Why I Won't Be Supporting Katy Perry's New Single
Thoughts on Katy Perry's newest single.
When it was first rumored that pop icon Katy Perry would be returning to music, I, along with others, was extremely excited. Why wouldn’t I be? I grew up with Katy’s music, “Teenage Dream,” aside from being a massive era, was an omnipresent force in my life, with hits going into 2013, and the same goes with her album “Prism.” Katy’s career began a downward slope with 2018’s “Witness” era, in which Katy went for a more experimental sound. It strayed away from what made her popular, making just fun hits, but on “Witness” she tried to make more thoughtful music about the world and the American government, as Trump’s election largely inspired it. This era was plagued with awful promo and was one of the biggest flop albums by a major artist in the 2010s.
Katy’s career had a moment to kickstart again with the 2019 release of “Never Really Over” which I would argue to be one of the best pop songs of that decade, but the success was never capitalized on. Her next album “Smile” overall, was much better than “Witness” but came and went without a lasting hit, and this era isn’t starting much better.
Katy is back with a new single titled “Woman’s World” a track about female empowerment. Aside from the dated production and think message, it’s produced by Dr. Luke, a known abuser and rapist, whose case with Kesha was extremely public, as it also made Kesha’s career suffer as well. For a track about female empowerment, why work with an abuser? It comes off as fake, and simply a marketing ploy. Female empowerment songs usually come off flat, largely because they’re all about the same thing. To start, the production is extremely dated and comes off as an Ava Max meets Meghan Trainor hybrid. The attempt to be a Charli XCX level of camp this era comes off as extremely forced, Katy serving a look doesn’t make you an icon! In a similar sense to Kesha, you’re already a legend! Trying to make yourself something that you already are is pointless, and comes off as self-absorbed.
The music video doesn’t help the song’s case at all. It puts women in a working position and calls it a day, all while sexualizing them and only showing one body type and age. It all comes off like a marketing attempt, which it is, and paints Katy in a bad light, which might be justified. I’ll never interact with Katy’s music in the same way again, working with a music producer and then gaslighting your audience into making you believe you care about women’s issues is disgusting. At least Kim Petras (who’s also worked with Dr. Luke) stood her ground, Katy can’t even be bothered to bring it up. I likely won’t be tuning into her next single or anything else she puts out, because I am utterly disgusted. Katy, I’m immensely disappointed with you as an artist and a person, how could you do this?