![]() ![]() ![]() The track and its corresponding album, One of the Boys, cemented the persona of Katy Perry as they introduced her with visual references portraying Katy as a pin-up girl of the late 2000s–a modernized, live-action Betty Boop who’s provocative only as much as she embodies an ironic caricature of female pop-stardom. Her debut single, “I Kissed a Girl,” in 2008 hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 just weeks after its release. It’s in hopes that she doesn’t stay away for long.With her last two albums’ ( Witness as well as 2020’s Smile) underperformance, it’d be easy to forget how dominantly Katy Perry reigned over pop music of the early-to-mid 2010s. For four days, we got to see Katheryn Hudson, a peek from behind the curtain. (Or, of course, to watch her sleep, which was creepy in itself.) Perry has spent almost a decade creating this powerful, unbreakable public entity matched by fun, unassailable pop anthems, the type of music that populates Witness, a flawed album with some excellent songs. It was tedious to watch Perry and her friends work out to her own music, or sit through a quick 10-minute meditation to revive her. It takes someone to say, out of compassion, out of love, ‘Hey, this is what the origin is.’”Īt times, the live stream was boring and slow, but so is life. I didn’t know that I did it wrong until I heard people saying that I did it wrong. “She told me about the power in black women’s hair and how beautiful it is and the struggle. To witness someone so strong become so vulnerable as she talked about her struggles - not wanting to be Katy Perry sometimes, suicidal thoughts, a battle with alcohol - was so grounding and cathartic that it felt inspiring, sharing parts of her life that many pop stars would conceal from the public.Īnd there was her sit-down with activist Deray McKesson, where she addressed issues of her cultural appropriation, like when she appeared inspired by a geisha look during a performance at the 2013 AMAs or when she wore her hair in cornrows and ate watermelon in the video for “This Is How We Do.” Of the latter, Perry recalled a friend pulling her aside to address what had been perceived as appropriation. At one point during the live stream, Perry invited a therapist for a session, which is an experience that many viewers may not have had. Then there were moments that could have gone awry or be embarrassing, but ended up being emotional without coming off as too earnest. ![]() It was like having Perry reminisce along with you. It was an inviting moment filled with little tidbits - that Kesha starred in her video for “I Kissed a Girl,” that she barely remembered the video for “E.T.” and forgot that Kanye West even had a second verse on the song. You felt compelled to laugh when they did. As a viewer, you felt like you were in the room with her when she was watching back on her old music videos with her stylist Johnny Wujek, jewelry designer Markus Molinari and YouTube star Liza Koshy. It was those humanizing moments that made the stream such a compelling view. It all seemed too conveniently timed, as if it were a ploy to get people to buy her CD. “Swish Swish” featuring Nicki Minaj soon followed, stoking speculation that Perry was sub-writing a diss toward Taylor Swift, something she finally addressed during a ride-along with James Corden in his Carpool Karaoke segment. 59 on the Hot 100 - one of her lowest showings yet. “Bon Appétit” was largely derided as the antithesis to Perry’s declaration that Witness was a work of “purposeful pop,” and it largely slumped on the charts, topping out at No. In the months that followed the release of “Chained to the Rhythm,” Perry seemed to be trying too hard to recapture past attention. What makes Perry such an enigmatic pop star is that she doesn’t seem to try so hard, even when it’s clear she is. 4 and continued to slip, despite the fact that it marked the highest-debuting song by a female artist since Adele’s “Hello” landed at No. “Chained to the Rhythm” featuring Skip Marley bowed at No. But in the lead-up to Witness, Perry faltered, for the first consistent time in her career. Though 2013’s Prism didn’t quite achieve the monstrous success of its predecessor, 2010’s Teenage Dream, it still cemented her reign as one of pop’s queens, sending two of her singles - “Roar” and “Dark Horse” - to No. Going into the launch of her fifth album Witness, Katy Perry had an air of desperation the world hadn’t yet seen from her. ![]()
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