KATY PERRY — ‘WOMAN’S WORLD’

Writer’s Rating: ⭐⭐

Katy Perry’s current career trajectory is, in a word, strange. Her newest song ‘WOMAN’S WORLD’ peaked at 47 on international charts; when this is compared to Roar, from the 2013 album ‘Prism’, the difference is stark. ‘Roar’ was a smash hit, peaked at the top of the charts for two weeks, and it’s still audible in school discos and weddings across the world.

Perry’s career has plateaued, a fact determinable from a cursory glance at the numbers. This itself is fascinating—10 years ago, the idea that Katy Perry wouldn’t have the song of the summer was unthinkable. She was inescapable, ubiquitous. Everywhere you turned, there was a copy of Prism and a scandalised article about her whipped cream bra. How does one of the loudest voices in 2010s pop music end up losing her spot in the hearts and minds of so many listeners?

It could have something to do with the quality of the single itself. ‘WOMAN’S WORLD’ was released on the 11th of July, 2024. It was heavily teased on TikTok, a snippet going viral for its less-than-subtle writing. “Sexy, confident/So intelligent” Perry states blandly, “she is Heaven-sent/so soft, so strong.” Right in the opening lines, Perry lets us know that this is going to be an attempt at feminist empowerment pop—she brings up all the necessary buzzword, and praises a woman for managing to be soft and strong simultaneously.

The video is also emblematic of this attempt at feminine power posturing: Perry poses as Rosy the Riveter while wearing short-shorts. The point is obvious. Women are strong, and can work just as hard if not better than men, and can do it all while looking beautiful. This is inoffensive. It’s pop-feminist fluff, relying on the aesthetics of stick-it-to-the-man girl power—Perry, at one point, mimes urinating in a urinal while dressed in hi-vis—while not saying anything genuinely subversive. “It’s a woman’s world/and you’re lucky to be living in it.”

The reaction to the song is one of confusion and, in some cases, outrage. In Perry’s YouTube comments, the video is posited as a parody of feminism that would be shown in the TV show ‘The Boys.’ Something about the way Perry is emptily gesturing at feminist values is rubbing people the wrong way.

My take is this: Perry is about a decade behind the curve. Her music and her politics are stuck in the time when she was popular. She’s trying to claw back 2014 pop feminism, and she’s finding little to no success. Feminism in mainstream music has become far more complicated than Perry anticipates—it’s not enough to just say that women can be both hot and powerful, because everyone already knows that. Perry delivers the song with the gravitas of a newly discovered phenomenon: she seems wide eyed and excited to tell us that women can be two things at once! It sounds utterly alien.

It’s also bizarre when you compare ‘WOMAN’S WORLD’ to Perry’s previous political outing, ‘Chained To the Rhythm.’ With an eloquence entirely absent from ‘WOMAN’S WORLD’, Perry discusses spectacle, the collapse of Empire, and calls her listeners to action–she wants people to listen over the noise and to actually do something meaningful. She accuses people of being “Happily numb”, and throughout, it feels human and desperate. There’s a reality to the politic of ‘Chained To the Rhythm’ that has somehow disappeared for the writing of ‘WOMAN’S WORLD.’

Perry isn’t stupid. ‘Chained To the Rhythm’ shows a level of political acuity that I really enjoy, especially from a star you categorically don’t expect it from. That’s another reason why ‘WOMAN’S WORLD’ doesn’t play well–it isn’t an accurate showing of Perry’s abilities. It feels like she’s had a good idea then has immediately ran into a wall. This could have been a good song, especially in the aftermath of #MeToo, the rising profile of the Korean 4B movement, the potential election of Kamala Harris as American President.

Unfortunately, ‘WOMAN’S WORLD’ is nothing. It’s the absence of thought, the absence of ideas. It’s a frustratingly vapid bit of work that isn’t playing to any audience other than die-hard Katy Perry stans. Outside of the stan circuit, ‘WOMAN’S WORLD’ goes down like a lead balloon.