No Kissing Girls, But Plenty of Cherry Chapstick

Monday night's sold-out crowd at Kool Haus in Toronto was a young one. In super-skinny jeans and UGGs, throngs of Katy Perry fans, most of them taking great advantage of the "all ages" event label, had parental permission to spend an evening with their adorably angsty idol. Sure, there were chaperons. But they were few and far between.

With a giant inflatable cat ("Kitty Purry") as the foundation of her set design, Katy knows both her audience and her image. And she delivered.

The advantage of having only one album out is that she can play it all. And well. The Grammys did her wrong, showcasing poor sound quality and subjecting her to awkward choreography. Take away the dance steps and hand her a guitar and she's a legitimate musical force to be reckoned with. Looking past (or, heck, actively embracing) her penguin romper, the sparkly catsuit, the giant inflatable cherry chapstick, you'll find an artist cautiously testing the waters of mainstream-success-meets-ruffled-feathers. She may not be Madonna (and, no, I won't dare to predict Perry as her eventual replacement), but as the Material Girl fades into irrelevance with her facial injections and Brangelina copycat adoptions, Katy just may be positioned to fill a gap in young music fans' lives, post-Jonas Brothers.

'Twas a fun show. Fans were relatively non-ridiculous. The Daylights opened quite admirably, save for an awkward moment of banter that included the word "consummated" where "conceived" should have been. And Katy kissed no one.

For parents out there, be warned: Katy Perry recently revealed her habit of chewing birth-control pills. Something about pregnancy paranoia. She may know how to write a decent song about men who don't measure up, but she's not exactly the gal your kids should be looking to for sex ed. Or for fashion advice.

Oh, and she recently denied the whole Josh Groban thing. It's just as well. Although I would have liked to see some fans crossing over. In either direction.

Nadine Bells, Pop Goes The Culture
		About the author:
		A seasoned Toronto-based writer, Nadine has scattered her musings on entertainment and lifestyle throughout cyberspace. With a post-grad in TV Writing and Producing (she grew up without cable and had to compensate by embracing a television addiction later in life), she offers pop-culture fixes and celebrity scoops exclusive to WOMAN.ca. Her non-writing life features late nights at the piano, eavesdropping at the gym, reenacting scenes from Top Chef in her tiny kitchen, and other quarter-life adventures.
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