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Katy Perry, One of the Boys

** HOLLOW FAME

Avril Lavigne's sonic sister has arrived -- a saucy Santa Barbara mall rat whose pop-punk ditties about a bisexual fling and crummy ex-boyfriends feel as genuine and threatening as the plastic flamingo on her cover. That's as close as she gets to her target, Pink. While Perry's pouty vocals and manufactured rebellion serve naughty novelties Ur So Gay and I Kissed a Girl, she's more girlie than grrl. -- Edna Gundersen

>>Download: Ur So Gay >>Consider: I Kissed a Girl >>Skip: Thinking of You, Mannequin, Lost, I'm Still Breathing, Hot n Cold

The Offspring, Rise and Fall, Rage and Grace

*** FAMILIARITY BREEDS CONTENT

"Predictable" and "familiar" tend to brand new albums as disappointing, but in this case the words should reassure fans who still savor periodic blasts of the bratty skate punk the Southern California band formulated ...