Katy Perry — Witness (2017) | Album Review
Katy Perry has never been known as an “album artist,” but even so Witness falls way short of expectations.
MDNA. Music of the Sun. Britney Jean. Artpop. I Am… Sasha Fierce. Similar to Witness, these albums are the worst album from respectable artists. However, unlike any of these artists, Katy Perry has never had a decent album, let alone a great one. Witness, her fifth studio album, lacks every redeeming quality her previous efforts had, while cumulating all characteristics that made the aforementioned albums dissatisfactory.
Katy Perry is no stranger to transformations, having never retained the same look after each album cycle. Her new image in Witness, while not the most surprising (the transition from Katy Hudson to One of the Boys takes the crown), is the only reinvention that’s regressive. On Prism, Katy appears as a mature, spiritual woman, seemingly tired of the colorful, garish, Teenage Dream era. Well, on “Act My Age,” the last track on the deluxe version, she declares: “I’m thirty-something going on thirteen/ […] I won’t act my age,” effectively demolishing any maturity progress she has made.
However, that alone cannot have made it so unmemorable. Like MDNA, most tracks on Witness sounds desperate and deliberate, swaying tepidly between mindless dance-pop (“Have a few rounds and just let go”) and conscious messages (“We’re all chained to the rhythm”), ending up neither. Katy Perry’s trying too hard to be political and self-aware, without actually doing so. This is made worse by awful lyrics, such as “Come on, turn it up, keep it on repeat / Stumbling around like a wasted zombie,” or “Your words are like Chinese water torture.” The more focused tracks such as “Swish Swish” fare better, but are still far from greatness. Teenage Dream also had a plethora of fillers, but it did not lack catchy hooks, with the titular track going down as one of the best pop songs this decade. This album has close to none.
Similar to I Am… Sasha Fierce, Witness falls prey to contrasting personalities. However, the former revolves around two strong pillars: “Single Ladies” is arguably the definitive Beyoncé song with irresistible hooks, and “Halo” is the ultimate encore song. In other words, Beyoncé had clear vision of two polarizing alter egos, while Katy seems clueless and disoriented. It is hard to pinpoint who Katy Perry is on the album: she’s many but none at the same time, not following through with any persona.
As a result, she loses her last redeeming quality, sincerity. One of the Boys was as inconsistent as Witness, even offensive at times, but she sounded the most believable. It’s doubtful that she’s released anything more genuine than “Thinking of You”. That was also when she had the most contribution to her music, before Max Martin and Dr. Luke co-wrote and produced over half of the songs on her albums. The production on Witness does not help either, clashing with her vocals throughout the album. On top of that, her vocals are depleted by obnoxious effects, making the music even more featureless. Positively over half of the artists out there can record the album and it would not sound any different.
Rating: D
Highlight: “Swish Swish”
