Rating: 6/10
While the pop icon Katy Perry has retained a strong presence in the music industry for over a decade, her newest album, “143,” shows her new music’s failure to emotionally impact the listener — unless you consider disappointment an emotion.
Perry told the talk show “Good Morning America” in an interview that her writing on the album came from “a place of love.” So, does that love come through in her music, and how does “143” hold up against her past work?
Perry’s “143” does not push any new boundaries creatively, which is disappointing for someone as accomplished as Perry. Perry tries to utilize the talent of other artists, featuring big names like 21 Savage, Kim Petras, JID and Doechii on a few of her songs. However, even these features fail to make any of the songs memorable.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
The album starts with “WOMAN’S WORLD,” a catchy if relatively bland song with feminist lyrics. However, the song’s feminist themes were undercut, as it was marred by controversy when it was released as a single earlier this year.
Perry was criticized for working with Łukasz Gottwald, better known as Dr. Luke, an industry producer who has been accused of sexual misconduct and was sued by American pop artist Kesha.
Furthermore, Perry was also criticized for oversexualizing women in her music video for the song, which puts women in bikinis and features close-up shots of their nearly naked bodies.
Looking past “WOMAN’S WORLD,” the album still fails to make a major impression. The guest verses and features are a nice change of pace but cannot make up for monotonous lyrics and forgettable production.
For example, in her song “CRUSH,” the chorus repeats a total of four times to an almost maddening degree. The repetitive chorus, combined with a very bland synthesizer beat and almost no melody, makes “CRUSH” one of the weakest songs on the album.
The song “LIFETIMES” was a much-needed breath of fresh air in the middle of the album. While the lyrics are repetitive, the song is catchy, upbeat and evocative of Perry’s earlier work.
“ARTIFICIAL” features Atlanta rapper JID. While JID’s verse was strong, he failed to save the song as a whole. “ARTIFICIAL” is still a forgettable attempt at a gritty-sounding techno song that is plagued by a droning baseline, a lackluster melody, and a highly forgettable verse from Perry.
The album is a little jarring to listen to. Some songs have strong techno-style production imbued with synthesizers and bass. Other songs sound lighter and more subdued, with a stronger focus on the relatively lackluster lyrics.
The album ends with “WONDER,” which starts and ends with Perry asking the listener, “One day when we are older will, we still look up and wonder?”
After listening to her chart-topping classics from the early 2010s — songs like “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)” and “Firework” — the only thing a listener might wonder is why Perry is still dropping unremarkable pop music in 2024.
