Feature photo by Jack Bridgland
Story by Bailey Brantingham
In 2010, pop megastar Katy Perry made music history with “Teenage Dream,” the second album in history to feature five number-one singles. Fourteen years later, Perry’s new music is on the receiving end of a bandwagon of hate and is being deemed nothing less than a flop.
Her new album “143” released on Sept. 20 and has been judged by the public as yet another bottom-shelf release in her discography. The album dropped following the birth of her first child, with overlying themes of feminism and motherhood present throughout the tracklist.
The album isn’t bad. It’s not great, either, though. The public expects a certain level of quality from pop royalty like Perry, and this album was more than a disappointment. The tracks are reminiscent of the nameless electronica played as background music in nightclubs. Both the lyrics and instrumentals sound AI generated and lack the level of substance that should be present in an album centering around personal and gender experiences. A roster of celebrity features fail to cover up the fact that the album is mindless pop that could very much be mistaken as failed B-sides from her previous albums.
With a leading single titled “Woman’s World,” the album falls flat on the desired notes of feminism. Almost every song features lyrics centering around Perry being in love with, desired by or looking good for a man. Not to mention, the controversy surrounding Perry’s association with producer Dr. Luke, an accused abuser, is completely paradoxical and antithetical to the overarching theme of the album.
“Gimme Gimme” featuring 21 Savage is an example of one of the album’s extreme low-points. Corny and elementary lyrics like, “Kitty, kitty wanna come party tonight/Trippy, trippy, daddy, take me on a ride,” are layered on top of a simple beat that sounds like it was made in GarageBand. If the song was presented by itself rather than in the context of an entire album, it could easily be mistaken as a parody, mocking the repetitiveness of modern pop music.
While it’s been perceived as sweepingly bad, a handful of songs help to lift up the album’s quality. While the lyrics are cheesy, “Gorgeous” featuring Kim Petras exhibits a hard-hitting beat, and Petras provides a saving grace from Perry’s sometimes monotonous and tired vocals. “I’m His, He’s Mine” featuring Doechii is a refreshingly fun beat that breaks from the rest of the album’s mostly dull production. This, however, is most likely due to the fact that the track heavily samples the 1991 hit by Crystal Waters, “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless.)” “Wonder” is perhaps the only track that lives up to the intended empowering message the album aimed for with songs like “Woman’s World.” The song is an uplifting ode to innocence, joy and her daughter, Daisy, who has a verse on the track.
With “143” being her second album to fail to reach number one on the Billboard 200 album chart since 2008, it appears that Perry has lost her ability to produce hit-worthy earworms. After an abysmal release and a pile-on of hateful critiques, one question remains: Is there still a chance for Perry, or will she succumb to feeling like a plastic bag, drifting through the wind, wanting to start again?
Bailey Brantingham is the Lead Lifestyles Reporter for MTSU Sidelines.
To contact the Lifestyles Editor, email lifestyles@mtsusidelines.com.
For more news, visit www.mtsusidelines.com, and follow us on Facebook at MTSU Sidelines and on X and Instagram at @mtsusidelines. Also, sign up for our weekly newsletter here.
