Sorry Katy Perry, I Will Not Be Your ‘Witness’
It might be an unpopular opinion, but after the first listen to ‘Witness,’ it’s the equivalent of Charlie Brown running for the Football, and Lucy moving it at the last second.
The upswing to Katy Perry‘s first release in years was already pretty lackluster, but I gave her one more shot to redeem the boredom I felt while listening to “Chained To The Rhythm,” and the frustrating counter-swing of “Bon Appetit” with Migos.
Listening to the album front to back, rather than feeling the same sentiment as Consequence of Sound (“perfectly competent, but by the second listen, your finger might be itching for the skip button.”), I felt like the album blended so hard together that I lost track of any actual lyric or theme. Other than the songs that she previously released so far (“Chained To The Rhythm” Feat. Skip Marley, “Swish Swish” Feat. Nicki Minaj, and “Bon Appetit” Feat. Migos), the rest of the songs are non-anthemic, lack creativity, and quite frankly, sound all like the same song.
The only song that had any decent lyrical content (to my opinion) was “Save As Draft,” which she talked about wanting to text someone, noting that “I write it, erase it, repeat it, what good will it do to open a wound, so I take a deep breath, and I save as draft.” The thing about this song is that it lacks a certain adulthood or mature nature. Even still, it’s a struggle – and while listening to the song over again to write this line, I paused it halfway through.
Now, those who may think I’m being harsh on Katy, please reference her previous works: Every time she came with new material, it was not lackluster. It was pop-anthemic, catchy, fun, and even the slower tracks or ballad-busting tracks were empowering. This album, however, tries to have a female empowerment theme in a few songs, and honestly just doesn’t churn any feminist blood to want to tackle the world being a “boss” while “wearing a dress,” as she says.
I won’t tell you not to listen to it – that would be unfair to an artist. But from my perspective, it is not her best and is probably the equivalent of Lady Gaga‘s Artpop album – not talked about, non-existent, and not a classic.
WILL YOU BE MY #WITNESS? 👁 pic.twitter.com/A0jKY05deq
— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) June 8, 2017
Amy Cooper is the type of journalist that when asked “What do you bring to the table,” she replies “I am the table.
