Katy Perry in the music video for her song Woman's WorldKaty Perry seems to be attempting damage control after her latest music video was slammed across the internet.
On Friday, the pop star shared the official video for her song Woman’s World, the lead single from her forthcoming album, 143.
Fans on X (formerly Twitter) and music critics quickly voiced their dissatisfaction with the ostensibly feminist anthem.
The Guardian’s Laura Snapes called the song “garbage” that “made me feel stupider every sorry time I listened to it.” At Pitchfork, Shaad D’Souza called the tune “unfathomably tepid, irritating at best”. And Vulture’s Justin Curto wrote that Woman’s World is “stuck in vague feminist empowerment, which may have worked in 2014 but falls short in 2024”.
More to the point, many people blasted Katy for choosing to reunite with songwriter and producer Dr. Luke, whom pop star Kesha Sebert accused of sexual assault in a high-profile 2014 lawsuit.
The music producer, whose legal name is Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald, has always denied the allegations and countersued Kesha for defamation. The litigation was ultimately settled in June 2023 after a legal battle lasting nearly a decade.
On Saturday, Katy appeared to respond to this criticism by indicating that the video was meant to be satirical.
“You can do anything! Even satire!” she wrote on X, alongside a pre-recorded clip from the set of the Woman’s World video, where she offers some thoughts about her intentions behind the clip.
YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! EVEN SATIRE! pic.twitter.com/aHFTqcvCVm
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) July 13, 2024
“We’re kind of just having fun, being a bit sarcastic with it,” she said. “It’s very slapstick, and very on the nose.”
“With this set, it’s like, ‘Ooh, we’re not about the male gaze, but we really are about the male gaze,’” she went on.
“And we’re really overplaying it and on the nose, because I’m about to get smashed, which is like a reset ― a reset for me, and a reset for my idea of ‘feminine divine,’ and it’s a whole different world we go to after this.”
Halfway through the Woman’s World video, Katy is, indeed, “smashed” flat by a giant anvil, after which she gets up in a new location and the song continues.
Still, not everyone was clear on what exactly was being satirised, or what Katy was actually trying to say with the song and video.
one of the hallmarks of great satire is when you release a long followup video that explains in detail specifically how you are being satirical and why you chose to do it https://t.co/Jzb1SPLhO6
— america's lounge singer (@KrangTNelson) July 13, 2024
Without any discernible critique of the system that creates the circumstances ostensibly being “satirized” in the first place, it isn't "satire," it's just aimless caricature.
— Ryan Rockwell (@lamborghinibank) July 13, 2024
it’s not just katy perry but i’ve noticed there’s a whole generation now that thinks satire just means “saying something i don’t agree with” https://t.co/LeKnZNMBjR
— Mohammad (@MargBarAmerica) July 13, 2024
i think the satire just doesn’t work when you have to explain it this much https://t.co/9kxNBPIlwQ
— matt (@mattxiv) July 13, 2024
We know it’s satire. It was poorly designed. https://t.co/WHMNLU9Ov3
— @ImaniBarbarin@disabled.social (@Imani_Barbarin) July 14, 2024
i have a feeling katy perry thinks any music video where she makes silly faces is satire
— sarah hagi (@KindaHagi) July 13, 2024
The best satire is the satire that needs to be explained by the satirist a day later https://t.co/LnnvkDfnhu
— Jesse Hawken (@jessehawken) July 13, 2024
Mel Brooks coming upstage after The Producers to say “it’s actually satire on the theater industry idk if you caught that” https://t.co/FpNzFLzJPZ
— Sarah ????❤ scaredbi.bsky.social (@ScaredBisexual) July 13, 2024
Watch Katy Perry’s Woman’s World music video in full below:
