Dressin' Up

For the song by The Cure, see The Top.

"Dressin' Up"
Song by Katy Perry
from the album Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection
StudioThe Boom Boom Room
(Burbank, California)
Genre
Length3:43
LabelCapitol
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Lyric video
"Dressin' Up" on YouTube

"Dressin' Up" is a song by American singer Katy Perry from Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection (2012). It was written by Perry, Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Monte Neuble, and Matt Thiessen, and produced by Stewart and Kuk Harrell. Musically, "Dressin' Up" incorporates the styles of electro and dance-rock, along with a prominent electronic dance production. Lyrically, the song speaks of dressing up in different outfits for a lover, and contains multiple innuendos. "Dressin' Up" garnered mixed reviews from critics, some of whom complimented its "fun" sound, while others denounced it as being too similar to Perry's other songs. Upon the release of Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, the song charted on the UK Singles Chart at number 109.

Background

Perry worked with frequent collaborator Tricky Stewart on the song.

In October 2011, Tricky Stewart told MTV that he was back in the studio with Perry working on leftovers from their Teenage Dream sessions. He stated: "Katy and I went into [the studio] just to address some issues with [the] records that we had done in the past that didn't end up going on [the album], so we are in the process of just listening and freshening up things and getting ready for something special she has going on", hinting that Teenage Dream would have a re-release. Stewart also added: "We always knew that the records we created were special [and] at the time it was more contractual obligation [that they did not make the album], I can only have so many songs produced by me on the album, and she honestly didn't need any more records, as you can tell by the success of this album, the songs have been flawless." The producer later revealed one of the songs was titled "Dressing Up", saying: "This song is really special. It's called 'Dressing Up,' so it's going to be a big record, I think, it definitely fits. It's right there in what her sensibilities are as a musician and a songwriter. She doesn't change much. She has a very keen musical taste. It'll be really good".[1][2]

Recording

Matt Thiessen (pictured), of Relient K helped co-write "Dressin' Up".

"Dressin' Up" was written by Perry, along with Christopher "Tricky" Stewart, Monte Neuble, and Matt Theissen. Production of the song was handled by Stewart and Kuk Harrell, who provided the song's vocal production. It was recorded and engineered at Studio at the Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada, Triange Sound Studios and Silent Sound Studios in Atlanta, Georgia, The Boom Boom Room in Burbank, California, and at Triangle Sound Studios in Encino, California. It was engineered by Brian "B-LUV" Thomas, Andrew Wuepper, Chris "TEK" O'Ryan, and Pat Thrall, with assistance from Luis Navarro, Steven Dennis, Mark Gray, Kory Aaron, Charles Malone, Randy Urbanski, Justin Roberts, Steven Villa, and James Hunt. Vocoder and vocal effects were carried out by Thrall, who also played the rhythm guitar.[3]

Drum programming and sequencing was done by Stewart along with Kenneth "Soundz" Colby, with additional programming coming from Mike Green. Stewart and Neuble played the keyboards, Malone, Julio Mirando, and Daniel Silvestri played the guitar, while Silvestri played the bass guitar. The guitars and bass were recorded and engineered by Nick Chahwala, while Serban Ghenea mixed the song at MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia. "Dressin' Up" was engineered by John Hanes, and was assisted by Phil Seaford.[3]

Composition and reception

"Dressin' Up" has a length of three minutes and forty-four seconds.[4] Musically, the song incorporates dance-rock and electro styles,[5][6] and features an electronic dance production.[7] Lyrically, the song is about dressing up for one's lover, and sees Perry "inviting some 'dirty doggie' to 'pet her kitty.'"[6][8] State in the Real reviewer Chris Will deemed it similar to Perry's other songs, calling it "pretty typical in the scope of Katy Perry's sound."[5] Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly praised "Dressin' Up" as a "fun" song.[6] Maritess Calabria of RyanSeacreast.com praised the song as "smooth and sultry".[7] Becky Bain from Idolator felt the song contained some "absolutely ridiculous" verses.[9] A lyric video for the song was released shortly after Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection. Jenna Hally Rubenstein from MTV praised the song's lyric video as "lyric video nirvana".[8] Christopher Rosa of Glamour ranked it as Perry's 10th worst song, writing that its chorus was "chaotic".[10]

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Teenage Dream.[3]

Recording

  • Recorded at Studio at the Palms (Las Vegas), Triangle Sound Studios & Silent Sound Studios (Atlanta, Georgia), The Boom Boom Boom (Burbank, California), Triange Sound Studios (Encinal, California).
  • Mixed at Mixtar Studios, Virginia Beach.

Personnel

  • Katy Perry – songwriting, vocals
  • Matt Thiessen – songwriting
  • Tricky Stewart – songwriting, production, recording, programming
  • Monte Neuble – songwriting
  • Brian Thomas – recording
  • Chris O'Ryan – recording
  • Pat Thrall – recording, vocal recording
  • Kuk Harrell – vocal recording, vocal production
  • Kenneth Colby – programming

Charts

Following the release of Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, "Dressin' Up" debuted and peaked at number 109 on the issue date of April 7, 2012, on the UK Singles Chart.[11]

Chart (2012) Peak
position
UK Singles (Official Charts Company) 109

References

  1. ^ Vena, Jocelyn (October 5, 2011). "Katy Perry 'Freshening Up' Unreleased Songs". MTV. Archived from the original on October 5, 2011. Retrieved February 5, 2012.
  2. ^ Media, Cover (October 5, 2011). "Katy Perry working on 'special' songs". Yahoo! News. Yahoo!. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection (inlay cover). Katy Perry. Capitol Records. 2012. p. 14.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  4. ^ "Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection". iTunes. Apple Inc. March 26, 2012. Archived from the original on November 2, 2013. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
  5. ^ a b Will, Chris (March 31, 2012). "Song Review of the Week: "Wide Awake" by Katy Perry". State in the Real. Pennsylvania State University. Archived from the original on November 17, 2015. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  6. ^ a b c Maerz, Melissa (March 23, 2012). "Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Archived from the original on October 29, 2013. Retrieved March 22, 2013.
  7. ^ a b Calabria, Maritis (March 29, 2012). "Katy Perry Releases Lyric Video For 'Dressin Up'". RyanSeacrest.com. Ryan Seacrest Productions. Retrieved March 21, 2012.
  8. ^ a b Rubenstein, Jenna Hally (March 30, 2012). "Watch Katy Perry's 'Dressin' Up' Lyric Video!". MTV. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012.
  9. ^ Bain, Becky (March 30, 2012). "Katy Perry Reveals Her "Dressin' Up" Lyric Video". Idolator. Spin Media. Archived from the original on April 16, 2017. Retrieved April 28, 2014.
  10. ^ Rosa, Christopher (October 21, 2020). "Katy Perry's 10 Best (and Worst) Songs". Glamour. Retrieved October 25, 2020.
  11. ^ "CHART LOG UK: NEW ENTRIES UPDATE". Zobbel. Archived from the original on October 27, 2015. Retrieved May 3, 2015.