And for every sunny vista of "California Gurls," there's the inevitable shadow, too, a darkness suggested in the post-party blackout of "Last Friday Night" — "Is this a hickey or a bruise?" — or the nostalgic trace of adolescent romance in "Teenage Dream," unrecoverable except in make-believe.
While a number of feminist critics are uncomfortable (for good reason) with pop's overt girliness and the genre's unevolved sexual politics, McKee's greatest contribution might be the space she holds for her audience — which, as with all of pop, is composed mostly of teenage girls — to embrace these clichés but also to move past them.
PHOTO BY JENNIE WARREN
Sugar and spice
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There's pleasure, and power, too, just having a broader range of expression, an expanded sense of what women can do, even if that means falling down drunk. In the world she writes, trying often is met with "epic fails" of the sort described in "Last Friday Night," but that's no reason to feel ashamed. Pick yourself up and "do it all again," as the chorus affirms.
McKee is probably pop's most ardent defender of fucking up.
Speaking of ... when she describes how Britney Spears' "Hold It Against Me" came about, she laughs. "That song was inspired by Katy Perry. I was in the studio with her writing Teenage Dream stuff and she came in some slutty little dress and I was like, 'Damn, Katy, if I told you you had a nice body, would you hold it against me?' You know, classic pickup line." Again, the goofiness of the lyric distracts from its boldness — how often do you hear a woman come on to anyone like that? A woman who knows what she wants, and can say it directly?
McKee pauses for a moment. "It's funny, the way the melody works, it makes it emotional. Like when you hear it, it's a stupid cheesy pickup being sung, but the way that [Britney] sings it and this melody that it's on top of, it gives it a whole, really honest feel about it. You could say anything and if the melody feels right, and sings right, then it can turn into something real."
