Katy Perry reclaims her story and her smile in new album.
A couple weeks ago, a very pregnant Katy Perry sat in her Los Angeles living room doing a press run for her upcoming fifth studio album. Across the country, a very excited 21-year-old put on jeans for the first time in many months, did her makeup, and even wore perfume to sit in her Brooklyn apartment and hear the pop star talk. It just felt like the right thing to do, okay? How could one be on a Zoom call with Katy Perry and not make an effort? However, I think there is something to be said on choosing to dress up and be the most expressive, enhanced version of yourself—despite external circumstances. After all, that is what Katy Perry has been doing through her otherworldly visuals, music, and tours for over a decade! Katycats across the world will be very excited to see that the top-tier concepts and strong aesthetics remain as we enter this new era of Perry's music.
The album Smile, which comes out this Friday, August 28th, is circus themed. The cover art, in which Perry is dressed as a clown and displays a blank stare, is anything but smiley. This contrast was a conscious choice, alluding to how the artist was feeling when she wrote the record. "I wrote this record during one of the darkest times of my life, where I couldn’t really plan for the next day or didn’t necessarily want to. I was very flatlined, and I was kinda clinically depressed, which is something I had never dealt with—I had only dealt with depression in short, small bouts, and this time I couldn’t solve it. I definitely couldn’t get out of bed." The pop star stated that this record really speaks about her own experience of "walking through hell and coming out alive." The circus theme also refers to artists using humor as a survival tool, which Perry opened up about doing. "I’ve always felt a little bit like the court jester and I’ve always had a little bit of humor injected into everything I do. I wasn’t taking myself seriously when I was spewing whipped cream out of my boobs! I knew that, I’m in on the joke, but I continue to use humor as a way to bring a little levity to the seriousness of life,” Perry stated. Hopefulness, joy, and resilience are running themes in Smile. Indeed, after a hurricane, comes a rainbow!
The duality of Smile's overarching theme and the experiences that led to its conception are truly fascinating. In fact, the artist mentioned that the lyrics that took the most courage to write in this album were the ones surrounding failures. For example, in the title track, she sings, "Had a piece of humble pie / that ego check saved my life." Perry elaborated, “It’s not always fun to acknowledge [your failures], especially publicly, because everybody likes to portray perfectionism. Especially in the entertainment industry and social media.”
Songs like “Only Love” explore the power of changing your mindset and choosing to view life through a positive, loving perspective. ''What Makes a Woman”—one of my favorites—explores in a short and sweet way, how expansive and complex women are. "Women are so many different things, and I’ve fought against being one thing for a very long time. A lot of people would like to put me in this box, especially from 2008 to 2016, but actually there’s a lot of layers here and I’m gonna start showing off more of them,” Perry shared. Overall, the album is innovating content-wise, incorporating a more mature perspective while maintaining that 'pure pop' Katy Perry sound that we all know and love.
It feels extra special to publish this piece today, on the 10-year anniversary of Teenage Dream. After all, I assume most people reading this grew up listening to Katy Perry. “In a way, some of you remember me with the black hair or the blue hair and all the candy—which is amazing—and you were 10 years old. Now you’re becoming adults and you’re dealing with a lot of different things. You’re dealing with having your own job, your own life, college, and all the variables of this year," Perry acknowledged. “I’ve grown up with my audience, and we’re growing together. We’re raising each other.” And while there still are 10 year olds that love her music now, Perry has always been a master of songwriting in a way that appeals to a younger audience while also being layered with more adult themes.
It's amazing to witness Katy Perry's evolution in Smile, and receive her pop magic in yet another form. She has described her relationship with her fans as symbiotic, and recently even turned fan art into an official alternate album cover. Perry has always made her fans feel seen and heard, and I think it's safe to say that we're just as excited to hear Smile as she is to share it with us.
