By Kelly Smyth
Singer-Songwriter Katy Perry has been a cornerstone of the pop music world since late 2000s- with iconic hits like ‘I Kissed A Girl’ and ‘Roar’, as well as multiple Grammy nominations. Needless to say, she is hard to ignore. Yet her 2024 album ‘143’ failed to stay in the charts longer than a week. While there is no denying her career peak has definitely passed, this is still surprising given her history of commercial success.
The fatal flaw of Katy Perry’s new era is her lead single ‘Woman’s World’- a white feminist attempt at promoting solidarity despite being co-produced by Dr.Luke. For those of you who don’t know already, Dr.Luke was accused of sexually assaulting megastar Kesha during his time working with her. That fact alone is enough to turn the stomach of any true feminist- although the message of the song itself certainly doesn’t help. The opening lyrics “Sexy, Confident, So-Intelligent” truly summarise the general vibe of the song- completely empty of substance. The song received such strong backlash that a humorous Tik Tok trend developed surrounding it.
To make matters worse, in an attempt to promote her upcoming tour, Perry went to space. Yes, outer space. As part of the Blue Origin space flight alongside fellow multimillionaires- including Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ new partner Lauren Sánchez – Perry became the first artist to sing in space as well as promoting her upcoming tour by revealing her setlist on a butterfly shaped piece of paper. After only spending a grand total of 11-minutes in space, Perry returned to a harsh onslaught of criticism.
While some may say it is wrong to tear down other women as part of feminism, it can’t be denied that much of this backlash is justified. In a time where women’s rights are being reversed in the US as well as perpetuated inequality across the globe- no wonder the message “it’s a woman’s world and you’re lucky to be living in it” land wrong. In a political climate that causes for a more radical, intersectional approach to feminism, Perry has made a mockery of what feminism is supposed to be. Not only has she collaborated with an alleged sexual predator- but also participated in an environmentally damaging space trip ran by the man who attended US President Donald Trump’s inauguration- the same administration that is actively targeting women of colour and trans women.
Ultimately, Perry’s failure to read the room may have cost her much of her reputation. As the political pot keeps on boiling- one would have to ask whether or not Katy Perry should stay away from her less-than-nuanced political messaging in music.