Pick of the Day: Katy Perry's "This Is How We Do"

CDS Picks has officially been retired and will be replaced with a daily, more in-depth look at a single song. This new feature will be dubbed the Pick of the Day.

If you guys can remember all the way back to February, I published a post about my prediction for the next song to be released as a single from Katy Perry's #1 album PRISM. If you don't quite remember it, I picked "Walking On Air", "Birthday" and "This Is How We Do" as the respective 4th, 5th and 6th singles. While I ended up being wrong about "Walking On Air", the other two tracks were released back to back as the 4th and 5th official singles.

After the unexpected failure of "Birthday" on charts across the globe (failing to reach the top 20 on approximately 60% of the charts it reached), Katy Perry has decided to aggressively promote "This Is How We Do" to make sure it does render the same fate. So far, her strategy seems to be off without a hitch.

The track, which was officially released on August 12th has soared onto several charts worldwide, including the US Billboard Hot 100 (where it roars 88-66 this week), the ARIA Australian Top 50 (where it enters at #27 this week), the New Zealand Top 40 (where it enters at #20) and several others (all of which it posts massive gains on this week).

Like I said earlier, Katy's campaign for the track has been pretty massive. The track posts gains and debuts on all charts thanks to the successful rollout of the song's official music video. The clip, which features bright colors, tumblr inspired props and splashy backgrounds has accumulated over 27 million views after approximately two weeks of release. In comparison, "Birthday" (PRISM's previous release) has accumulated 36 million views after being in release for approximately 4 months. It's pretty obvious as to why "This Is How We Do" is wiping "Birthday" away: the video for "Birthday" is one of the stupidest videos of the year, and after the massive success of its predecessor ("Dark Horse") a campaign for the track was not sent into overdrive.

Also fueling the success of "This Is How We Do" is the Brillz remix of the track (which received critical and commercial acclaim upon release this past week) and an aggressive poster technique that sees hundreds of posters with the clearly marked "#thisishowwedo" being plastered over the downtowns of major cities such as Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. Additionally, Perry has connected with her fans on a much larger scale than with "Birthday". It's a recipe for success, even if "This Is How We Do" does contain some of the dumbest lyrics of the year. 

See my original thoughts on "This Is How We Do" when it was released as a part of PRISM back in October of last year:

"There are so many ways to explain this banger. In short, it is a giant shout out and list of things Katy loves to do. Another euro-pop song that has major single potential and is a strong stand out on the album. It is like a laid back anthem for summer days and lazy days. In all the nitty gritty details, Katy shouts out her perfect day, including her favorite Santa Barbara taco joint and how she acted when she was younger compared to younger kids now. It is addicting upon first listen and includes many pop culture related things that you pick up on slowly when you start listening to it over and over again. She mentions Mariah Carey, pancakes, Maserati, and even does a shout out to upcoming U.S. band Karmin by copying a line from their current single "Acapella" ("bring the beat back"). The song also features an edgy spoken bridge and has a 90s video game related beat/noise for a few seconds about 1 minute in. A surprise hit!"

So why is "This Is How We Do" the Pick of the Day? Because not only is the track bound to be a success, its also likely to make headlines with its own Brillz remix.