Katy Perry's "MTV Unplugged"

Katy Perry – MTV Unplugged

I have a lot of time for Katy Perry, and not just because she’s smokin’. Her transition from the nice Christian girl to the good girl gone bad thing she had going on with I Kissed A Girl and that is somehow now at the stage which requires her to go out with a guy like Russell Brand, was actually pretty fun to watch unfold. But this is MTV Unplugged we’re talking about.

If you didn’t already know, MTV Unplugged is a chance for artists to successfully prove how ridiculous they can be. Korn did it. Jay-Z did it. Lauryn Hill did it (although there are some nice parts to Hill’s performance, plus it spawned Kanye’s All Falls Down). Now we’re in the era where we are getting artists such as Paramore, Silversun Pickups, Vampire Weekend and now Katy Perry.

Depending how you look at this, it’s either a dreadful idea or a really good one. Thankfully, Perry has that cutesy quality to her, which almost justifies this whole thing. She can throw on a frock and shit and still kind of own it. Plus she has the vocal chops to back it up so when you hear a song like Thinking of You here, it makes for a pretty nice moment.

But of course, we have to tackle I Kissed A Girl. On the interview feature of the DVD she describes the rendition as “a little bit cabaret, it’s a little bit jazz…it’s not annoying cabaret, hopefully.” Um, actually, yeah. Here she chooses to open with it so it avoids any build-up to how ridiculous this thing actually sounds. Songs like were not made to be stripped back and in the atmosphere here where the unplugged aspect lends a seriousness to the performance, the song just doesn’t work. Same goes for Waking Up In Vegas and Ur So Gay. These songs are fun on record where there is plenty of instrumentation which emphasises the tongue-in-cheek humour of the songs but here they just feel forced because they’re her hit songs and she has to play them.

But there are moments where this sounds really good. Lost and Thinking of You actually sound better stripped right back to the bone like this. Brick By Brick, which is an unreleased song, closes the performance and also sees Perry take on the performance all on her lonesome. The song itself was probably the most suitable out of everything she performs – it’s a chance for her to show off her vocal range without having her band there to back her up.

I dunno, even though I liked parts of it, there’s definitely a feeling throughout the performance that she never gets the opportunity to let loose like she does on One Of The Boys. Instead of being playful and likable she comes off as reserved, and it’s just not as fun. There’s no doubt that there was pressure coming from all sides to make this thing marketable but how cool would it be if they recorded it on the beach or something, instead of inside a studio? Just a thought.