By Kolin Kriner
One would consider it pretty bad when the only good part about an album is the other artists featured on it, but unfortunately, not even they could save this train wreck of noises.
On Sept. 20, Katy Perry released her “comeback” album titled “143,” and man, was it the longest 33 minutes of my life. Consisting of repetitive and poorly written lyrics, it left me thinking: “Katy, honey, it’s not 2013 anymore.”
Let’s start with the lead single of this album, “WOMAN’S WORLD.” First of all, how does one attempt to make a “feminist” hit while working with Dr. Luke, who allegedly sexually, physically and emotionally abused Kesha. The song’s lyrics are weak and the composition is stale. The song was received incredibly poorly and it’s for good reason.
The second single, titled “LIFETIMES,” was much better, still not great, than its predecessor. However, Perry’s team went into this single with one fatal flaw — they forgot to market it.
I didn’t even know this was one of the singles until doing some research for this review, and maybe they didn’t market it for good reason. I mean, after how everyone bashed “WOMAN’S WORLD,” I wouldn’t be surprised if they were scared they’d do it to that song, too. If no one knows about it, then know one will listen to it, therefore no one can bash it. Yeah, that makes sense.
Perry’s third single for the album, “I’M HIS, HE’S MINE,” is actually pretty good — that is, if you listen only to the parts Doechii sings. It’s honestly unbelievable to me that the lead singer can do so poorly on her own song that the only redeeming factor is the feature, thus leaving Perry greatly overshadowed.
Every other song on this album is too autotuned and just feels repetitive. Perry has some other features on the album that all pale in comparison to Doechii, however. The album is among the weakest of Perry’s, and although her previous two albums were flops, they at least had some content that was actually enjoyable.
Perry’s comeback definitely buried her deeper into the perils of her current status as an artist, but the issue is that her music hasn’t evolved at all. Other artists who grew into success around the same time and are still relevant today let their music grow and change with the times, but Perry is frozen.
All I know is that this album isn’t worth the 33 minutes to get through. Use that 33 minutes for self-care, a walk or maybe going out for lunch. Do something nice for yourself and skip this one, your ears will appreciate it.
To ensure your ears don’t go through the hardships that this album will cause them, I give this album a one out of five.
