143 - Katy Perry
Perry’s career has been a long lineage of underwhelming releases in recent years. From releasing Prism in 2013, Perry has failed to meet the expectations and standards set by her record-shattering Teenage Dream. As a result, she has often fell victim to fading into the background: for example her 2020 release Smile failed to deliver a more than one hit (Never Really Over) and got lost in the crowd of lockdown release powerhouses, such as Dua Lipa's Future Nostalgia and Taylor Swift’s folklore. Which now brings us to, potentially, the most disappointing album release of the year: 143.
Unfortunately, even if you completely ignore the widespread controversies surrounding the production of this album (namely, the use of producer Dr. Luke), the most disappointing part of this album is that it feels desperately uninspired. Katy Perry is an artist who redefined this genre for an entire generation. Teenage Dream is widely regarded as the pinnacle of modern pop, an album that has not only catapulted her career forward but has stood the test of time, remaining relevant and fresh sounding to this day. Teenage Dream single handedly delivered five number one singles, whereas 143 had a silent delivery in the mainstream. There has been a very slow and obvious decline in Perry’s inspiration which has ultimately resulted in the flaccid 143 album. It is unfortunate to see that a once impressively progressive trailblazer has been left behind and she is now failing to chase a genre that she reestablished.
The singles released for this album, Woman’s World and Lifetimes, are not necessarily bad songs, but they do not peak interest and are nothing new or exciting. They did build my hopes for this album and raised my expectations, however, they are by far the most listenable songs on what is otherwise a forgettable and unimaginative album.
One area that this album has massively fallen dow in, is that it feels completely void of meaning. Perry’s lyrical choices feel empty and mindless. At its very core, the songs that make up this album are not good and could have been released by any artist, which is surprising considering she has top writers’ credits on every track. The production itself feels generic and outdated, which has made the album feel incoherent and half hearted. The final track on the album, Wonder, is seemingly written for her children but feels really insincere due to it being overproduced and lyrically hollow. Even the inclusion of her child’s voice at the start and end of the song is not enough to make it feel serious.
Disastrously, this album feels as though Perry is meeting contractural release requirements rather than releasing music because she has the inspiration, motivation or desire to do so. Throughout the album, there are a few tracks that have potential to be really strong pop hits, the likes of Crush and Truth. Whereas the majority of songs on this release are fundamentally weak songs and fall very short, with the collaborations being four of the worst songs across her entire discography.
I think Perry has lost her edge in the pop world, and it could be argued that this album was destined to fail from its conception. Perry continues to churn out thoughtless albums and has continuously relied on her name and the attached successes of Teenage Dream and her single Roar to propel her work up the charts. However, as we see the meteoric rise of a new wave of pop stars and a drastic fall in attention spans, stagnant albums like 143 are unfortunately going to be lost in the crowd.