I want
Light of my life, fire of my loins
Give me them gold coins, gimme them coins

And I'm off to the races, cases of Bacardi chasers
Chasing me all over town
Cause he knows I'm wasted, facing
Time again at Riker's Island and I won't get out
Because I'm crazy, baby I need you to come here and save me
I'm your little scarlet, starlet singing in the garden
Kiss me on my open mouth
Ready for you


My old man is a tough man but
He's got a soul as sweet as blood red jam
And he shows me, he knows me
Every inch of my tar black soul
He doesn't mind I have a flat broke down life
In fact he says he thinks it's why he might like about me
Admires me, the way I roll like a Rolling Stone

Likes to watch me in the glass room bathroom, Chateau Marmont
Slippin' on my red dress, puttin' on my makeup
Glass film, perfume, cognac, lilac
Fumes, says it feels like heaven to him

Light of his life, fire of his loins
Keep me forever, tell me you own me
Light of your life, fire of your loins
Tell me you own me, gimme them coins

And I'm off to the races, cases of Bacardi chasers
Chasing me all over town
Cause he knows I'm wasted, facing
Time again at Riker's Island and I won't get out
Because I'm crazy, baby I need you to come here and save me
I'm your little scarlet, starlet singing in the garden
Kiss me on my open mouth

Now I'm off to the races, laces
Leather on my waist is tight and I am fallin' down
I can see your face is shameless, Cipriani's basement
Love you but I'm going down
God I'm so crazy, baby, I'm sorry that I'm misbehaving
I'm your little harlot, starlet, Queen of Coney Island
Raising hell all over town
Sorry 'bout it

My old man is a thief and I'm gonna stay and pray with him 'til the end
But I trust in the decision of the Lord to watch over us
Take him when he may, if he may
I'm not afraid to say that I'd die without him
Who else is gonna put up with me this way?
I need you, I breathe you, I never leave you
They would rue the day I was alone without you
You're lying with your gold chain on, cigar hanging from your lips
I said "Hon' you never looked so beautiful as you do now, my man."

And we're off to the races, places
Ready, set the gate is down and now we're goin' in
To Las Vegas chaos, Casino Oasis, honey it is time to spin
Boy you're so crazy, baby, I love you forever not maybe
You are my one true love, you are my one true love

You are my one true love

[Loghen]

I have no doubt most people who bash her lyrics base it only on the opening line of "Firework".

[Nicole]

The fact that she doesn't write her own lyrics and that she's the product of a glossy team of songwriters. You can tell this by her lyrics' broad paint by numbers feel and the similarity they have to the others girls' lyrics who use the same songwriters.

[Mr. Duff]

Originally posted by gagakyle

It seems like you're wanting people to say why she's a bad lyricist, yet making them use only the song you've posted to justify their answers. We've seen people post examples from other songs, and you've only posted one song. What others songs do you think demonstrate her lyrical ability?

The lyrics of Lost, Thinking Of You, Who Am I Living For and Self-Inflicted says a lot about her lyrical ability. People these days just want to discredit Katy for her amazing writing skills. I don't even think the 'plastic bag' lyrics are bad.

[GreasyBruce]

her lyrics

[Onen]

Originally posted by madonnas

Oh... well then I'll give you this one.

Still, I've listened to One of the Boys.... the amount of bad outweighs the good.

Maybe she's not living up to her greatest potential.

I didnt mean to offend you or come off harsh, I just think that maybe people dont give katy enough credit. although her bad's out weigh the goods on most accounts, you gotta admit, she's at least decent.

[Clump]

Originally posted by Pop pop123

Compared that to this and see the difference:

She's a bad lyricist because she's too heavy handed. Sometimes you need a bit of tact, and instead you get... yeah.

It doesn't matter though. I've never heard anything about Katy wanting to be taken seriously as a songwriter.

[Ewan Chaos]

It might not be that she's bad, but there are plenty who are much better than she is, and at a similar or lessor stage in their career than her.

[Onen]

Originally posted by Nicole

The fact that she doesn't write her own lyrics and that she's the product of a glossy team of songwriters. You can tell by her lyrics' broad paint by numbers feel and the similarity they have to the others girls' lyrics who use the same songwriters.

But.....on her first two albums she has sole credit for most of her songs.
on her third album, there are songs where she collaborates with only two other producers.
do you look at the credits?

[jgaga]

I personally think Katy is a very talented songwriter!
Everybody writes differently than one another.
I think Katy's usage of metaphors is very well written. Yes, maybe "Epic Fail" is not a good lyric but everyone has "bad lyrics" but overall Katy does a really good job.

[madonnas]

Originally posted by Onen

Maybe she's not living up to her greatest potential.

I didnt mean to offend you or come off harsh, I just think that maybe people dont give katy enough credit. although her bad's out weigh the goods on most accounts, you gotta admit, she's at least decent.

It's okay, you didn't come off harsh to me. I understand what you're trying to say but I still don't think she's decent. Bad songwriters can have good songs, good songwriters have bad songs. Hopefully she'll improve.

[Pop pop123]

Originally posted by Clump

Off To The Races is flawless and you will deal.

[KatyPerryPowns]

Seriously. The lyrics to Thinking of You are pretty good if you ask me. I won't bring up more songs because (from what I know) the rest, or the vast majority of them, are co-written with other people. She wrote Thinking of You by herself and it's a shame at how bad it flopped for being such an amazing song.

[FAN]

Originally posted by Vulps

She does have a few decently written songs. It's just hard to appreciate her lyrics when she's singing them.

How did you not get reported for that?

[gagakyle]

Originally posted by Mr. Duff

The lyrics of Lost, Thinking Of You, Who Am I Living For and Self-Inflicted says a lot about her lyrical ability. People these days just want to discredit Katy for her amazing writing skills. I don't even think the 'plastic bag' lyrics are bad.

I agree. I wasn't trying to suggest she was a bad lyricist. Just seemed like the OP was asking something but kept directing people back to the lyrics posted when they named another song.

I don't think she's necessarily a bad lyricist. This sounds weird, but I don't necessarily think bad lyrics = bad lyricist. Sometimes bad/cheesy lyrics help make a song popular, etc. I guess my point is it's hard to segment a few songs and just judge them off of that. Most of TD imo was light-hearted, radio-friendly pop, so I think she/her team did a good job writing to her audience. I am not a Katy Perry fan, but she (and her other writers) do know how to write what people like to hear. If she is willing to discount singles, and add people to remix tracks to get to #1 (no shade), she'll surely write cheesy (or whatever you want to call them, some call them bad) lyrics to get a hit. BUT again, that doesn't necessarily measure her lyrical ability.