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During the Video Music Awards’ pre-show on Sunday, MTV VJ Sway informed Katy Perry that “I Kissed a Girl,” Perry’s PG-rated ode to lesbian experimentation, had come on in a club a few nights prior to the VMAs…at which point Sway reported to Perry, “Every guy in the building stood up and started applauding.”

Perry giggled a little and replied, “What have  I done?”

To Perry’s fans, the question sounds like more of the harmless cheek they’ve come to expect from their cherry-chapsticked princess of lesbian lite. To Perry’s detractors, the question sounds like another straight-girl-gone-wild oblivious insult to the actual homosexual community. To me, Perry’s question sounds like a much more personal one, coming from a young woman whose worldwide approval has earned her the disapproval of her parents. You see, Katy Perry is a pastor’s kid. Not one but both of her parents deliver sermons every Sunday to the born-again Christian crowd. Mom and Dad Perry have told several media outlets that they are ashamed of their daughter because they find the message of her chart-topping song disgusting and disturbing.

Maybe Katy Perry’s “what have I done” was directed at herself, as she’s realizing that she’s gotten wild approval from tons of faceless strangers and wild disapproval from the people who are supposed to love her the most.

I’ll tell you what you’ve done, Katy: you’ve stirred yourself up enough inner conflict for some great song material. Your raspy contralto vocals make you sound unlike anyone else on pop radio right now, and you can play your own guitar. I hope you will use those instruments and the emotional motivation of your familial conflict to write a sophomore album that will outlast your 15 minutes of VMA-carpet fame.

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