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Katy Perry: 143 review – wan Europop revival falls short of total catastrophe
(Capitol)Following disastrous comeback singles and videos prompting environmental investigation, Perry’s seventh album isn’t the calamity expected – but it isn’t good, either
All the stops had been pulled out to ensure a massive hit – a chorus evidently designed to be sung en masse at karaoke by makeshift distaff choirs (and perhaps, as one reviewer suggested, to be lip-synced to on RuPaul’s Drag Race) and a video that attempted to both tick some culturally relevant topics and provoke a TikTok dance craze, its steps briefly shown towards the end. There are moments where it appears to be aiming for the sort of retro dancefloor focus that powered Dua Lipa’s Future Nostalgia, not least when Lifetimes bursts open with a piano riff that vaguely recalls FPI Project’s Italo house classic Rich in Paradise, although it’s worth pointing out that the references are rather less artfully done here: I’m His, He’s Mine has the hook from Crystal Waters’ Gypsy Woman plonked into it, and what Crush really seems to want to evoke is the oompah Euro-house of O-Zone’s Dragostea Din Tei, a sound it’s hard to imagine anyone was clamouring wildly for a revival of. What would once have sufficed, at least commercially, now won’t: that its author and her team didn’t notice seems far more intrinsic to 143’s downfall than questionable choices of collaborator, misfiring videos or indeed damage to the sand dunes of S’Espalmador.
Or read this on The Guardian
