An Analysis of 'Hot 'N' Cold' by Katy Perry

Some would say that pop music in general cannot be counted as poetry or high art, and would consider that attempting to disseminate a deep underlying meaning in song lyrics is a foolish thing.

I am going to do it anyway.

The first line of Katy Perry's song 'Hot En Cold' goes:

We used to be just like twins, so in sync

Assuming that this is a love song, as I'm sure I am able to do due to the Wedding setting of one of the videos, the comparison to twins is just tasteless and grotesque, or at least flags up her own incestuous issues that she is foisting onto this relationship.  This would perhaps indicate why the two aren't so close anymore.  A second, less likely option is that they used to be like the now-defunct boy-band *NSync, although if this is her suggestion it poses a whole other set of problems.

The same energy's now a dead battery

Staying away here from issues such as karma and chi, if her relationship is indeed a dead battery, I just hope that she disposed of the relationship in a responsible manner.  The acid can be dangerous if left thoughtlessly.  I also wonder if she ever licked the relationship, because the shock that she might have got from it might have been what killed the relationship.

Used to laugh at nothing, now you're plain boring

I'd suggest that perhaps if her boyfriend laughed at nothing on a regular basis he may have had a history of mental illness, laughing at nothing seems like the activity of someone that is unwell.  Also, if Miss Perry finds pleasure and solace only in the company of the mentally unstable, it really does bring her own sanity into question.

I should know that you're not going to change

Again, slightly harsh here from Miss Perry, I mean if the other participant in this narrative is suffering from a mental illness, then it is not his fault that he isn't able to change, maybe he is trying his best, and surely he deserves all the support he can get, rather than her cynicism.

Then into the chorus, which seems only to list his symptoms:

Cause you're hot then you're cold - some sort of irregular temperature

You're yes then you're no - indecisiveness, possibly due to ADHD or similar

You're in then you're out - a cold description of their sex-life

You're up then you're down - bipolar disorder, this is surely depression

You're wrong when it's right - this is a value judgement, right and wrong are both subjective

It's black and it's white - a newspaper

We fight we break up, we kiss we make up - At this point you'd have to wonder whether these two are even suited to one another...

You don't really want to stay - no - but you don't really want to guh-go...

Truly a moral duh-dilemma.

Some of you cynics might say "look, they are just a series of contrastive pairs put tactlessly into the form of couplets, there is nothing to be read into", and that would be a fair point.  But on the other hand, maybe it is a riddle.

Back into the verses then:

Someone call the doctor

This is the first sensible suggestion from Miss Perry, I have been worried since the first stanza that there is a medical issue that needs to be resolved here.  The main problem is that she seems to be unwilling to take responsibility for this phone call.

Got a case of a love bipolar

My analysis of this seems to indicate that it isn't the "love" that is bipolar here, to be completely honest I think that Miss Perry is being quite ignorant if she still is unwilling to accept her partners problems.  You are only fooling yourself Perry!

Stuck on a roller-coaster can't get off this ride

Ah, the pull back and reveal.  Turns out they've been on a roller-coaster the entire time!  Hot/cold because the ride probably goes inside and outside, yes/no are the fun and scary bits of the ride, in/out and up/down are how roller-coasters generally go, wrong/right is probably just a mistake, I'm sure she meant left/right.  And with black/white, well, there were many colours there I'm sure.

You change your mind like a girl changes clothes

 An ambiguous statement, to be honest, if Katy Perry doesn't provide a case study or a girl as a base-line example then the comparison isn't going to be idealogically viable.  And I don't think that she'll be able to find a girl that is representative of all females.  An impractical analogy.

The final chorus then is exactly the same as the first.  Lazy.  If you've run out of contrastive pair Katy you should have just asked me.  Here're my suggestions for lines you could have used in the chorus:

Cause it's hard then it's soft,

It's back and it's front,

It's north and it's south,

it's spots and it's stripes,

It's skirts and it's skins,

It's chalk and it's cheese and

It stops and it starts.

If you wish to experience a genuinely awesome song that utilises contrastive pairs then I point you hither.

Of course if taking advice from someone who perhaps lacks credibility in the pop world would undermine your artistic freedom then feel free to discount this analysis out of hand.  Your work is fantastic without my help Katy, I'm sure we can all look forward to far too much of your stellar work in the far-too-near future.