From a widely controversial album to her questionable journey to space, Katy Perry has been the topic of heated internet discussions for the past year. But now, Katy Perry is getting hate for The Lifetimes Tour, her fifth concert tour that began on April 23 and is set to conclude on December 7 this year, consisting of 84 concerts.
Perry, once dubbed the pop princess of the early 2010s, can’t seem to catch a break regarding backlash on the internet. Her 2010 album, Teenage Dream, is the second album in history to have five number-one singles on the US Billboard Hot 100— the first by a woman to achieve this milestone. It’s objectively her biggest, most successful album, which was labeled as “pop perfection” and contained aspects of young love, partying, personal growth, and self-empowerment. This begs the question: Why didn’t her newest album succeed, even though it has a similar theme and was produced by previous collaborators?
143 Album Rollout
Released on Sep. 20, 2024, through Capitol Records, Katy Perry’s seventh studio album 143, representing both the phrase “I love you” and Perry’s symbolic “angel number”, was admittedly a flop. Perry always had a handle on clever, campy lyrics and inventive production, but as the industry changed, this got old fast and made her feel the need to restore her sound. As Francis Rienzo puts it for The Hoya, “Katy Perry’s level of success in the early 2010s doomed her to a bleak future of attempting to reestablish herself and desperately chasing a relevant, contemporary sound.”
Her first single, “Women’s World”, is an unfortunate example of the criticism directed towards 143’s outdated production and lackluster songwriting. Immediately after its release, the song faced pushback for its stereotypical imagery of women, which Perry later claimed was intentional, with shallow lyrics and a generic pop sound. The structure of the song makes it sound more like a parody rather than an authentic empowerment anthem, and it has a severely outdated approach to feminism. On top of that, the message of “Women’s World” was seriously weakened when Katy Perry decided to collaborate with Dr. Luke, who has been a frequent collaborator and producer on many popular Katy Perry songs. Dr. Luke was involved in a public lawsuit with Kesha, an American singer and songwriter, in 2014. Kesha sued Dr. Luke and accused him of sexually assaulting her nine years earlier and “psychologically tormented her throughout their working relationship,” according to Vox. So, obviously, when Katy Perry comes out with a song about women’s empowerment, produced by a guy who was accused of abuse, it is not exactly the way to gain a positive reaction from fans.
A mediocre album from a pop star past her commercial peak probably would have come and gone without much notice if its rollout had not been prone to so many cringe-inducing mistakes. For example, the “Lifetimes” music video, which was in collaboration with Dr. Luke, prompted a government investigation for filming on a UNESCO World Heritage nature reserve off the coast of Spain. Her other single, “I’m His, He’s Mine” featuring Doechii, wasn’t nearly as controversial as “Women’s World”, but also didn’t bring anything to the table. According to Metacritic, a website that compiles scores from respected critics of games, movies, TV shows, and albums, Perry’s album received an average score of 37, becoming the site’s lowest-rated album since 2011 and the worst-reviewed album by a female artist in its 23-year history. With reviews calling this album a “catastrophe” and “stale”, it’s safe to say that Katy Perry’s status as a “pop-princess” is diminishing by the second. In the year of creative, risk-takers like Sabrina Carpenter, Charli Xcx, and Chappell Roan, Katy Perry’s 143 isn’t actively trying to experiment or break boundaries. Perry seems unsure of how to reclaim her prior hits, but as 143 proves, looking back isn’t always the best path forward.
Quick Trip To Space
Unfortunately, the best path forward for Katy Perry was intergalactic, as seen by her newest stunt to space, easily making her the meme of the month. On Apr. 14, Katy Perry became the first pop star to go to space. Perry was a part of an all-female flight crew, making it the first in 62 years. The crew included Gayle King, “CBS Mornings” anchor; civil rights activist Amanda Nguyen; aerospace engineer Aisha Bowe; former human resources executive and film producer Kerianne Flynn; and Lauren Sánchez, fiancée of Blue Origin and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Sanchez’s involvement was criticized as performative and tone-deaf, perceived more as a publicity stunt to boost Blue Origin’s image than a promotion of women’s achievements in space.
