I know you’re joking, but it’s a great jumping off point.

If Sobule hadn’t both written and been successful with her “I kissed a girl”, Perry’s wouldn’t likely have been as big as it was.

Ignoring the total difference in tone, the stories each tells, and the collaborative nature of Perry’s song; the success of sobule’s song was a massive step forward towards industry, and even audience, acceptance of LGBTQ themed music.

Without a song like that, at roughly that time, it would have been a different path, one that may well have seen Perry’s never be a single at all, or only later.

If you do include rather than ingore all of those factors above, I would argue that despite not being as well known, sobule’s song was more important, even if they had come out simultaneously.

See, the Perry song was written in collaboration about an external idea. It was focused more on an experiment, a divergence from the norm that didn’t really cause a major ripple to the “character” that is the pov of the song.

Sobule’s song is a much more personal one, as much about her own life as a song about a topic. It has a different tone, though they’re both about a discovery that the pov character of the song makes regarding their sexuality. And, I feel that part of that difference was the collaboration with the other writers listed on Perry’s song. I’ve heard rumors that her having a credit on it was more a business decision than her actually penning lyrics, and I could believe them based on how much it panders to the male view in some sections.

Writing credits aside, one song “feels” like someone singing about how cool it is, that they’re so edgy and awesome. The other (Sobule’s) is much more about the surprise, and even guilt of the experience, while understanding fully that something major just changed for them. There’s only so much value in how a song feels, but it is a significant difference between the two songs.

Perry’s is basically about kissing a pretty girl once, and finding out it’s nice, with hints abour it maybe meaning that the person in the song is bi.

Sobule’s is about the unfolding of a relationship, one that’s unexpected and disruptive, and there’s no doubt that by the end of the song, the character in it has discovered her bisexuality, but is still conflicted based on her previous assumptions. Since Sobule herself expressed a similar state of being, it also lends a little extra weight to the song. It isn’t abstracted, it’s built totally on something personal and real.

Some of Perry’s song is abstracted.

Which, to me, means that they aren’t really similar enough in anything but title and premise (a girl kissing a girl) to merit Sobule’s death bringing up Katy Perry jokes.

Mind you, I’m not saying it wasn’t funny, I laughed. I’m just using that as a place to bring up what a lot of fans really loved about Sobule, her highly personal songwriting that also managed to be accessible enough to the world that it became a hit fairly early in the acceptance of homosexual and bisexual people by american culture. I wanted to bring it up in response to a good, dark joke because Jill led the way, and her work gets forgotten.