Katy Perry - PRISM
Critic Score
Based on 26 reviews
2013 Ratings: #982 / 1115
User Score
2013 Rank: #464
Liked by 71 people
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CRITIC REVIEWS

100
The Telegraph

Katy Perry sounds like an artist who has finally found herself on her fine new album, Prism.

85
The Line of Best Fit

Prism shows a more mature side to the singer, an ability to really connect with her experiences whilst still producing absolute pop smashes.

83
Billboard
“PRISM” has its share of candy-colored fun, but also something else: more detail in its tempered shades. With a string of hit singles under her belt, Perry has aspired to create a multi-faceted full-length and has consummately succeeded.
83
Entertainment Weekly
Katy Perry aims to please. But now she grasps that she’s making the mainstream, not just swimming in it.
70
AllMusic

A relatively measured, savvy adult contemporary album, one that's aware of the latest fashions but is designed to fit into Katy's retirement plan. Ultimately, this makes Prism a tighter, cleaner record than its predecessors -- there are no extremes here.

70
The Sydney Morning Herald

Prism is a cool album; it's damn catchy and you'll be bopping and singing shamelessly to it at home, in the car and out on the town.

70
Consequence of Sound

A record that translates the triumphant widescreen songwriting of Teenage Dream to the trends and sounds dominating pop radio at the moment, with results that are sometimes spectacular and sometimes, well, not.

60
Evening Standard

It’s a formula for chart success – but you can’t help but wish Perry would experiment a little more.

60
musicOMH

There is no doubt that Prism will do exactly what it’s been created to do ... but it’s safe and cold where it should have been daring and involving.

60
The Arts Desk
Fourth album from pop princess ditches the bubblegum to mixed effect.
60
Spectrum Culture

Prism is her first step out of that image. That’s not to say that her latest album isn’t her usual style of glossy, heavily produced pop music; it has the requisite radio-friendly singles and uplifting messages.

60
The Observer
Contemplative songs may be thin on Perry's former playfulness and long on the stuff of Eckhart Tolle, but a kind of girly simpatico sustains them and transfers easily to the stronger tracks, where Perry's back in the game.
60
The Independent

Although it is largely the entirely predictable modern dance-pop creation you might expect from production-line hit maestros Max Martin and Dr Luke, Katy Perry deserves some credit for injecting a modicum of originality into Prism.

60
NOW Magazine
Her approach works better on the feel-good half of the album made up of top-notch roller-disco anthems.
60
The Guardian

Nothing on Prism is exactly sonically adventurous ... but the melodies are significantly stronger than those a similar cast of writers came up with for, say, Jessie J's recent album.

60
Slant Magazine
Prism is another collection of three-and-half-minute potential hits that even cynics will find hard to resist.
60
Rolling Stone

Some of Teenage Dream‘s sunny effervescence remains intact here. But Perry and her longtime collaborators Dr. Luke and Max Martin often go for a darker, moodier intimacy à la high-end Swedish divas Robyn and Lykke Li.

60
Time Out London
It might not be an original subject, but it makes a welcome change from the teen naivety and frivolous sexcapades of old.
58
A.V. Club

As a whole, Prism is forgettable. It’s neither good nor bad, and it’s not inspirational enough to set anyone on fire who’s not already an 11-year-old girl, closeted teen boy, or existing Perry fanatic. Buy the singles, skip the rest.

50
Gigwise
She may not be the best singer in the world, and has spent an awful lot of her career trading off assets other than her music skils, but when it comes to a believable popstar, there is something about Katy Perry that seems to make sense.
50
SPIN

Prism, her third album as a pop provocatrix nonpareil, has its moments — of juvenile glee, and of genuine endorphin-rush excellence, though those rarely intersect — but it mostly serves to forecast the milquetoast AOR queen that she, one day very soon, will stoop to aspire to become.

43
Pretty Much Amazing

Prism is unsatisfying, cheesy, and very poorly written – but it has to be one of the best-produced mediocre pop albums in a while.

40
FACT Magazine
Almost every track delivers hook after hook after hook. The production sparkles with fine detail and allows air in among the high-pressure pop pile-up. It’s full of very 2013 disco, house, rave and ’80s pop signifiers.
40
No Ripcord

It does no good to excuse mediocrity on the basis that ''it's just pop music'', but the truth is that as a musical endeavor, Prism is disappointing, frustrating and silly.

40
Q Magazine

Prism feels transitional, the work of an artist clever enough to be restless, yet unable to split from a winning formula.

40
PopMatters

With Prism, those expecting a sequel to Teenage Dream are getting exactly that: the same tropes, themes, and even some of the occasional production tricks all carry over, Perry revealing nothing new about herself, but still mining the same songwriting vein she’s been at without any signs of slowing down. For her fans, it’s exciting. For anyone else, it’s a disappointment.

GersonAOTY
75

Basically this is what Teenage Dream tried to do and failed, the consistency of this album is greater and we have non-singles with high quality such as "Legendary Lovers", "Walking On Air" and "International Smile". Despite not being a very innovative or surprising project it has a pleasant sound with few mistakes, bringing a full package of well done and catchy pop tunes.

Roar (8.7/10)
Legendary Lovers (8.9/10)
Birthday (7.8/10)
Walking On Air ... read more

LukasLima
74

Em seu terceiro disco, Katy Perry continua com sua temática colorida do "Teenage Dream", mas agora com uma vibe mais "natural" sem deixar o "camp" de lado.
"Prism" pode ser considerado o melhor álbum de Katy, aqui não temos muitos exageros e poucos fillers, apesar de ser um disco um pouco incoerente, ele é divertido, já começa bem com "Roar" e depois disso temos uma das melhores músicas da ... read more

nikoni
59

katy é uma artista que realmente não sabe fazer álbuns e seu sucesso gigante se deve ao fato de ter singles chicletes

PabloBC
82

1. Roar | 8.5/10 🌻
2. Legendary Lovers | 8.5/10 🌻
3. Birthday | 7/10
4. Walking On Air | 9.5/10 🌻🌻
5. Unconditionally | 9.5/10 🌻🌻
6. Dark Horse (feat. Juicy J) | 10/10 🌻🌻🌻
7. This How We Do | 8/10 🌻
8. International Smile | 10/10 🌻🌻🌻
9. Ghost | 7.5/10
10. Love Me | 7.5/10
11. This Moment | 7/10
12. Double Rainbow | 10/10 🌻🌻🌻
13. By The Grace Of God | 8/10 🌻
bonus tracks:
*Spiritual | 7.5/10
*It Takes Two | 6/10
*Choose Your Battles | 6/10

kkolio
80

3 out of 13 songs clicked, idk what happened to the others 🤷

serjtankian
55

serj tankian approved

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Track List

1Roar
3:43
70
2Legendary Lovers
3:44
82
3Birthday
3:35
73
4Walking On Air
3:42
82
5Unconditionally
3:48
81
6Dark Horse
3:35
feat. Juicy J
76
7This Is How We Do
3:24
65
8International Smile
3:47
71
9Ghost
3:23
73
10Love Me
3:52
67
11This Moment
3:46
70
12Double Rainbow
3:51
72
13By the Grace of God
4:28
72
Total Length: 48 minutes

Year End Lists

#47/Amazon
#95/musicOMH
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Added on: August 6, 2013