User:Prism/Katy Hudson

Katy Hudson is the eponymous debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Katy Hudson, who would later adopt the stage name of Katy Perry, after her mother's maiden name. It was released on February 2001 as an audio cassette by extinct label Red Hill Records, having its physical release the month after. In the album, Hudson utilized primarily Christian rock and Contemporary Christian music in the songs' composition, while keeping a lyrical theme which revolves around her faith in God and that of teens and children.

Upon its release, Katy Hudson received positive reviews from music critics, who praised Hudson's songwriting for being "insightful" and deemed her talentous due to her voice. Though, a reviewer dismissed the album's music for being overproduced. Commercially, the album was a failure, selling less than 200 copies. It was promoted with Hudson embarking on two tours and releasing singles "Trust in Me" and "Search Me".

Background and recording
Hudson, raised in a "deeply" religious family with evangelical parents, started performing in church. Eventually, her "passion" for music grew and with various trips to Nashville at the age of 15, she started to write and record demos. She was discovered by Nashville producers while singing in a church, and was signed to Red Hill Records. During an interview, Perry stated about writing for the album:

Perry wrote the album with the recurring theme of God being there for anyone, and that "there's a best friend who will never let [anyone] down". The first song she composed for the album was "Trust in Me". She also spoke on the initial recording sessions: "When we first started recording, it seemed like everybody knew everybody else and I didn’t know anyone—it made me feel like the new kid all over again, just like growing up. I would even feel intimidated about playing the five chords I knew pretty well".

Composition
Katy Hudson saw Perry exploring various Christian-based music sub-genres, for example, Christian rock and Contemporary Christian music (CCM). Amongst what was described as an "alternative" direction, were prominent influences of pop rock and soft rock. During an interview for her official website at the time, Perry cited artists Jonatha Brooke (who she later worked with on the track "Choose Your Battles" from her fourth studio album Prism in 2013), Jennifer Knapp, Diana Krall and Fiona Apple as her musical influences.

"Trust in Me", "Naturally" and "My Own Monster" were said to capture "loneliness, fear and doubt often ascribed to teens". The first features "haunting" strings with "electronica effects" and "solid rock roots". An "aggressive" track, "Piercing" depicts the "infatuation" people have with expendable things, singing: "Lord, help me see the reality / That all I’ll ever need is You". "Last Call" was written by Perry while reading the book Last Call for Help: Changing North America One Teen at a Time, written by Dawson McAllister. Musically, it sees Perry going into a more jazz-oriented sound. Perry described "Growing Pains" as an anthem for children and adolescents, explaining that society shares a miscontructed image of them, often viewing them as individuals that do not believe in or do not know much about God. Written by Perry when she was in eighth grade, "Spit" addresses the hypocrisy she faced in Christian school.

"Faith Won't Fail" was inspired by faith always sufficing in Bible situations and chapters; and Perry commented on "Search Me": "I was struggling with the fact that I would have the huge responsibility of how others would be affected through what I was doing or saying on stage. I don’t want to put on some kind of front that everything is good when it’s not. I wanted to keep it real, but still give people hope." The record closes with "When There's Nothing Left", which has been described as a "crisp and clean 'love note' to God".

Release and promotion
"Trust in Me" preceded the album's release, being serviced to radios in February 2001. Katy Hudson was released on 8 February 2001 as an audio cassette, and later on 6 March 2001 as a CD, despite its release date being incorrectly listed in Amazon as 23 October 2001. "Search Me" was released in June 2001. The online merchandise store for Katy Hudson also had various products related to Perry, for example, necklaces, T-shirts and posters. Perry went on a tour with Phil Joel, Earthsuit, and V*Enna, in which Perry performed three songs, including "Search Me", and was dressed with a jean jacket and glittery eyeshadow. Perry also went on a solo promotional tour for Katy Hudson, visiting the United States, starting 6 September 2001 in Texas and finishing in 18 November of that year, in Virginia. It consisted of 46 dates.

Critical reaction
Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic awarded Katy Hudson three stars out of five, stating that with the album, Perry had "betray[ed] a heavy, heavy debt to Alanis Morissette". Erlewine also interpreted some of the songs' lyrics as having sexual overtones, and identifying those as "the most interesting things" in the album, describing the record's overall sound as "the kind of assaultive, over-produced Wall of Sound that some CCM rockers do in order to prove they're contemporary". . Christian periodical Christian Today writer Russ Breimeier was positive about Katy Hudson, highlighting Perry's songwriting style for being "insightful and well matched to the emotional power" of Perry's music. He further deemed Perry a "young talent" and expected to hear more from her in the next year. Similarly, Tony Cummings from Cross Rhythms also considered Perry to be a "vocal talent", recommendating readers to listen to the album.

Commercial response
Upon its release, Katy Hudson proved to be a commercial failure for Red Hill Records, selling an estimate value from 100 copies to 200.

Track listing
Credits extracted from Katy Hudson liner notes.

Credits and personnel
Adapted from Katy Hudson liner notes.


 * Personnel
 * Katy Hudson – songwriting (1-10), lead vocals (1-10)
 * Mark Stuart – background vocals (1)
 * Mark Dickson – songwriting (1, 5, 8)
 * Otto Price – production (1, 7, 8), synthesizers (1, 7, 8) , bass (1, 4–10) , programming (1, 7, 8)
 * Tommy Collier – songwriting (2), production (2, 3) , acoustic guitar (1) , engineering (2, 3)
 * Brian White – songwriting (2)
 * Scott Faircloff – songwriting (2, 9), keyboards (3)
 * David Browning – production (4–6, 9, 10), engineering (4–6, 9) , keyboards and programming (4–6, 9, 10) , B-3 (7) , piano (8)


 * Recording places
 * The Velvet Elvis-Nashville, Tennessee (2–6, 9, 10)
 * House of Tom-Cool Springs, Tennessee (2, 3)
 * Sound Kitchen-Cool Springs, Tennessee (3–6, 9, 10)
 * Kong's Cage-Franklin, Tennessee (4–6, 9, 10)