I like some Avril songs and the two Katy Perry songs I've heard are ok, but each is pop star packaged in a subculture's most commoditized form. It's entirely possible that Katy Perry listens to Spoon and that Avril was in the pit at Earth Crisis shows, but that influence has been sufficiently supressed by their A&Rs. Music executives clearly consider outlandish glasses and Minnie Mouse dresses essential for Katy Perry while Avril has been coached to enjoy lots of plaid and tall socks.
Katy Perry also exploits sexuality in a way that the Hot Topic version of Belinda Carlisle doesn't. It could just be that Avril's more adorable while Katy Perry has bigger boobs. But it's also conspicuous that the androgynous-fascist shaved heads, leather, and spikes of punk, while sexual, don't recall mainstream sexuality like American Apparel models do. Avril softens punk's perversions while a more innocuous sexuality pervades "I Kissed A Girl".
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