Album Review: 143 by Katy Perry

Seventh album from the American singer is flat, formulaic and forgettable Where did it all go wrong for Katy Perry? It wasn’t that long ago she was the byword for fun, quality pop tunes: lest we forget, Roar, Firework and Dark Horse still stand up as classics as the genre. Yet her 2020 album Smile received very mixed reviews, and then the release of 143’s lead single Woman’s World was mired in all kinds of controversy. It wasn’t just that Woman’s World was bad – and it was, a forgettable, dated bit of 90s Euro-trance with cliched lyrics like “She’s a sister, she’s a mother, open your eyes, just look around and you’ll discover”, it was the fact that this anthem to feminist empowerment was recorded with Dr Luke, who was accused by Kesha of sexual assault.

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When the singer cautioned us to "get ready to pop off" before the release of "Woman's World," it was already assumed it would kick off her third consecutive flop era. At this point, it's tired to detail what went wrong, but the song's total failure is true to everything wrong with the rest of 143. If it was offensively bad, at least it'd be camp. Instead, each track is an ADHD simulation -- so understimulating you forget what it sounds like seconds after it ends.

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Just last year, when Katy Perry announced that she had been working on new music, the internet's desire to see her great again was palpable. They were more than ready to celebrate her abdicating the years-long throne of pop music's Flop Empire. 2020's Smile, while housing some ear candies, was a middle-of-the-road return that, for the first time in her career, did not make it to the No.

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“It’s a woman’s world,” Katy Perry bellows on her new album’s first single. “And you’re lucky to be livin’ in it.” The song “Woman’s World” is Perry’s 36th single as a leading artist. As the title implies, it’s a pop-feminist manifesto, themes she explored more successfully with “Firework” (2010) and “Roar” (2013).

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The internet can be a curious place. One day, you're the cream of the crop; the next, you're a withering hashtag. Katy Perry's online downfall has been coming for a while, the vitriolic reviews of her 2020 album 'Smile' indicating that her pop lustre had become to fall away. Lead single 'Woman's World' however seemed to trigger something.

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Following a breathless medley of hits at the MTV Video Music Awards last week, Katy Perry clutched her gold-plated Moon Person to accept the Video Vanguard trophy. “There are so many things that have to align to have a long and successful career as an artist. There are no decade-long accidents,” she defiantly stated. “One of the biggest reasons I'm standing here right now is because I learned how to block out all of the noise, that every single artist in this industry has to constantly fight against — especially women.” She’s right, in that she didn’t stumble into success.

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Katy Perry seemed poised for a comeback. The singer's early output has undergone a favorable critical reevaluation of late, and her Video Vanguard performance at this year's MTV Video Music Awards was a reminder that, just a decade ago, she was capable of churning out a seemingly endless stream of radio hits. Perry's style of maximalist pop, no longer in vogue by the late 2010s, has been experiencing a revival, as evidenced by the breakout success of artists like Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.

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When in doubt, call in the kid. That's the unfortunate stratagem Katy Perry resorts to at the end of her new album, "143," in a groaner of a closer called "Wonder" that features a guest turn by the singer's 4-year-old daughter, Daisy. .

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