And, the whipped cream cans are attached to her breasts.įrom the moment Snoop Dogg physically puts the Katy Perry board game piece down on the board he controls, it's clear that this video is a dream come true for film theory majors all across the world (if anyone hasn't written at least a term paper on this, I'd be disappointed). It culminates in a sequence where Katy Perry defeats a group of gummy bears by spraying them with whipped cream. As he plays, she goes through the game and finds other friends - including a gingerbread man and a popsicle that straight up has an orgasm. Snoop Dogg (who features on the track), is playing this game, and Perry is on the board. The video itself takes place in a board game called "Candyfornia," a play on the game Candyland. Musicians have long drawn inspiration from artists in other mediums, but as far as these sorts of collaborations go, this one was a very, very close one.
On the "California Gurls" video, Cotton served as art director and made/designed much of what you see in the video - including the game board that Snoop Dogg uses. For example, the cover of Teenage Dream is actually a Will Cotton painting entitled " Cotton Candy Katy." Here's another one of his paintings for comparison: Sometimes, nude models are included in these paintings - sound familiar?Ĭotton's work wasn't just the inspiration for the Teenage Dream-era imagery, he was actively involved in creating the visuals that would come to define this period in Perry's career. The key to all of this was American painter Will Cotton, an artist who is known for creating landscapes where the landscape features are made out of candy. It was also the first step in a relatively significant image shift from a sort of quirky girl next door type to a full-fledged pop star, a move that now seems necessary.
So as the first single off of Teenage Dream, "California Gurls" represents not just a music video but a sort of brand launch for an album that could have easily damaged Perry's career if it hadn't taken off. She frequently talked in interviews about how she needed to make a big impact with a second album or else she risked remembered as the person who sang "I Kissed A Girl" and little else. After the success of Perry's first few singles from her first album ("I Kissed A Girl," "Hot N Cold"), it seems that Perry's mind was focused on creating a grand, unifying vision for her second album.
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