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

Reminders of Him taps into grief, grace, and the power of moving on

Photo by Michelle Faye / Universal Pictures

Maika Monroe and Tyriq Withers in Reminders of HIm.

Texas author Colleen Hoover has gone from being a popular writer to a full-on celebrity in the 2020s. The new film Reminders of Him marks the third adaptation of her books in just 19 months (a fourth, Verity, is scheduled for release in October 2026). All of her books that have been adapted so far — most notably It Ends With Us — are female-led stories that feature elements of romance and trauma, catnip for studios looking to appeal to the underserved demographic of women.

Leading the way in this film is Kenna Rowan (Maika Monroe), who returns to her hometown of Laramie, Wyoming after spending years in prison for killing her boyfriend, Scotty (Rudy Pankow), in a car accident. That relationship resulted in a daughter, Diem (Zoe Kosovic), whom Kenna gave birth to while imprisoned and is now being raised by her grandparents, Patrick (Bradley Whitford) and Grace (Lauren Graham).

Yearning to be a part of Diem’s life, Kenna tries to reconnect with Patrick and Grace, only to be rebuffed by Scotty’s best friend, Ledger (Tyriq Withers), a former NFL player who now owns a local bar. In running interference, Ledger starts to become closer to Kenna, discovering that her tragic mistake shouldn’t be the only thing that defines her.

Directed by Vanessa Caswill and written by Lauren Levine, the film features mostly surface level examinations of its themes and average performances, yet it winds up being effective thanks to a willingness not to rush through its storytelling beats. The filmmakers take the slow and steady approach toward the coupling of Kenna and Ledger, setting up their bond through a series of heart-to-heart conversations that makes any romance feel earned.

The majority of the focus is on Kenna reclaiming her place in the world, and on Ledger coming to terms with the fact that the person who killed his best friend is not inherently a bad person. The film definitely could have gone deeper in its explorations of grief and anger, but the sheer amount of time it takes in addressing the characters’ doubts and fears turns out to be sufficient for a film that’s not aiming to be considered a dramatic masterpiece.

It also helps that Caswill and Levine do a solid job of establishing the variety of characters that inhabit the film. Kenna and Ledger don’t always feel like fully-formed people, but they become so through their interactions with each other and the other townspeople. Lady Diana (Monika Myers), a girl with Down syndrome who lives in Kenna’s apartment complex, and Roman (Nicholas Duvernay), Ledger’s co-worker at his bar, help to broaden the appeal of the two leads.

Monroe has, to this point, been best known for starring roles in horror films like It Follows and Longlegs. While she does somewhat well in this role, her delivery is often more flat than you’d expect for a character going through what she does. Withers thankfully doesn’t remind viewers of his recent bomb Him, demonstrating a crossover appeal that should serve him well in the future. Whitford and Graham don’t get to do much, but their combined experience gives their roles exactly what is needed.

It may sound like damning with faint praise, but Reminders of Him is a competently made film that knows how to serve its core audience without insulting anyone who may not automatically be all-in for such a story. The filmmakers don’t try to force any of the key moments down the audience’s throat, and that stands out in a genre that’s not always known for its subtlety.

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Reminders of Him opens in theaters on March 13.

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