【译】叉婊Pitchfork评 Katy Perry 2019年单曲《Never Really Over》
翻译：Nomanlandever
“Two years and just like that/My head still takes me back/Thought it was done but I/Guess it’s never really over,” Katy Perry sings on “Never Really Over.” Thank god she’s not talking about her Witness phase, the 2017 album that found her making hackneyed political statements and personal platitudes. Though her last record cycle attempted something approximating depth and maturity, Perry has never really thrived as that kind of pop star. She excels at the kind of sugary megahits that sound like eating frosting out of a jar. Her new single, however, feels like a promising way forward.
“Two years and just like that/My head still takes me back/Thought it was done but I/Guess it’s never really over,” Katy Perry在歌曲《Never Really Over》里唱道，感谢上帝她没提《Witness》时期，在这张2017年的专辑中，她说着陈词滥调的政治观点和个人态度。尽管上张专辑时期她想做出一些有深度和成熟的东西，Katy Perry却从未达到那样的流行高度。她很擅长做那种像是从蜜罐里掏出糖浆的国民大热单曲。然而，她的新单让人感觉未来一片光明。
Produced by Zedd, “Never Really Over” throws in everything but the kitchen sink—ticking clocks, piano chords recalling “Baba O’Riley,” a drumline, a synth-y chorus worthy of a CRJ banger—and ends up with a surprising amount of subtlety. She could have stood to do without the obvious ticking in a song about the passage of time, and the drumline might get her in trouble with the Beyhive, but all in all, “Never Really Over” is her best single since 2013’s “Walking on Air.”
由Zedd制作的歌曲《Never Really Over》化繁为简，全曲只有厨房水槽——滴答作响的时钟，让人想起“Baba O’riley”的钢琴和弦，鼓声，和CRJ乐队的合成器合唱——用许多精妙无比的细节结束整首歌曲。在一首讲述时间流逝的歌曲中，她本可以不使用明显的滴答声，歌曲的鼓声部分可能会让她陷入与碧昂丝粉丝（Beyhive）的麻烦中。但总之，《Never Really Over》是她自2013年单曲《Walking on Air》后最好的歌。
Particularly noteworthy is the fact that the lyrics are not horrendously cheesy (a noted weak spot for Perry and her co-writers), instead adeptly capturing the conflicted pull of a love you can’t quit. Everybody has their own Mr. Big at one point or another: the person you keep letting in even though it hurts, even though you swore you were done. Instead of shrouding that notion in big Trap beats and a tortured rap coo (see: Ariana Grande’s “everytime”), Perry jokes about online stalking and offers up her most impressively tongue-tied chorus to date. She makes bad decisions sound enticing.
特别值得注意的是，歌曲歌词部分没有特别低俗（一个Katy Perry与她合作者的大缺点）。相反，它巧妙地捕捉到了一段无法脱身的恋情的矛盾感。不管是谁，每个人心中都有自己的“真命天子”（Mr.Big)：一个即使伤你心，你发誓说受够了，但也会接纳的人。Katy Perry在歌中没有加入大Trap节奏和一段重拳出击的rap（如Ariana Grande歌曲《everytime》），而是玩笑说着“网路追踪”的事，献上了她至今最令人印象深刻的烫嘴副歌。她做出的错误抉择听起来十分刺激。
