Let’s Discuss Katy Perry’s ‘Smile’…
For me, Katy Perry has always represented the best of the best regarding early 2010’s pop music and culture. Much like her allies Lady Gaga, Kesha, or Rihanna, she always managed to innovate her craft and explore new realms of creative exploration. Maybe I’m thinking too deeply here, but any time I see a blue wig on anything or anyone, I immediately think of the ‘Teenage Dream’ photoshoot or the ‘California Gurls’ music video. Perry has always thought outside the box and brought her vision to life.
Beyond ‘Teenage Dream’, Perry has explored various types of music and visuals as well. With ‘Prism’, we saw a more toned down, raw side to Katy’s lyricism and personality, where with ‘Witness’ we saw her shed the hair (literally) and delve into the complexities of society and her struggle against Katy and Katherine. Female artists already have it hard enough having to reinvent their image cyclically in order to stay relevant. Katy’s worst enemy, however, has been her femininity and playfulness. It has nothing to do with her — and more about the male gaze itself. I’d just like to acknowledge the fact that Katy Perry is an almost too perfect example of what happens when men decide a female artist needs to be torn to shreds for trying anything new. The double standard here is blatantly clear. From her debut, ‘One of the Boys’, Perry has had to strategize (as with any woman) how to keep her image relevant and talked about. The 2010’s, specifically for pop music, really was an odd, almost splatter-painted era where artists quite literally wore anything and said anything to try to keep the eye on them. And that is no one’s fault but the public. We all expect too much from our female musicians — they can be great singers, but they can’t be great performers. They can have great outfits, but thus they can’t be taken seriously. They can never have it all but society doesn’t allow them to. And that is a bigger discussion on society itself, but in terms of Perry, I have truly felt awful for what she has gone through to keep her fans happy.
‘Smile’, fortunately, has brought quite literally a smile back to Perry’s beautiful face. With a new baby, loving husband, and re-energized sound, Perry has managed to capture her life sonically and express her happiness with the world. She has come to terms with who she is, what she has dealt with, and how far she comes, and it is clear that she is proud of her work. I try not to be too critical of any album because I do know, to some extent, how tasking and difficult it is to put together any project and then release it for the public. Now, would I say I love the album’s sound and direction? Not necessarily. With some of her music, I’ve always felt there is a weird line between “bubblegum” and somewhat childish. I guess I’ve only related to a handful of her messages and sounds, which is totally fine (because I won’t be sending her death threats for it, by the way). Songs usually have to capture the listener within the first few seconds, which is exactly what ‘Tucked’, ‘Cry About It Later’, ‘Never Really Over’, and ‘Champagne Problems’ did for me. I’m not too sure they are as deliberately departing as some of her past work (look at ‘Witness’ for that), and maybe they do sound familiar, but it a way that makes the listening even more comfortable. Something I’d also like to add — the briefness of this album really added to its impact. Much of the dismay over ‘Witness’ was how cluttered it seemed with how many drawn out tracks were in the listing. ‘Smile’, coming in around 36 minutes, takes notes from that and shortly but sweetly gets Perry’s message across. I’m not a huge fan of the artwork or some of the tracks (‘Daisies’ and ‘Not the End of the World’), but I’m happy Perry has released something that seems very near and dear to her and her family.
Overall, I hope what people learn from Perry is that women are constantly asked to be everything while also forced to be nothing. As ‘***Flawless’ the song once said, “you can have ambition, but not too much”. The standards are entirely constructed against them, yet artists like Perry herself continue to jump the hurdles and produce their art. Hate is no laughing matter, and sending any type of negativity to anyone (especially hate speech or death threats) should absolutely not be tolerated. Stop comparing women to each other, and just allow yourself to enjoy the music and the visuals. At the end of the day, that’s what art does.
Rating: B.
