When Your Pop is neither Woke nor Feminist
Once America’s most beloved pop star, Katy is on a mission to warn the world how we have lived with visionless pop music for years — yet she contradicts herself with an album that’s barely as woke as she wanted it to be.
Earlier this year — just about when Donald J. Trump was inaugurated as the 45th President of the United States, and the Women’s March movement blossomed all across the globe — a dose of adrenaline seemed to be taking effect in Hollywood.
Those loudest voices that took a stand before the election, and yearned for unity, collective resistance after the election, were expected to transcend their message into their products in an artistic way. The (mostly) ladies championed what’s fair and just for our civil society, and denounced any efforts made by 45 to trample on our civil rights.
Active both on the campaign trail and on Twitter, Katy Perry shines through. She released an Olympic-themed single that initiated some uplifting lyrics, as well as standing behind Ms. Clinton’s back way before Bernie Sanders’ promising campaign faded to dust at the DNC. (Standing against Donald Trump as a celebrity is natural and humanistic, yet standing against Bernie Sanders as a celebrity admittedly takes courage.) Naturally, the work she produced as a result of these efforts should be incredible. Right?

Too soon.
Witness, Katy Perry’s latest LP, launched with “Chained To The Rhythm,” a subtly political, yet admittedly danceable lead single, which cultivated some success on charts as it peaked at number four.
“I’m so proud of it. I think it’s definitely a new era for me. I call it an era of purposeful pop.” — Katy Perry
Released just three months apart from the election itself, the sophomoric context that sums up all of our culture’s difficulties as a pair of “rose-colored glasses” shows just how even traditionally decent songwriters (which she is) can only go nowhere in such a short and hectic timeframe.
The lyrics were meant to be subtle rather than blunt. It takes aim at those living in a bubble and refusing to see what is going on just outside, thereby sacrificing their political conscience — sounds familiar yet?
This narrative was, in the past, used mostly against liberals. Nobody ever accused of the midwestern blue-collar demography who voted in Trump as bubblers. And other than left-leaning college grads and professionals, the people most likely to be seen as a part of this bubble culture are, without a doubt, celebrities.
Yet reading it word for word, Katy Perry doesn’t seem to be taking a dig at herself. She did use plenty of first person pronouns (Are WE crazy? Are WE tone-deaf?) but none of the behaviors she exhibited seems to be reflecting someone living comfortably in the show business. Perhaps by “purposeful,” she is seeking to encourage more purposeful conversations with her latest project.
Even so, her followups failed to impress. “Bon Appétit” packs far too much double entendres in under four minutes, without expressing a trace of being “woke” anywhere evident, and her most recent single “Swish Swish” employed herself, along with Nicki Minaj, in a round of nothing but all-glorious catty fight. The next thing you know, this is what house beat paired with half-baked diss lyrics feels like.

As if this cheesy song needs some sort of reaffirmation that it is not about fellow pop singer Taylor Swift, she recently released a basketball-themed music video — three whopping months after the song’s initial release. It was a humiliating fiasco of two fantasy basketball teams, with a scene of her being thrown around space-themed background, ready to be capped as gifs and blown all over the internet. Smart move, Katy.
With neither of her two followups making it into the top ten spots on the Billboard chart, Katy Perry’s music with a purpose did not transcend into a power of nature as she wanted it to be (though she did once, with the success of “Roar”) — not to mention hardly anything in the rest of the LP had any wake-up call to actions. Not such a good call for a new era from the self-proclaimed activist.
There is no significant shortcomings in terms of her new album itself. She has, at this point, mastered the art of non-compromising bubblegum pop, and is a master of putting out ones that are cheesy enough to be talked about, yet still somewhat taken seriously.
But she cannot have it both ways — not by claiming she’s woke and her music is more morally purposeful than her peers, while she resorts to her old tricks as usual.
