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Never really over? Can Katy Perry’s career recover from critical brickbats and PR faux pas?

Once rivalling Michael Jackson in chart success, the 2010s pop star’s latest singles have bombed, putting the performance of her forthcoming seventh album in doubt

Released in July, lead track Woman’s World garnered universal pans, including a one-star review from the Guardian, for what critics perceived as its outdated girlboss-feminist messaging and a video that Perry claimed satirised the male gaze – but seemed to many viewers to directly perpetuate it. A representative for Perry’s label, Capitol, told Rolling Stone that with one permit still in process they were given verbal authority to proceed, and that they “adhered to all regulations associated with filming in this area and have the utmost respect for this location and the officials tasked with protecting it”. The producer behind her biggest hits experienced major reputational damage from a protracted legal battle with Kesha, who sued for sexual assault in 2014 (her claims were dismissed and Luke’s countersuit for defamation was settled out of court in 2023).

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