Katy Perry’s new era is the epitome of 2010s girlboss feminism (2024)

12July 2024

In pop music, there’s nothing better than a good comeback. It’s exhilarating to see an artist whose grasp on success has faltered dust themselves off and reclaim their rightful position at the summit. And while the significance of the term has waned now that it gets bandied about every time an artist enters a new album cycle, when a genuine comeback looks like it’s on the horizon, it’s hard not to feel an enticing fizz of anticipation.

It seemed, briefly, that 2024 could deliver such a moment for Katy Perry. Once one of the biggest stars in pop thanks to hits such as “Dark Horse”, “Roar” and “Firework”, over the last ten years her star power has diminished. Still, there was hope when the singer announced she was working on her sixth album and shared snippets of its dance-pop lead single, “Woman’s World”, which was finally released on July 12.

Of course, a lot is riding on this new era for Perry. Following her dominance in the early 2010s, her 2017 album Witness, with its confused messaging about “purposeful pop”, was a middling attempt to align the singer’s post-Trump political awakening into her music. It wasn’t bad, per se, but inconsistent: while lead single “Chained to the Rhythm” felt about as political as American liberalism would allow Top 40 pop to be, the song was followed up by a sex bop called “Bon Appétit” featuring the group Migos, who at the time were embroiled in a hom*ophobia scandal.

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When Witness failed to match the (admittedly impressive) chart feats of Perry’s earlier material, the singer became unmoored. She spent the next three years testing the waters, releasing one of the best songs of her career (“Never Really Over”) but never quite settling on a sound. When an album did materialise in the form of 2020’s Smile, it was criticised for its weak lyrics and back-to-basics approach.

Stan Twitter dubbed Perry a flop. Now, calling something an artist’s “Witness-era” has become a meme. Still, it always felt that pop fans were rooting for Perry. After all, her sophom*ore record, the impeccable Teenage Dream, remains one of two albums in history to have five singles reach the top of the Billboard chart, and its titular single is regularly cited as one of the best pop songs of all time. Once upon a time, Katy Perry knew what made good pop.

What a shame that knowledge now seems absent. Sitting at just under three minutes, “Woman’s World” feels like one of the most creatively bankrupt comebacks in pop history. “Sexy, confident/So intelligent” she sings on the opening lines over arpeggiated synths and a generic dance beat, before launching into chorus where she declares: “It’s a woman’s world and you’re lucky to be living in it.”

Perry has long peddled clichéd platitudes, but the feminine power promoted by “Woman’s World” feels as empowering as an advert for Vagisil. In the world of the song, strength, sisterhood, femininity and motherhood define what it means to a woman – the message being that women exist, and they are good.

During Perry’s imperial phase, this 2012-era white liberal feminism might have passed. In the context of 2024, though, it feels reductive. “Woman’s World” sounds like it was designed by a committee in a boardroom at Capitol Records whose sole objective was a sync on RuPaul’s Drag Race and generating comments of “you ate” from white gays living in West Hollywood. It is female empowerment filtered through the lens of a Ryan Murphy show.

Of course, the warning signs were there. Soon after Perry began teasing “Woman’s World”, it was reported by Rolling Stone that the singer had worked with producer Dr Luke (Łukasz Gottwald) on the song, as well as her upcoming sixth album. Perry and Gottwald have a long history together. The pair worked closely on her first three albums, One of the Boys, Teenage Dream and Prism. Following allegations of sexual assault brought against Gottwald by the singer Kesha, however, Perry ceased working with the producer; his production work did not appear on either Witness or Smile. Gottwald has continuously denied Kesha’s allegations, and following a lengthy legal battle, in June 2023 both he and Kesha reached a settlement to end their respective lawsuits against each other. Nevertheless, the producer’s name remains contentious among pop fans, leaving many to question Perry’s decision to reunite with Gottwald on “Woman’s World”.

Still, while working with Dr Luke may be bad for optics, it does highlight Perry’s ambition for this new era: she wants a hit and she wants it bad. It’s logical, if baffling, why she renewed their partnership, especially after the producer’s recent string of hits with Doja Cat, Saweetie and Nicki Minaj. It feels like Perry hopes she’ll be given the same grace as Kim Petras, another artist who continues to work with Dr. Luke (Petras is rumoured to appear on Perry’s album). She has even chased the same demographic as Petras too: gay men.

Of course, pop artists have a history of courting their gay fans. From Judy Garland to Madonna, there is a synergetic relationship between the gay community and pop stars: they lift each other up. But whereas Petras is a member of the LGBTQ+ community, lending a camaraderie to her engagement with fans, Perry’s connection to the community is murkier. Her single, “I Kissed a Girl”, has long been cited as an example of queer-baiting, with some arguing the song enforces the fetishisation of lesbians and queer women. Perry herself has even admitted that, given the chance, she would “probably make an edit” to the song to remove harmful stereotypes.

“‘Woman’s World’ sounds like it was designed by a committee in a boardroom at Capitol Records whose sole objective was a sync on RuPaul’s Drag Race and generating comments of ‘you ate’ from white gays living in West Hollywood”

In her defence, in the years since “I Kissed a Girl”, Perry has made an effort as an LGBTQ+ ally, backing marriage equality and supporting organisations like The Trevor Project. “I wouldn’t be here without the gay community supporting me,” she told OUT in 2023 while promoting her Las Vegas residency. “They have been such big admirers and fans and influences for me.” In that same interview, though, Perry also leant into stereotypes: “I think they”– meaning gays – “love the OTT of the show… I am channelling my most Cher, my most Liza Minnelli, my most pop girly in this show.”

This distillation of gay men to fans of divas and proprietors of camp, while certainly part of queer culture, is sour. And it’s one, unwittingly or not, that she seems to be replicating with the marketing of “Woman’s World”. Everything, from the song’s trite lyrics to the aesthetics of the music video – where Perry wields sex toys, struts around in metallic horse legs and drives a monster truck with Trisha Paytas – feels manufactured to elicit one thing: the word “mother”. It seems to say that all you need to get the gays on board are some shiny objects, a beautiful pop star and a basic bop.

That might be true. But in the case of “Woman’s World” there’s a dissonance: like a hen party at a gay bar, you don’t mind it, can even find it fun, but it still leaves you feeling like you’re only there to fulfil a certain role. Compared to how Charli XCX simpatico relationships with her queer fans, or even the queer vernacular woven into Kesha’s bonkers new single “Joy Ride”, it lacks authenticity.

As a lover of pop music, all I want is Katy Perry to do well. Part of me hopes the upcoming album might course correct. I would love nothing more than to see her recapture the impeccable brilliance found on songs like “Wide Awake”, “Teenage Dream”, “Walking on Air” and “Never Really Over”. But if “Woman’s World” is indicative of the world that she says we’re lucky to be living in, well, then I think my luck might be out.