The all-new ‘woke’ Katy isn’t just about giving you decent things to dance to on a Friday night or up-tempo fluff for your gym playlist. Instead, she’s pushing the sleek, chart-friendly empowerment of ‘Roar’ and ‘Firework’ even further.
Still, this is a Katy Perry record, so she wisely serves up a few sugar rushes ... Hearing these tracks alongside the more serious fare on Witness ultimately creates the feeling of a record that’s all over the place. If there were a few more pure pop moments like those songs, Perry would’ve made something truly worth witnessing.
While it's certainly missing any form of coherency, Witness does feel like you're growing with Perry - going on this journey that's helped her find new ground and a reinvigorated appreciation for all walks of the pop music spectrum.
While she may have slipped down the pecking order, Witness proves she’s still a more interesting pop star than she’s often given credit for.
Unfortunately, Witness lacks both the big hooks that propelled Perry's past hits up the charts and the conceptual and sonic focus to give her pop real purpose.
Unfortunately, while occasionally tasty, it cannot meet those comparisons, yet it’s still Perry’s most enjoyable and consistent album.
Can she really be crying “woke” after a career pushing so much nudge-wink hedonism?
Witness finds Katy Perry heading in exciting new sonic and lyrical directions, but is sometimes held back by Katy indulging in safer, staler sounds and her usual cliches.
Perry has replaced the eye of the tiger with the heart of a contemporary night owl, making an album of mostly moody, dreamy, reserved music ... In turn, a pop icon blends into the rest of the radio.
Witness has great singles, forgettable singles, forgettable filler, and songs that go clunk. As a vehicle for Billboard hits, it’s perfectly competent, but by the second listen, your finger might be itching for the skip button.
Admittedly, I’m not exactly Katy Perry’s target market, but stuff like Emotion by Carly Rae Jepsen or Melodrama by Lorde shows that you can walk that line between pure pop and indie cred (two things Perry does actually have), and at the same time make something enjoyable and artistic - it can be done, but you have to understand what an album actually is, and realise why the fuck you’re making one before you do, which is a fact sadly lost on Witness.
Witness isn't a failure, and its good intentions, both politically and sexually, aren't insufferable as much as they are listless and unsatisfying.
Everything about Witness—starting with its extended promotional cycle and ending with the album itself—feels like Perry trying to run away from her strengths .... In the end, Witness is collateral damage in Perry’s ultimately unsuccessful attempt at forcing personal growth.
Her dance-pop here is identical to everyone else’s, which leaves Perry clutching at the single-entendre raciness of “Bon Appetit” (“Got me spread like a buffet/Bon appetit, boy”) and curdled imagery like “my love’s the bullet with your name on it” to secure a soupcon of bogus outrage.
For about half of Witness, Perry appears to be striving for meaning at the expense of catchy choruses. On the other half, it is as if she has lost her nerve and been persuaded to sing choruses that have no meaning.
It's not against the law to make pop music (yet), so Perry may want to consider not shitting all over the people who buy her music because she sees herself as more enlightened. It's as if she doesn't believe the rah-rah empowerment message splattered all over Witness applies to anyone but her.
Witness. The album that you all probably forgot about, which is... understandable. This album wasn't nearly as popular as her other 3 mainstream albums, really the only single that got successful in the mainstream was Chained To the Rhythm with its radio play. Which is something that kinda makes me confused because of how great this record is? And it seemed like everyone hated it. Maybe it was because of 'pop' music not being liked too much in general, so people went into this album thinking it ... read more
𝓙𝓸𝓵𝓵𝓲𝓫𝓮𝓮 & 𝓑𝓸𝔂𝓪𝓻𝓭𝓮𝓮
𝓟𝓪𝓻𝓽 𝓣𝔀𝓸
You know. I actually enjoy being subversive. Not in a negative way I don't like hating something that's loved. That's no fun. But seeing something hated or looked down upon and being able to say "this album is actually amazing and misunderstood." That's something I love to do. It's such fun to be able to enjoy something you know hundreds of others can't or choose not to. For the ... read more
TRAINWRECKORDS EP. 22
Katy Perry - Witness
“Swish Swish” is one of the worst songs and music videos of the 2010s.
That being said, this was aggressively mid. There are some moments on here that I am kinda fond of, mostly for some honestly pretty not that bad production on here. The synth work on here is actually not all that bad tbh, some pretty alright work went into making these beats work, and honestly I gotta give em credit. Katys attempts at being ‘purposeful ... read more
1. Witness | 8.5/10 👁️
2. Hey Hey Hey | 8/10 👁️
3. Roulette | 8.5/10 👁️
4. Swish Swish (feat. Nicki Minaj) | 7.5/10 👁️
5. Déjà Vu | 8/10 👁️
6. Power | 5.5/10
7. Mind Maze | 5.5/10
8. Miss You More | 7/10
9. Chained To The Rhythm (feat. Skip Marley) | 10/10 👁️👁️👁️
10. Tsunami | 6.5/10
11. Bon Appétit (feat. Migos) | 8.5/10 👁️
12. Bigger Than Me | 6.5/10
13. Save As Draft | 6/10
14. Pendulum | 6/10
15. Into Me You See | ... read more
1 | Witness 4:10 | 80 |
2 | Hey Hey Hey 3:34 | 60 |
3 | Roulette 3:18 | 78 |
4 | Swish Swish 4:02 feat. Nicki Minaj | 63 |
5 | Déjà Vu 3:17 | 71 |
6 | Power 3:46 | 72 |
7 | Mind Maze 4:08 | 51 |
8 | Miss You More 3:54 | 70 |
9 | Chained To The Rhythm 3:57 feat. Skip Marley | 86 |
10 | Tsunami 3:23 | 73 |
11 | Bon Appétit 3:47 feat. Migos | 67 |
12 | Bigger Than Me 4:00 | 66 |
13 | Save As Draft 3:48 | 68 |
14 | Pendulum 4:00 | 71 |
15 | Into Me You See 4:24 | 63 |
#46 | / | Drowned in Sound |