I’m not hip or up to date on western pop culture (let’s just call it an occupational hazard and leave it at that). This is particularly true for music, so when The Pokémon Company announced earlier this year that American pop singer Katy Perry was going to collaborate with the company for their 25th anniversary, I wasn’t exactly bursting with excitement. I mean, I couldn’t have even picked the singer out of a lineup until this afternoon when I finally saw the final result of the collaboration between Perry and Pikachu. That being said, I can recognize a good song when I hear it (no matter what my friends might say to the contrary).
Titled “Electric”, the song is an upbeat and vaguely inspirational pop song about following your dreams and achieving whatever you set out to do. The song itself is a good one… the music video, however, is slightly more problematic.
The song itself is perfectly fine, though not exactly inspired in terms of sound or vocals, but who am I to judge? The video though I feel more than qualified to nitpick at. The video starts with Perry and her pet Pikachu exploring a lighthouse. However, a few seconds into the video Perry and Pikachu enter a meditative state and seemingly travel back in time together (even without the aid of a microwave) to before Perry was a superstar and was still trying to figure out her sound and find her place in the world along with her pre-evolved pet Pichu.
At first, Perry and Pikachu just watch the younger versions of themselves as they play at a farmer’s market, where they growing discouraged by the lack of attention they’re getting. Luckily Pichu gives an adorable smile to the singer to encourage her to keep going, which eventually leads to her getting more tips.
And fruit, for some reason?
This is where the video starts getting screwy. After getting some tips, the not-famous-yet Perry visits a vintage store and is looking around at records. That’s when future Perry interferes and alerts her younger self to a talent show and even puts out a jacket for her to wear to it. Has Perry never watched a single time travel episode of any popular sci-fi franchise in the history of ever? Everyone knows you do not screw with the continuum. Who knows how many futures were altered by this careless action by future Perry!
The other thing that sticks out to me is, where has this Pikachu been for the entirety of Katy Perry’s career? If she’s had this Pokémon since it was a Pichu, did she keep it in a carrying case while she was on tour (since we all know that it wouldn’t go into a Pokéball)? When did she have time to evolve it? Inquiring minds want to know!
Naturally, I jest but I believe that in the future if I want to see a Pikachu in a music video I’ll stick with Pikotaro, since he speaks fluent Pikachu and isn’t afraid to get electrocuted for the sake of his art.
Source: SoraNews24