One of the many irritating things about Katy Perry’s sure-to-be-ubiquitous summer slice of pop “California Gurls†is that borderline-egregious spelling of “girls.†Well, it turns out that rather than simply a play to appeal to the Hot Topic masses, the decision to spell the word that way was in fact an homage to… Big Star’s 1974 single “September Gurls.â€
Perry told EW that her manager Bradford is a “huge Big Star fan†and, in light of the recent death of the band’s Alex Chilton, Bradford asked Perry if she would trade out the “i†for a “u.†And if doing her friend a favor also happened to make for a title more palatable to the Twitter generation, all the better: “I don’t know the whole catalog of Big Star, but I did it because Bradford is one of my best friends and I thought it was cool,†Perry said, “and you know, the kids like those variations.â€
Katy Perry says ‘California Gurls†title is indeed a Big Star reference: Whoa! [Music Mix/EW]