"This is a part of me, that you're never gonna ever take away from me"

The other night, I watched a documentary on Katy Perry, just because. Anyways, for those of you who may have no idea who she is, she’s a popular singer and according to Wikipedia, an American recording artist, businesswoman, philanthropist, and actress. The documentary starts off with kids, teenagers, and young adults, praising Katy and remarking on how her music and lyrics had changed their life. Their comments went along the lines of, “She made me realize that it’s okay to be weird and different, that it’s okay for me to express myself.”

Katy’s parents were traveling ministers so Katy grew up listening to their sermons of singing gospels. They censured what she watched and were very strict Penacostal Christians. Katy commented on her childhood saying that she used to believe that all families were like that and traveled and were immersed in Christianity. [Freud adolescent = universal] She had a great voice even as a young child, and she even recorded a gospel music album. One day she said she went to a friend’s house and heard a singer that wasn’t singing about Christianity but about her feelings and from then on, she started writing songs about the things going on in her own life. At 18, she moved to LA by herself and tried to start her career as a singer. Although she was signed by Columbia, she was unhappy because they were trying to change her style, change her to fit into categories of artists that were popular during that period, such as Avril Lavigne and Brittany Spears. They rejected her pleas to be herself. After multiple let downs, she was able to go to a different recording company and finally got her fame with the song, “I kissed a girl” in 2007.

When dissecting Katy’s Perry’s life, we see that Katy is able to fulfill the primary needs that Malinowski refers to. Malinowski claims that humans have seven basic biological and psychological needs that they meet through mediating culture; Nutrition, Reproduction, Bodily Comforts, Safety, Relaxation, Movement, and Growth. However, the culture and social organization that we immerse ourselves in produces new secondary needs that have just as much force as the primary biological needs - needs such as prestige, belonging, and meaning. For Katy, some of these secondary needs included leadership, fame, and being unique. More importantly, through her music, Katy is not only able to fulfill her own secondary needs, but she is able to encourage and possibly influence some of the primary and secondary needs of her fans as well! For their primary needs, some of her songs provide relaxation, while others promote movement and dance. Additionally, although this may be a bit of a stretch, some of her songs even encourage reproduction! (California girls)

However, I believe that part of the reason Katy has become so popular among her fans is because she is able to help them fulfill some very important secondary needs – needs such as attaining that sense of feeling within a society. A lot of her lyrics seem to resonate with those that may feel like they don’t fit in with everyone else, those that feel alienated, different, weird. They encourage people to be different, to be unique, to reveal their true selves and proud of it. “Do you ever feel, already buried deep, six feet under? Screams but no one seems to hear a thing. Do you know that there’s still a chance for you, ‘Cause there’s a spark in you...” Additionally, her concerts and concert outfits, from what I saw in the documentary, are also not very typical – candy dresses with rotating peppermint breasts, one-piece suits with bright light bulbs attached.

Although her unique style got her rejected early in her career, it is also what has made her so popular today. She was a deviant from the music industry, yet she is a huge part of society. Her rise to fame also exemplifies Benedict’s theories firstly about how culture and society try to mold individual personalities by rewarding some while punishing others, rendering them deviant, but then also, how deviance is relative and that societies produce deviance to reinforce their norms, and it’s important to examine deviance as well to study a culture.