Unfortunately, this time, it really does seem like it’s over. Five years after Perry attempted her first major comeback with the gorgeous and underrated song “Never Really Over,” she’s back with new music that, given the instant success it received on social media, reminds everyone why they stopped listening to her in the first place.
Perry’s comeback single, “Woman’s World,” features lyrics and orchestration so terribly reductive that—even if one could ignore the deeply troubling fact that she’s reunited with producer Dr. Luke, who Kesha has accused of sexual assault—the worst offense might be that the song is just plain bad. After all, music fans and the general public have long forgiven questionable artists when they drop a salacious hit (take Doja Cat’s “Say So,” also produced by Luke, for example).
“Woman’s World” is devoid of the lyrics and infectious production needed to save the song. There’s nothing to latch onto, whether you like it or not. It’s just plain boring and monotonous. And despite being played so cautiously in an attempt to be a hit, the song failed to gain any positive traction, while still managing to stir up a firestorm of discourse. From the ill-informed choice to partner with Luke, leading people to question the authenticity of the song’s feminist statements, the song was doomed before it was even released, further reinforced by the monotonous lyrics.
Following the song’s release, Cat Zhang wrote for The cup that Perry is “a relic of the 2010s, a failed pop star frantically trying to regain relevance, only to be thwarted by her inability to tell up from down.” TThe Guardian called the track “regressive” in a one-star review, while Pitchfork’s review noted, “Even if ‘Woman’s World’ didn’t feel like its author had to have feminism explained to her by the top half of Google’s first page, its empowering message would have rung hollow simply because it was co-written and co-produced by Dr. Luke.”
From the first note of “Woman’s World,” it’s clear that the song is going to be a flop. Lyrics like “Fire in her eyes / Divine feminine / She was born to shine / To shine, to shine, yeah” are so corny and clichéd that it seems like Perry is about to pull the rug out from under us and reveal that the song and its corniness are just a silly joke. This song sounds a bit like a TV show satirizing the real world, but it is, in fact, real. Even the 30 Rock A parody version of a song like this would be more memorable. Denise Richards’ “La Piscine” didn’t die for that.
There’s no bridge, no final chorus, and no breakdown. The song is essentially two and a half minutes of dull elevator music from an artist who seems determined to make us forget that she’s actually super talented.
The clip is tasteless, like a chilling reminder of 2017’s “Swish Swish” and its desperate attempts to go viral. Where are the subtly humorous stylings of “Never Really Over” or the naturally sexy “Harleys in Hawaii”? At this point, Perry has no distinct sense of herself, settling for half-hearted ideas with minimal understanding of what makes them work, while letting her collaborators do the heavy lifting.
Using World War II feminist imagery and 2000s American flag bikinis, the video seems bewildered by its own message. What are the mild critiques of glossy consumerism conveying in a video that seems more supportive of capitalist feminism than it is disruptive to it? It’s almost as if Perry understands that her song is a bland cover and too trivial to be taken seriously, but it’s not even punchy enough to be funny. It’s just a depressing reminder that we’ve held Perry to a higher standard than she ever will herself.
It’s not a good sign when Perry felt compelled to post a video explaining the sarcastic meaning of the clip. She stated, “YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! EVEN SATIRE,” in the X-rated post. The clip and the response proved that, of course, she couldn’t do that. Not at all.
It may be surprising that this comeback failed given the great nostalgia people have for Perry. Teenage Dream In recent years, the title track has seen a major renaissance, with many TikToks blowing up, begging Perry to return to this genre of music. The stars really seemed to be aligning for Perry, and all that was left was to release good music. Obviously, that didn’t happen.
There’s no doubt that Perry entered this era with a fire in her eyes and a determination to re-enter the cultural zeitgeist after a decade of inactivity. If only she had learned the right lessons from her past failures. 2019’s “Never Really Over” may have failed to top the charts—probably not thanks to its live performance in a bathroom stall alone—but years later, the song is considered one of the highlights of Perry’s career. It could have helped pave the way for Perry beyond the chase for hits, one where she could truly carve out her own, respected identity.
It’s a path taken by many once-mainstream pop stars that Perry could have followed. Just look at Carly Rae Jepsen, who hasn’t charted on the Billboard Hot 100 since 2015 but has no trouble selling out tour dates and booking festival gigs. And then there’s Charli XCX, whose KID achieved massive critical acclaim while also permeating the zeitgeist a decade after her brief mainstream career. The secret is cultivating a fan base that actually cares about the quality of your music, not its chart rankings. And that’s something Perry has never managed to do in her career, as she’s jumped from trend to trend, released albums driven by their massive singles, and neglected to solidify her sound beyond the gimmick she perfected in 2010.
It’s strange to consider the lyrical dynamism of Perry’s early pop, 2008s One of the boysgiven how far she’s strayed. There was a breathless desperation, a relatable yearning in Perry’s early offerings, something that helped her stand out as a big brazen one. Even when Perry leaned fully into commercial pop, with Teenage DreamIt has retained an immersive personality. The title track remains one of the best songs of the 2010s with its expert development, while that of 2013 Prism showed that Perry could move toward an adult-contemporary pop style, if she wanted to.
Yet, everything since Prism has been a roller coaster of incompetence. It was easy to give Perry the benefit of the doubt when Witness The album was a flop because for all its flaws, the album at least attempted to push Perry’s sound in exciting new directions. It was a risk that showed Perry was more than just riding the coattails of a lifeless hit-making career. How was she supposed to know that dying her hair blonde and getting a boyish haircut would eradicate her popularity? Of course, this era was further sabotaged by her terrible single choices. After Perry released “Chained to the Rhythm” and condemned the album as “intentional pop,” she quickly delivered the final blow by releasing “Bon Appetit” with a grotesque video that immediately contradicted the purpose of her first single.
Perry followed Witness with Smilea quieter time for her. But the album functioned as a reset after the harsh reception to Witnesshelping Perry quietly regain her fans’ support, while she waits for her next big commercial campaign. It’s shocking, then, that Perry burned through all that goodwill in record time. Not only did Perry’s comeback with “Woman’s World” come across as desperate and contrived, it also alienated her remaining fans.
The reunion with Luke is a sad reminder that Perry doesn’t understand the moment, or even her own strengths. Just because her latest hit was produced by him doesn’t mean the reunion will prove successful, either commercially or critically. Has Perry even looked at her own past collaborators, or did she and the label just do the math and figure out that since Luke produced “Dark Horse” and “ET,” he must be the only one who can save her career? should All she did was call the producers behind “Walking On Air” – a deep track that far surpasses most of her singles – and say, “Let’s make history.”
This article, one of many criticizing the song’s epic failures, at least suggests that it still has some relevance in her struggling career. But an artist can only have so many failures before she enters a much worse realm: fan apathy. I mean, how many people know that Meghan Trainor released an album last month? When Perry 143 finally comes out this fall, it’s hard to imagine that half the people who listened to “Woman’s World” will give it a chance, no matter how good the album is. If only Perry had set her hard-earned career on fire over a song with some merit.
“Woman’s World” confirms the sad truth that we Perry fans have tried to avoid admitting. She’s just not smart about her career choices, and she’s never going to be in tune with the culture. She was never really in on the joke, even when she dressed up as a sad clown for the Smile cover. Perry has become the butt of the joke instead of the purveyor, who would rather trade in flashy, lifeless eye candy and sampled beats than strive for any semblance of originality. God forbid she should seriously fail again. At least this time she can rest easy knowing she really didn’t try at all.