Album Review: Katy Perry Comes Back With A Bigger “Smile
Sometimes, I am SHOOKETH by people who HATE on Katy Perry, of which my sole conclusion is that it is because she is the essence of POP. From her fashion style to her music and lyricism, she sings to a brilliant, unwavering optimism that is cute and cuddly: for God’s sake, some of her outfits have been cupcakes and one of her videos was her singing from a pink cloud! She is a songstress that lives to give people hope, and it is no surprise that she comes out with one of her happiest albums yet, Smile, when she receives her new bundle of joy! CONGRATS!
Every record on Smile feels like classic Katy Perry, which is why the album comes off like a greatest hits record. From lyrics to sound, it is catchy-pop tunes to sing along with the radio. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THAT?! Nothing! To be frank, the album sounds and feels like the Katy Perry of 10 years ago. I am talking the Last Friday Night/ Teenage Dream days, when Glee was on and Obama was president; what a year for US music and government. Yet, in a music world where women are constantly called to reinvent themselves, and change up their sounds for every album, it is a particular, even revolutionary move that Mrs.Bloom has chosen to just go back to her old ways. Like the US government after Obama, she asks, why do you change a good thing to get something worse?
Katy Perry – Smile (Official Video)
To be frank, listening to Smile, I absolutely adored the retro vibe and thought to myself, “Good for you, Katy!” Although I loved her last album of “purposeful pop,” for some reason, her critics have bashed it; even saying. “Where is the Katy of Teenage Dream and Roar?” Well, she is in Smile. Now, of course, you have to be pretty powerful to have “going retro” literally mean going back to yourself, and Katy Perry is powerful because she is one of the best songstresses for PURE POP! She is a walking classic because she hails to the genre’s core ingredients and history; 1) banal lyrics on heartbreak that lead people to hope 1) innocent symbolism like clowns, cartoons, and daisies and 3) rhythms that sound like what we imagine “ice cream cake” would if it were a noise. Yet, again, what is wrong with that?
Katy Perry – Never Really Over (The Smile Video Series)
In perspective, Katy Perry was never meant to adapt to a music landscape because she was/is the music landscape. Once you become such a particular sound and aesthetic, everything you do will always be compared to it because you broke a barrier by become a literal taste and ambiance. It is why people love Justin Bieber, Ed Sheeran, and Post Malone; because they always sound like themselves, the same, and simple play with the particular sound they invented for themselves. So why can’t Katy Perry do the same? Smile is Katy Perry realizing that if you can’t beat critics, then you join them. You want Teenage Dream? Then, I give you Smile: out August 28.
