After hearing a popular song a few times recently, I’ve been thinking about how Katy Perry relates to personal finance.
What? How are Katy Perry and personal finance related? Well, I’m sure she’s making a ton of money, so her financial situation is much different than any of ours, right? Well, that’s my assumption anyway. If I’m wrong and you’re pulling in millions per year, then that’s great for you:)
The real reason I think of Katy Perry and personal finance is her song “Last Friday Night”. In case you aren’t into that part of the music scene, that song is one of 5 from her latest album that reached #1 on the Billboard Top 100 Chart. This feat tied Michael Jackson for the most songs from the same album to reach #1. It’s a song where she talks about a crazy night out, including a line about maxing out credit cards!
Here’s the sequence in the song.
Last Friday Night
Yeah we maxed our credit cards
And got kicked out of the bar
So we hit the boulevard
Last Friday Night
Later in the song, after talking about a bunch of other wild and crazy antics from that night out, she says
This Friday Night
Do it all again
It’s a fun, catchy song many might agree. Clearly, it hit #1 on the charts.
It also apparently includes, in the narrative of the fun night out, maxing out credit cards as a part of it. I’ll bet very few people thought twice when hearing the lyrics to the song, with respect to that line. It seems like it signifies part of a great time, maxing out credit cards. There are other memorable lyrics in the song anyway I suppose. “Maxing out credit cards” probably won’t raise too many eyebrows, right?
Well, it didn’t get by this personal finance writer.
This maxing out credit cards for fun stuff is the type of behavior that gets people in all kinds of trouble. It’s too bad that these sorts of choices are glorified, especially for younger, impressionable people.
Of course, who in the world would enjoy lyrics about a fun night out that involved being frugal instead of saying that they maxed out their credit cards? Yeah, not many people. I know. Well, in any event, how about something like this:
Last Friday Night
Didn’t touch our credit cards
Saved our cash when at the bar
Fillin’ up the penny jar
Last Friday Night
Ok, I know. You don’t have to say it:)
I wonder if saving money will ever be cool? What do you think?