Katy Perry’s 143 Album: What Happened?
Written by: Nick Botti
The name “Katy Perry” can be recognized by nearly every person in the world. The superstar became popularized with her album “Teenage Dream”, which offered hits such as “Firework”, “California Gurls”, “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)”, and more. This album became considered by many as a “pop bible”, speaking to the fact that it revolutionized the pop sound going into the 2010s, and paved a new path for artists to be more experimental in their sound. Her next-era album, “PRISM”, was also a huge success. Its lead single “Roar” became the most-viewed female music video on YouTube, with over 4 billion views. Nothing could get better for her.
However, all of that changed when her next album was released. The “Witness” era was a change in direction for Perry and not one that was taken lightly by the public. Her shaved and bleached hair caused much controversy over her persona, limiting the album’s success. Her lead single “Chained to the Rhythm” only debuted at #4 on the US Billboard 100. Her next album, “Smile”, had the same fate.
Yet, there was still hope for Perry. The public witnessed her personality and appearance transform back into what looked more like Perry’s iconic look in the Teenage Dream era. With this promising change, the public demanded a new album from the pop star, one that would be her comeback into the music scene, after being dethroned by artists such as Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and the Weeknd. Katy Perry decided to leave her current role as a judge for American Idol and announced the album “143” in July. The visuals shown in her posts gave off nostalgic 2000s fonts and colors, calling back to the era in which Teenage Dream came to light. This made the public excited, and the future looked promising for Katy Perry once more.
However, the album, released by Katy Perry in late September, was immediately under fire. Perry was initially criticized for the association with Dr. Luke, who is a music producer who has been accused of sexual assault and emotional abuse. Fans and casual listeners alike flamed Perry for even considering releasing music with him as the main producer. On the other hand, some fans claimed that Perry was forced to do this collaboration, as there would have been legal consequences if she refused. Regardless, the association created bad press and hurt the album rollout. Calls for boycotting the album were spread throughout social media, contributing to the failure of the album’s debut.
Another aspect of the failure can be attributed to the lead single that was chosen. “WOMEN’S WORLD” was the first taste that listeners got after hyping Perry up for a comeback album, and they were extremely disappointed. The lyrics were criticized as being anti-feminist, some saying that it seemed to have been a women-empowerment song written by a man. Additionally, the words to the song were seen as plain, tired, and outdated. Simultaneously, the music video that was released also saw a bad performance. Perry’s outfits, along with the appearance of controversial influencers such as Trisha Paytas, triggered the cascade of social media onslaught.
Both of these aspects can speak to the fact that Perry did not carefully analyze her target audience well. She heard the demand for a comeback but did not fully consider what and how to do such a thing. With big successes in her past, it seemed inevitable that she knew how to pull off another successful era. However, the pop star’s failure to adhere to modern-day values, considerations, and pop sounds caused the album 143 to debut at only #6 on the Billboard charts. The poor performance of this album prompts the question for Katy Perry: is it time to call it quits?