After the roughly 11-minute trip to space aboard a Blue Origin spacecraft, the flight quickly garnered controversy, as everyday people, fast-food companies, and celebrities, such as Olivia Munn and Emily Ratajkowski, questioned the sustainability of a trip to space. Munn, on “Today with Jenna & Friends”, described the space trip as “gluttonous” when referring to how much excessive money was spent on this trip, and expressed exasperation about the whole ordeal, pointing out that only one of the six-person crew is an astronaut. Cringe-inducing moments like Katy Perry and Gayle King kissing the ground after they came back, with Perry saying she felt “super connected to love” after landing, and holding up the setlist for her new tour to an in-flight camera, made her and everyone involved look insensitive to everything that’s been happening in the past year. The trip invited negative comments on Perry’s social media, with one person on Instagram describing the trip as a “bunch of rich people playing in space while the world is falling apart for the rest of us.” On TikTok, Ratajkowski said, “Look at the state of the world and think about how many resources went into putting these women into space, for what? I’m disgusted.”
The Lifetimes Tour: Conceptual Chaos
In response to the backlash, Katy Perry took to Instagram and admitted to feeling “battered and bruised”, but reassured fans she is okay and would “keep looking to the light”. She also referred to being a “human piñata” with the way the internet has been attacking her and giving her a figurative beating. Yet, Katy Perry’s reign of terror is far from over, and the light seems to be getting farther and dimmer. With a lackluster album rollout and a quick trip to space, fans aren’t too enthusiastic about The Lifetimes Tour.
Many people, from a variety of TikTok clips from her concert, have made comments about Perry’s space trip being the cause of the lack of preparation for her tour. “Should’ve spent less time in space and more in rehearsals”, said a user. “To be fair, she’s an astronaut, not a performer,” said another.
The show is conceptual, where Perry plays KP143, a half-human, half-machine video game character, who is on a mission to save an imaginary planet. The world she lives in is under threat from machine villains (AI) who have captured butterflies, symbols of feminine energy and power. As stated in a Rolling Stone article by Tomás Mier, “Throughout her set, [Katy Perry] reimagines her biggest hits including “Teenage Dream” and “Hot n Cold” into choreography-packed performances that seem consistent with what pop stans require from their favorite female entertainers… Perry brings fans onstage every night and allows them to choose a song for her to play during a “Choose Your Own Adventure” section of her show.” However, beginning in Mexico City, Mexico, Perry’s Lifetimes tour has since faced criticism for the show’s lackluster choreography, underwhelming vocals, and clunky stage design, with social media critics claiming that, “She’s doing so much, but nothing at the same time.” Perry has also caught flak for using AI-generated visuals, sparking conversations about keeping art human. As Mier put it, “For a production centered on battling nonhuman villains, the inclusion of seemingly artificial images felt oddly ironic.”
In a new age of innovative stage shows and interactive concerts like Lady Gaga’s Coachella set and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short n’ Sweet tour, Katy Perry’s presentation simply falls flat. Perry has become a convenient scapegoat for broader societal anger and fears. Perhaps criticizing and making fun of Perry’s ignorance is a welcome distraction from the systemic problems and involvement in various forms of abuse inside the music industry, like the Kesha v Dr. Luke case. Perry is undoubtedly largely to blame for the failure of her record, however, the overwhelming disdain for her most recent release seems to be more about the occasion than the song, and Katy Perry seems to have terrible timing.
Sources
Katy Perry’s “143” is Trying Too Hard – The Hoya
Katy Perry’s Latest Album Isn’t as Bad as Her Timing
Katy Perry Struggles to Reclaim Past Glory on the Flat ‘143’: Album Review
Who is in Lauren Sánchez’s Blue Origin all-female space crew?
