“I fell in love in a 7 Eleven parking lot. Sat on the curb drinking slurpees we mixed with alcohol.” I happened to hear these lyrics today in a catchy cheesy pop song and was immediately hooked. Initially, I assumed it was a new Ke$ha single.
Although as the song went on, it started to sound like Katy Perry – or wait, is that Rita Ora? I generally like to pride myself on being ahead of the curve with music but I had no clue about this song. So I Googled the lyrics and Bonnie McKee came up – still no clue. I then YouTubed the song having no idea what I was about to experience.
Expecting to see the typical lyric video, I was pleasantly surprised to see people actually singing the song. Keep in mind, we don’t know what Bonnie McKee looks like yet. There’s some girl with a red, white and blue popsicle singing at the beginning that could be her but then it jumps to some other girl singing it in bed who looks like Katy Perry. Wait, that is Katy Perry. Then cut to a webcam shot of a blond girl. Wait, that’s Jenny McCarthy. By the time Adam Lambert showed up, I had figured out the video was cameos of celebs singing the song with Bonnie McKee with her popsicle in between.
Then, EVERYONE makes an appearance in this video: Ke$ha, Carly Rae Jepsen, KISS, Jewel, Lance Bass, Jason Derulo, Joan Rivers, Tommy Lee, an awkward George Takei – just to name a few.
Who is this Bonnie McKee to get all these stars in her first video I wondered? This would be an impressive list of people for a mainstream artist, much less someone we don’t know. Wikipedia then told me she had co-written basically three fourths of the biggest pop songs in the last few years and is friends with all the artists. Including (and this is only the list of number ones):
- “Hold It Against Me” by Britney Spears
- “California Gurls” by Katy Perry
- “Teenage Dream” by Katy Perry
- “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” by Katy Perry
- “Part of Me” by Katy Perry
- “Dynamite” by Taio Cruz
- “How We Do (Party)” by Rita Ora
As my esteemed colleague Wiley pointed out, all these songs sound the same. EXACTLY. That’s the point. And “American Girl” does not disappoint in this tradition. I’m predicting (just as I told you about Austin Mahone here on Glamazon months before anyone else caught on) that this will be the song of the summer. At least until I’m tired of it in a few weeks. Or the new 1D single, “Best Song Ever”, comes out next month.
But I think this one actually has staying power and look forward to the rest of the album.
And btw, I love how it ends with Katy Perry sighing, saying “my competition.”
