She rolled out of her hot pink and black bed sheets and put on her zebra print slippers. Her Hello Kitty decorations watched her walk past the knee-high converse as she headed towards her neon green speaker dock. She pulled out her IPod touch and played her favorite song of the year: “Just the Way You Are” by Bruno Mars.

Let’s face it: 2010 was the best time for pop culture. 2010 was an era of Tumblr, tip-dyed hair, and chunky headbands, but, more importantly, the year was an era of legendary pop stars: Justin Bieber, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, and so many more moved the nation significantly, but who was the best? A great pop star had the ultimate package: Performance, melody, lyrics, and style. After hours of research and listening to music, the two strongest candidates have been narrowed down to Katy Perry and Kesha.

Katy Perry

It is a gloomy monday. Rain patters on the roof and windows while music plays in the background. The room goes silent for a minute as the next song on que begins. The atmosphere immediately turns warm as the first few beats of “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” by Katy Perry play.

Katy Perry has always brought a unique feel to the music industry. When it comes to quality and quantity, Katy Perry hits both factors on the head with every song. She has numerous good-quality songs and albums; she very rarely makes any definite skip songs.

Some of her music (such as “E.T.” and “Wide Awake”) have died down in popularity recently but one song seems to live on for eternity: “California Gurls,” featuring Snoop Dogg. Summer after Summer “California Gurls” takes over playlists and the internet. In fact, warm weather is barely here and today’s teens are already obsessing over the song.

“The range that Katy Perry provides is just the variety I prefer in music. ‘California Gurls’ is such a summer classic, and “The One That Got Away” is a peak song,” Sr. Lucia Villarreal-Saavedra said. Katy Perry was celebrated in 2010, and she still is.

2010 would not have been 2010 without Katy Perry. Her music was inescapable, and her songs were always guaranteed to reach top charts. Although her current music is not as worshiped as it was in 2010, her most successful songs live on.

Kesha 

The dance floor at Senior Prom is still; The crowd boos as lame songs play. Reading the room, the DJ does their magic and starts playing “Take It Off” by Kesha. The crowd goes wild.

Kesha carried the early 2010’s. Her hottest hits were, and still are, unforgettable. In 2010 and surrounding years, Kesha only had a few hit songs. Her biggest hits, though, have proven over time that the best music never expires. With hit song “Tik-Tok” being the number one song on Billboard Top 100 in 2010, Kesha held a significantly strong stance in music, despite only a handful of her music being popular.

Unsurprisingly, both of Kesha’s 2010 albums (Animal and Cannibal) have spiked on social media recently. Specifically on the platform TikTok (ironic, right?) a fair amount of her songs have become popular again.

Kesha’s song “Die Young” made an appearance when teens would bang on people’s doors to a few beats in the beginning of the song. The trend went viral, and so did Kesha’s 2012 song. A dance was also created to her song “Cannibal,” which in return received backlash from her lyrics about Jeffrey Dahmer. Other songs that have been popular on social media recently include “Take it Off,” “Backstabber,” and “Grow a Pear,” all which had a significant impact on teens in 2010 and 2023.

Not only did Kesha move the nation through “Tik-Tok,” but her appearance in Nickelodeon’s Victorious had a grip on Generation-Z. Throughout the episode titled “Ice Cream for Ke$ha,” the characters scurried to buy ice cream and spell out Kesha’s name in order to win their own private concert. Unsurprisingly, the group won the private concert. Kesha (played by herself) performed another hit song: “Blow.”

Alongside this, Kesha provides a fresh taste with almost all her songs. “I prefer Kesha because I’m not a huge fan of Katy Perry’s music. They’re both talented, but I think Kesha does a wider variety of music styles,” Soph. Ise Badran said. Kesha incorporates a wide variety of genres within her music, including pop, EDM, Electropop, dance pop, and even a bit of punk. She never fails to give her audience something new and authentic.

Face-Off

Katy Perry and Kesha set the stage for pop culture in the early 2010’s. Despite their accomplishments, the true winners are neither Katy Perry nor Kesha; they are the teens of 2010. To be a teen during the early 2010’s is like a dream come true. They truly had it better than anyone in terms of music and pop culture.

They were able to go to dances and parties with Kesha, Katy Perry, Maroon 5, Sean Kingston, and so many other artists playing in the background while today’s teens are stuck with people like Kanye West, Olivia Rodrigo, and Harry Styles. Today’s music isn’t horrible, but there were so many 2010 hits that are ten times better.

Ultimately, both Katy Perry and Kesha had a significant impact on pop culture alone, but one pop star is better than the other. So, the question lies: Team Katy or Team Kesha?