The Max Martin track is a clear progression from her last lead single, So What, and the perfect single to sell a greatest hits album with.

While there are clear elements of Max Martin and Dr. Luke’s current sound from songs like Katy Perry’s Teenage Dream, P!nk always manages to make these tracks sound like her own with her angry, controversial lyrics and her very distinctive vocals. It’s not trying to be anything other than a catchy pop song and it doesn’t need to be. P!nk has plenty of time for artistic moments with her album tracks and Raise Your Glass perfectly carries on P!nk’s incredible collection of singles.

One lyric that stands out on first listen is a well known phrase reversed in the middle 8:

So if you’re too school for cool

Raise Your Glass is released November 8th followed by Greatest Hits…So Far!!! on November 15th.

Teenage Dream still has a strong beat with an insanely catchy melody which California Gurls has, except it’s less fun but this isn’t a bad thing. It’s an end of the summer song which is perfect for the time of year it’s being released. Katy sings about how someone she fell in love with reminds her of being a teenager. Lyrically, it’s much more serious than California Gurls and the melody is very melancholic to support the lyrics. The lyrics also make a reference to California again in a subtle way. The tempo is almost the same as California Gurls which will make sure Teenage Dream gets played in clubs just as much as the latter.

Katy’s official Youtube channel uploaded a music and lyric video with images from the yet to be released video for Teenage Dream which you can view below:

Teenage Dream is out now in support of the upcoming album of the same name to be released August 22nd.

Check it out:

The full video for California Gurls is due to be released soon.

The problem with California Gurls as a lead single and also a comeback single is that the chorus has no stand out lyric to catch onto. Having listened to the song quite a number of times, it’s hard to remember any of the lyrics from the chorus. The only thing that keeps me returning for another listen is the addictive melody present throughout the track.

The production on the track sounds a bit raw and unfinished. On first listen, it sounded like it was an unfinished demo. The vocals are swallowed by the music for most of the song and it’s hard to understand why it was intentionally produced that way. California Gurls also sounds very similar to Dr. Luke’s recent hit with Ke$ha, TiK ToK, to the extent where the chorus of each song could be interchanged between their respective tracks and fit perfectly with the only alteration being the pitch.

Regardless, California Gurls is a strong enough lead single to become a hit despite its similarities to TiK ToK and it’s a solid effort from Katy showing some progression from the sound of her debut album One of The Boys. Even Snoop Dogg’s rap doesn’t sound out of place or forced although the misspelling of “girls” in the title could have been avoided but it’s hardly surprising as it seems to be a Dr. Luke reoccurring trend.

You can listen to California Gurls on Katy Perry’s official website now.

Blah, Blah, Blah is set in a bowling alley with shots of Ke$ha bowling, rolling around the bowling lanes, getting photos taken unsubtly with a Nokia phone, jumping around like Katy Perry in the middle of 3OH!3, tying a guy up, ripping a wig off a bald man’s head and flying up and down outside the building.

As an album track, Blah, Blah, Blah isn’t the song that stood out as being second single material but having seen the video, it is clear why it was chosen over the other (better) songs. To the general public it won’t sound like a rehash of TiK ToK and will give people the impression that Ke$ha isn’t just churning out the same song again (although they will come to realise this by the time singles three and four arrive).

3OH!3 are a bit out of place in both the video and the song and don’t add anything except looking awkward and irrelevant. The Starstrukk reconstruction scenes are completely unnecessary and the duo probably should have been cut from the song completely for the radio edit.

However, the video does its job which is to yet again showcase Ke$ha as a party girl while also being fun and showing off her rebellious personality.

Blah, Blah, Blah is set to be released on March 1st through RCA Records.

Surprisingly, they left in the interlude at the end of the video which probably should have been cut but seems to be there only to tie up the story.

Dr. Luke told Music Mix on Wednesday:

I’m working on Katy Perry’s record right now. Literally, yesterday was our first day, but it was amazing. I’m really proud of the work we already did. You know, of my songs that I’ve done, Hot ‘n’ Cold was one of my favorite ones. It’s just fun. I like making songs where you can make people have a good time and have joy. That’s like the best thing you can possibly do, you know?

According to some sources Katy was also in the studio with Calvin Harris. The album, the follow up to 2008′s One of The Boys, is set for release sometime this year.

The album opens with the infectious Your Love Is My Drug which on first listen makes you think you’ve heard the song a thousand times before but somehow it still sounds fresh. While not being incredibly innovative, the chorus will get stuck in your head for hours after listening to it. As far as singles go, it’s definitely a contender but should be a later single in the campaign as it has the same sound as TiK ToK.

If you’ve been to clubs any time in the past few months, then you can’t have missed out on hearing TiK ToK which gets a spin a few times per night. TiK ToK was the perfect debut single for Ke$ha as it established exactly who she is as an artist. Like most of the songs on Animal, TiK ToK is about being drunk at a party.

Throughout the album, it’s hard not to hear similarities to Avril Lavigne’s 2007 effort The Best Damn Thing. Although it’s not surprising since Ke$ha wrote some tracks with Avril which didn’t make the final cut of the album. The sound of The Best Damn Thing isn’t only on the tracks by Dr. Luke, who worked on most of The Best Damn Thing, but also on tracks like D.I.N.O.S.A.U.R. which doesn’t sound too distant from the “rapping” and beat of Avril’s I Don’t Have To Try.

Kiss ‘n’ Tell is a strong contender for the second single. You can instantly tell it’s a Max Martin and Dr. Luke track which echos Katy Perry’s Hot ‘n’ Cold in the chorus sonically and in structure.

The slower songs on the album are quite good and while they show Ke$ha’s diversity between up-tempo and mid-tempo songs, some of them are too similar to each other. In particular, Blind and Dancing With Tears In My Eyes could interchange their choruses and the only thing that would make you realise they weren’t the real chorus of the respective song is the lyrical content. Having said that Blind is the stronger of the two and a contender for the best song on the album.

Other highlights on the album include the title track, album closer Animal and Hungover, both mid-tempo but quite different to the aforementioned with Hungover using the metaphor of a hangover to describe being broken-hearted and Animal which is the perfect way to end the album. The mid-tempo tracks really show an honest side to Ke$ha while still maintaining her party girl image in both Hungover and Dancing With Tears In My Eyes.

Overall Animal is a very nice debut and looks set to be a very successful album campaign.

Timbaland said in a recent interview with MTV:

When I did this song, I was in love with this record called … you’re gonna be surprised. The record didn’t have anything to do with [If We Ever Meet Again], but when I heard I Gotta Feeling, I said, “I want a record just like that on my album”. I said, “I gotta do me a I Gotta Feeling record”. Me and one of my producers, Jim Beanz, we came up with this concept. I said, [I Gotta Feeling] is happy, but I like it.’ It gives a good feeling.

Get ready to hear If We Ever Meet Again played to death for months in every club following its February 15th release.

Take a listen below:

[See post to listen to audio]