143 is not just a bad album. It's a catastrophic tragedy of the ages, where Katy Perry has dug herself such a deep hole that there's possibly no way to claw out of it. It's lifeless, derivative, nauseating, and quite possibly career ending.
143 was doomed from the start. 143, which translates to "I love you" in some numerical way (don't ask, I don't know either) is Katy Perry's seventh studio album and it's been a doozy of a new album rollout to say the very least. The dooziest to be exact. One of the biggest pop stars this century, Perry has had quite the fall from grace since her triumphant smash that is Teenage Dream in 2010. Her decline has been so stunning and marvelously epic that it has been arguably the most notable career nosedive from a massive pop star in recent memory. The true awfulness that is 143 didn't just come out of nowhere, even though in many ways it feels like it. 2013's Prism had massive hits and was a big success, but following that, I would say is when Perry started to struggle. 2017's Witness is quite a mess and is a massive drop in quality with head scratching production choices throughout, while 2020's Smile is even worse. Despite these two records' many flaws outweighing its few positives, Witness and Smile both has great singles: "Chained to the Rhythm" is a colorful, shimmering bop and the fantastic "Never Really Over" is one of Perry's best singles to date. Nothing positive can be said about 143, though. Which is insane to me because even despite her drop in quality and hits, Perry is still one of pop music's biggest stars. Who else can boast about having five number one hit singles off of one album? Five! That's truly wild but Perry still deserves all the credit. Singles like "Firework" and "Teenage Dream" are some of the best singles of the 2010's, regardless of any genre.
Even before this disastrous new album has been released to the public, it's been flooded with cacophonous distain and controversy. For starters, despite the intense and heavily documented abuse and rape accusations against Dr. Luke from fellow pop star Kesha (who has self-released the fantastic single "Joyride" this year, which is one of the 2024's best), Katy Perry is still loudly working with him throughout 143. With Dr. Luke serving as producer and songwriter throughout much of the material on this album along with Perry herself defending his involvement, you shouldn't be surprised that this has grilled her reputation and any possibility of 143 being a success. That alone would've been the death knell, but the backlash continued even further: the music video for "Lifetimes" was shot in the Balearic Islands in Spain without permission, which resulted in damaging the environmentally protected dunes there. And to top it all off, "Woman's World," the album's grand statement of a lead single, has surface level feminism and pro-women imagery all contaminated with Dr. Luke's fingerprints, which completely cancels out any single attempted effort of authenticity.
With all the exhausting backlash leading up to143's impending release, it's safe to say that many, including myself, were dying to see how 143 would turn out and if there was anything, anything to salvage from it. And I'm sorry to say but there is absolutely nothing redeemable on 143. Despite the album's themes revolving around love and joy, it's pretty joyless and I wouldn't dare ask any loved one to listen to this, even if my life depended on it. The album's lyrics throughout the record sound like they're coming straight from an AI algorithm, not a team of ten songwriters. Hell, even I could write better than this and I don't know shit about pop songwriting. With lines like "kitty kitty, wanna party tonight," "if you want digits to my cellular," "livin' in a candy daydream," "I'm just a prisoner in your prison," you CANNOT tell me that these songs weren't just ripped directly from the AI prompt: "write the blandest pop songs imaginable." Helmed by not only Dr. Luke but Max Martin, one of the biggest pop producers of all time, we have glossy, shimmering synth pop all over 143 that is as robotic, sterile, and icy as ever. To say that this would work well soundtracking an H&M dressing room would be an insult to H&M itself. The album's instrumentals lack any personality, charm, or charisma. Each song blends into one another into one forgettable blob of grayness. These instrumentals sound so stale and outdated that it's absolutely absurd that this is coming from a huge, well established pop star's album. Even Witness, which came out seven years ago, sounds fresher and more exciting than 143.
There are attempts here for 143 to at least make a ripple rather than a splash. "Woman's World," as awful and tone deaf of a swing and a miss as it is, has surprisingly one of the better instrumentals here. Despite it being blatantly half-assed and unfinished, the synth pop kind of has an edge to it only when comparing it to the album's other material. "Lifetimes" is the best track on here and is at least listenable, despite her forced inclusion of "lifetimes" in the chorus, which is so clunky. The house-backed groove is decent, making this at least a palpable moment in the track listing. "Gorgeous" borrows so much from Sam Smith and Kim Petras' "Unholy" that it's utterly derivative, especially knowing that Petras is included in both songs. "I'm His, He's Mine" is really Doechii featuring Katy Perry rather than the other way around and despite Doechii being as hot in the rap scene as she is currently, even she can't save this track. "Crush" is so outdated that it sounds like a modern day Crazy Frog. Its "la dada dee's" and thumping beat are inexcusable and a disgrace to not only the listener, but to society itself. "Gimme Gimme" falls flat on its face, has arguably the album and year's worst simile, "crawlin' on me like a centipede," and 21 Savage phones it in so hard that his entire life savings should be billed by Verizon. "Artificial" is a horrendous attempt at a modern day "E.T." with its robotic, futuristic language but it simply can't escape from sounding AI generated, irony intended or not (it's not). Album closer "Wonder" is the album's most endearing and meaningful attempt, which is an ode to Perry's daughter Daisy. But with Daisy's vocals fried with autotune and the track's overall lack of personality or originality, I can't accept any endearment or empathy for Perry... especially after listening to the ten songs prior.
What the worst thing is about 143 isn't the outdated production that evokes Obama-era optimism, or the AI generated sounding lyrics, or the repeated melodies and flow, or even the lack of vocal range that fails to utilize Katy Perry's very talented vocal abilities. The worst thing is the timing. 143 came out at the worst possible time. With a year that is filled with creative, original quality pop albums from the likes of Billie Eilish, Sabrina Carpenter, Charli XCX, and Chappell Roan (which technically was released last year but its impact and influence throughout this year counts) among others, a bland, forgettable album from a massive pop star not only would've never stood a chance at success, but would actually sound much, much worse than it actually is. 143 is a bad album. It truly is and there's no getting around that. It's lifeless, derivative, nauseating, and quite possibly career ending. It would've been a terrible record regardless of the year it dropped. But with it being released alongside her contemporaries and with the bar being set so high because of them, 143 is not just a bad album. It's a catastrophic tragedy of the ages, where Katy Perry has dug herself such a deep hole that there's possibly no way to claw out of it.
My Rating: 2 / 10
Favorite Songs: "Lifetimes"
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