A longtime Katy Perry fan wrestles with the fact one of his favourite artists just doesn’t have it anymore. 

I’ve been a fan of Katy Perry since forever. I’ve been there for the highs (the incredible debut, the record-breaking sophomore), and defended her through the lows (I paid to go and see Perry perform at a not-quite-full Spark Arena in 2018 during the maligned “Witness” era and had the time of my life). I stuck around, though more out of obligation, for her soft pop pandemic album Smile. But after listening to her latest album, 143, I just don’t know if I have it in me anymore. 

This was meant to be the big comeback. The one we have been waiting for, the one we heard glimmers of in Perry’s masterful but completely under-marketed 2019 banger Never Really Over. But instead, all we’ve been left with instead is a collection of uninspired, boring, possibly AI-generated pop misfires that would have felt outdated a decade ago but now just sound like a cry for help. 

What went wrong? It’s not as though there weren’t warning signs. 143’s debut single, ‘Woman’s World’, went viral for all the wrong reasons. The follow-up singles were run-of-the-mill, but hey, it’s not always about the singles. A 10-minute montage performance at the VMAs managed to drum up some excitement, admittedly, but it relied so heavily on Perry’s greatest hits that it reminded everyone both why she is an all time great pop performer and that she hasn’t been relevant for the best part of a decade (Perry’s last big success, both critically and commercially, was with 2014’s Prism).

Then, there is Perry’s main collaborator. In an attempt to recapture her heyday, Perry reunited with longtime pop producer Dr Luke, who was responsible for some of her biggest hits (I Kissed a Girl, Teenage Dream). Except, in the years since Perry and Luke last worked together, the producer has been embroiled in a series of lawsuits that stem from claims he had sexually abused the singer Kesha. It makes the whole “female empowerment” angle of 143 ring a little bit hollow.

Pushed on the controversy during a recent interview, Perry’s response was lukewarm. “I understand that [working with him] started a lot of conversations, and he was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with. But the reality is, it comes from me,” Perry said. Most of the conversations it started were why on Earth would you work with that man?

When the album landed in its entirety on Friday, it ultimately pulled in career-worst reviews for Perry (it’s currently one of the worst reviewed albums on Metacritic). “As dated as a Vine”, was how Rolling Stone described it. “Trapped in a bygone time”, said the Washington Post.

I wasn’t completely surprised. But I was still intrigued. I had to listen, but maybe I shouldn’t have.

Launching with ‘Woman’s World’ as the first track is a bold choice given the backlash, but I guess the vinyl had already been pressed at the time the single was released. From there, we head into three or four lifeless pop collaborations that have few redeeming features. I don’t think any of the songs have a bridge, some barely have choruses. Most, somehow, have at least half a dozen co-writers. 

Things improve from about track five. The dance-infused ‘Crush’ is probably the most listenable of the album, even if it sounds like a Dua Lipa B-side from five years ago. Track seven, ‘All the Love’, is also destined to have a life in clubs. Either of these would have been a superior choice for the lead single, and could possibly have rescued some of the album’s rollout.

The rest of the record carries a similar sound, as in the songs all sound basically the same. It’s not that I didn’t find any of the tracks catchy, I just found myself wanting something more.

In an age where constant reinvention is key to longevity in pop music, 143 is distinctly unoriginal. The two or three enjoyable pop songs that you can find on this record could have been released by any other artist of the last decade. 

The disco trend was done to death during the pandemic – Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Dua Lipa, Kylie Minogue and others all put out memorable and image-rebranding albums tinged with disco sounds – and the current era of pop has moved beyond that. Those artists, not to mention Taylor Swift, have reinvented themselves with each successive album. Newer performers like Chappell Roan are dominating the charts with loud, audacious and fun records that have their origins in what has come before while still managing to sound fresh. Sabrina Carpenter’s whole schtick is basically what Katy Perry was doing 15 years ago – self-referential, even hammy, but with so much personality. 143 tries so desperately to do the same, but comes off sounding out of time and place.

It’s flat and lifeless, where Perry’s best work is cheeky and self-aware. It’s not just that Perry is harking back to an earlier age of pop music, it’s that she’s doing it poorly. The personality that shone through her most memorable work has been replaced with ChatGPT mantras. Maybe it’s just time, for her and for me, to move on.