Pop star Katy Perry, who you might associate with one of the best pop albums of the 21st century, released in 2010. A teenager’s dreamSince then, she’s been chasing that peak without repeating it. Since then, Perry has struggled to find relevance in the pop space she once dominated, and that couldn’t be more obvious after she dropped her up-to-date single “Woman’s World” today, July 12. The “anthemic” pop song is being crushed online. It reminds me of one of the most essential moments of her career in the past decade: Pokémon “Electric” single and music video celebrating its 25th anniversary. “Woman’s World” is so bad that I can’t shake the feeling that the heroine is shaming her friend Pikachu, and I wonder where the little electric rat was that stopped her friend from annihilating that monster.
To make up for those who aren’t fans of pop music, Perry’s up-to-date single “Woman’s World” was criticized long before its release today. When she released song clip from June 17Its lyrics have been criticized for sounding like something you’d sing to your dog when no one’s home. It was meant to be inspirational, but for the most part it just ends with Perry spouting a bunch of adjectives and platitudes. It’s a characterless, childish song that got even worse when the truth about its creation was revealed. When it was revealed that Dr. Luke, the same man who was accused of assaulting women, as was pop star Kesha and being a misogynist and predator of women in the industry, he wrote and produced the song, the entire pro-women anthem became an internet laughing stock. There are six writers on “Woman’s World” and four of them are men.
The music video, also released today, is pretty ridiculous. “Woman’s World” is the kind of shit you’d hear in a women’s razor commercial, but when it’s not cashing in on the most cliché and generic feminist imagery, it leans into weird, absurd imagery, like Perry filling her ass with unleaded gas. Controversial YouTuber Trisha Paytas is here, for some reason, and drives Perry around in a monster truck, and then the singer is transported by helicopter from some random girl’s backyard while the viewer just yells “who are you” at her. Apt.
Perry said Elle that she knows that many people associate her music with inspiring messages. Fair enough, that’s true when you look at songs like “Fireworks” AND “Roar,” but those songs were so much more effective because of their specificity. “Firework” was a queer anthem in the 2010s because it was specifically about finding the delicate within yourself despite your struggles. “Roar” works when it talks about how power dynamics in relationships can diminish you and reclaiming your space. “Woman’s World” basically boils down to “women exist” while also supporting one of the most notorious abusers in the music industry.
But “Electric” from 2021 Pokémon anthemic pop song, it had it all.
I’m a total downer because while some might call the song cheesy, I get a little emotional listening to it and watching the music video featuring Perry and her partner Pikachu. The two time travel to an earlier point in their lives when Perry was younger and trying to make it in music, even though her Pikachu was a Pichu at the time. The duo facilitate their younger selves get out of a rut in their careers. It’s all really sweet. It would be great if the future version of her and Pikachu stopped the chain of events that resulted in her teaming up with a known criminal and released the most timid swing of a feminist anthem in an attempt to make a comeback.
We reached out to Perry’s Pikachu for comment and she said, “Pika, piiiiiikaaaa” with a surprised look on her face.
But that’s the disappointment I feel when listening to most of Perry’s songs. A teenager’s dream is one of the most essential pop records of the newfangled era, and its demise was devastating to witness. Her next album, 143starts on September 20. Let’s hope that after this whole shitty spectacle there will be something to compensate for it.
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