Music Matters

Katy Perry throws sexual innuendo, fantasy and 17 costume changes —sugar-coating included — at Houston

A Katie Perry concert is never dull.
Is Katie Perry and the bear supposed to be sexy or girlie?

It was so easy to be a parent concerned with what music your kids listened to 25 years ago. Back then pop stars like Madonna, Janet Jackson and Prince sold sex as song to kids on MTV in the most overt way possible. Mom and dad were outraged, but at least it was easy to identify who the offenders were.

Friday at Toyota Center lite-pop icon du jour (no disrespect, Lady Gaga but you're a little darker than lite pop) Katy Perry brought her highly-stylized, visually-stunning California Dreams Tour to Houston and set a new standard for turning three-minute songs into imaginative cohesive theater. She also offered parents a whole new layer of terror: Foreplay presented as fairytale.

"Where are all my sexy ladies at?" asked Perry during a break in her 18-song, two-hour show of hit singles, covers and songs from her two multi-platinum albums. Two excited elementary school age girls enjoying popcorn and glow sticks eagerly started shouting their response.

At first I thought, "How cute." Then a part of me couldn't help but think, "Am I OK with these youngsters responding to the word "sexy?"

Such is the conundrum of Perry and the Candyfornia world she introduced in her chart-topping "California Gurls" video last year and which she has now brought brilliantly to life on a multi-faceted stage.

Perry demonstrated that a strong mid-range and a helplessly likeable personality trumps vocal gymnastics and snooty diva-dom.

On the surface, Perry has created the ultimate 12 year-old girl's bedroom complete with lollipops, unicorns, fluffy pink clouds and furry mascots. Her video screens are lined in pink neon and her band and dancers dress like Barbie and Dr. Seuss characters.

But pay attention to the song lyrics, peek-a-boo fashions and thinly-veiled innuendo and it's clear that there is a lot of heavy flirtation mixed in with Perry's innocent sugar. She is definitely walking a delicate tightrope between PG and a strong PG-13.

I hate that this is an issue, because aside from those moments of discomfort, the show rivaled some of the best and most historic pop concerts of the last several decades. 'N Sync's No Strings Attached Tour and Madonna's Blonde Ambition Tour are the shows it's on par with.

Weaving a tale about an Alice in Wonderland-type girl who flees an evil butcher to be with her beloved Baker Boy, Perry demonstrated that a strong mid-range and a helplessly likeable personality trumps vocal gymnastics and snooty diva-dom.

Live renditions of hits like "E.T." and "Waking Up In Vegas," take on new dimensions when you can see her party girl vision played out as she sings. A powerful vocal on "Firework" and soulful reworking of "Hot N Cold" affirmed that Perry's voice doesn't get the credit it deserves while lesser-known torch songs like "Pearl" offer glimpses about some other artistic tricks she has up her sleeve.

But all that vocal energy was muted by visuals so stunning that the eyes couldn't catch it all. From a multi-colored Lego-inspired staircase to illuminated keyboards, Glee-worthy dance choreography and a stunning 17 wardrobe changes (the seven mid-stride, on-stage outfit changes during "Hot n Cold," is one of the coolest tricks I have ever seen) Perry set the bar very high for how she could possibly top this wonderland in the future.

Perhaps she might design a stage that is as adult as her music.

If Katy Perry has mastered anything over her lady-pop peers it's an ability to appeal to children and adults in equal — but very different ways. For the young girls she has filled her albums and videos with visions of unicorns, fluffy pink clouds and light-as-air choruses that are harder to shake than a debt collector. For her more mature fans there is an undercurrent of lust and physicality in her music that is helplessly magnetic because of its innocent hard candy coating.

The genius is that each individual listener takes what suits them when listening to Katy Perry.

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Movie Review

Daniel Craig shines in Queer, an unapologetic tale of love and loss

Photo courtesy of A24

Drew Starkey and Daniel Craig in Queer.

As recently as the late 2010s, if a movie was made about an LGBTQ+ character, it was more than likely about their coming out experience. Romance, if it existed, was typically chaste, and actual sex was almost completely out of the question. Things have changed dramatically in the 2020s, to the point that a major movie star has no issue starring in a film called Queer.

Based on the 1985 novella by William S. Burroughs, the film features William Lee (Daniel Craig), whom everyone calls just Lee, a writer living in 1950s-era Mexico City who spends most of his time haunting local bars with friends like fellow writer Joe Guidry (Jason Schwartzman) and hitting on younger men. His early interactions in the film seem to indicate that Lee has a bad reputation within the local gay community, as multiple people avoid him or give him odd looks.

Lee senses an opportunity when he encounters a newcomer, Eugene Allerton (Drew Starkey). Despite some awkward interactions, the two of them start spending time together, although Lee has much more invested in the relationship than Eugene does. Their hit-and-miss bond continues until Lee, who’s starting to get into drugs in addition to the booze, convinces Eugene to accompany him on a trip to South America.

Directed by Luca Guadagnino and written by Justin Kuritzkes (making their second straight film together after Challengers), early on the film seems to be mostly about the divide between an older person who’s grown comfortable in his ways and a younger person who’s living a relatively carefree life. The introduction of drugs into the plot changes things, though, with Lee searching out more ways to open his eyes to what the world has to offer.

Guadagnino and his team use some interesting visual storytelling techniques to introduce ideas that may not be present in the actual script. The most successful, demonstrated in multiple scenes, is the superimposition of movements by Lee over what’s actually taking place in the scene. The subtle overlay gives the audience insight into Lee’s true feelings, showing what he can’t or won’t say out loud.

Music also plays a big part in how the plot is perceived, with the use of anachronistic songs from Nirvana and Prince serving to heighten certain moments. The score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross is not as in-your-face as the one they did for Challengers, but it complements the film well, especially when the plot starts to get trippy in its final half hour.

Craig, who appears sweaty and disheveled for much of the film, is about as far from the suaveness of James Bond as you can get in this role. He takes multiple risks with his performance and almost all of them pay off. Starkey’s character is subdued by comparison, but still comes off well. Schwartzman and Lesley Manville are given showy roles, with both using altered appearances that make them nearly unrecognizable to deliver memorable performances.

Queer is not as accessible as Challengers was storytelling-wise, but the fact that it tells a story about gay men living their lives as they see fit with no interference or questions shows how far the film world has come in a short period of time. It also continues Guadagnino’s streak of making audacious films in a way that few other filmmakers are willing or able to approach.

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Queer is now playing in theaters.

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