Katy Perry must curse the day Lady Gaga donned her exploding bra. Just two years ago, Perry was the new bad girl on the pop block, done up like a Forties burlesque pin up, singing smart, funny anthems about youthful misbehaviour.  She had costumes, wigs, an engaging wit and hit No 1 in 25 countries with the provocative I Kissed a Girl. Then along came Gaga like a haute couture disco Valkyrie and suddenly a faux lesbian snog didn’t seem quite so risqué.  The extent to which Gaga has utterly shifted the female pop paradigm becomes evident when her biggest rival resorts to squirting whipped cream through a bra in her latest video. Even in blue wig and Betty Page swimsuit on her disco-popping, chart-topping comeback California Gurls, Perry still manages to come across as cheeky rather than transgressive.  Perry’s perky humour is the stuff of saucy postcards, relishing double entendres. The standout track on her second album is Peacock, which is essentially Toni Basil’s Mickey reworked as phallic worship. It’s good dirty fun.  This Carry On streak makes sense of her romance with ribald British comic Russell Brand, even though it can be slightly off-putting to consider that sentiments such as “You make me feel like I’m losing my virginity/The first time, every time you’re touching me’’ on the mushy Hummingbird Heart might refer to a particular bouffant sporting reformed sexaholic.  No expense has been spared producing a glistening, highly commercial pop product, with established producers including Dr Luke, Stargate and Tricky Stewart shifting Perry’s US guitar template towards more fashionable Eurobeats. But for all the stabbing synth hooks, the underlying song structure still adheres to rigid power pop formats.  There are at least five songwriters credited on every track (while an astonishing 17 engineers apparently contributed to the rocky Circle the Drain), so it is hardly surprising that, despite Perry’s witty lyrics, engaging character and high-powered singing, Teenage Dream struggles to establish a unique identity.  Beneath the fun and funky frolics, there is a disconcerting sense of a sensitive singer-songwriter trying to make herself heard. Perry taps Alanis Morissette angst, resorts too often to self-help platitudes and closes with a tremulous ballad of gushing sincerity.  In the post-Gaga pop world, the erstwhile bad girl seems distinctly lightweight.
Katy Perry seems more cheeky than transgressive in her new album 'Teenage    Dream'. Rating: * * *