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Witness era: a flop? a thread
Before Katy released ‘Witness’ she made a hiatus of 2 years after her Super Bowl Halftime Show in 2015, during that time she released ‘Rise’ that was released as a song for the Olympic Games of 2016, it peaked at #11 on the Hot 100 and is certified PLATINUM in the US.
Also during that time we were waiting for the fourth album of Katy Perry. It was listed as one of the most anticipated albums of 2017 by many magazines.
It was until February when she teased the lead single of KP4 with this tweet. https://twitter.com/katyperry/status/829103308681777152
Everybody was excited and waiting. Many disco balls started to appear around the world, they played a snippet of the song. Also Katy announced she was performing the song on the Grammys 2017, two days after its release.
When the song dropped it broke many records at the time such as Spotify's record for the biggest first day debut by a female artist, the third biggest debut by a female artist on US radio and many others!
The song debuted at #4 without a music video and became Katy’s 14th Top 10 on the Hot 100
The music video was released after 12 days and it received over 8.2 MILLON views in its first 24 hours. The video make references to the political situation of America. By April 2020 the video has over 620 MILLION views and it is one of the most viewed music videos of 2017.
The song had several performance, on the Grammys 2017, BRIT Awards 2017 and iHeart Music Awards 2017.
The song was acclaimed by the critics. It was stable on the charts and became one of the biggest hit of Katy’s career.
The song has sold over 10 MILLION units Worldwide and it is certified 2X PLATINUM by RIAA.
On April 10th Katy shared her brand new haircut via her Instagram account and she started facing backlash for no reason. This was the beginning of Katy’s worst peak of her career for all the hate that she received.
After 2 months Katy started teasing the second single of her fourth album by sending emails for the "World's Best Cherry Pie”. The fans started speculating that the song was titled ‘Bon Appétit’.
Katy Perry confirmed her single 'Bon Appétit' feat. Migos two days before its release on April 28th.
The controversial single was released and it charted in 49 iTunes regions and Top 10 in 23 countries. The song was a sexual liberation, it debuted at #76 on Hot 100 without the music video.
The next day Katy surprised her fans and appeared on Time Square and gave pies as a reference her single.
After 15 days the music video was finally release on May 12th. It garnered over 14 MILLION views in its first 24 hours. It remains as one of her best music videos of her career and it has almost 900 MILLION views and it is expected to reach 1 BILLION views by the end of the year.
The sexually liberating song ihas sold over 5 MILLION units Worldwide and it is certified GOLD in the US.
On May 15th Katy announced that her fourth album ‘Witness’ was coming on June 9. She also announced her tour ‘Witness: The Tour’. The pre-order of the album was coming on May 19.
On May 18th Katy revealed the cover art for her album ‘Witness’.
Katy made appearances on the Ellen Show (May 16), The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon (May 19), SNL (May 20) and on the Carpool Karaoke (May 22) to promote her album.
On May 19th Katy released ‘Swish Swish’ featuring Nicki Minaj, the supposed diss track for Taylor Swift debuted at #46 on Hot 100 and according to predictions the song would have been a Top 10 song if she didn’t wait 2 months to release the music video.
The song was Katy’s 18th #1 on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart. The song brought the iconic ‘Backpack Kid’ who danced the song on SNL.
On June 2 Katy revealed the track list for ‘Witness’. And 3 days later Katy changed her icon and header on Twitter teasing the release of her album.
On June 8 Katy started the live streaming ‘Witness WorldWide’, a YouTube Live Special of 4 days. Katy performed the album live while waiting for the oficial release.
The album reached the #1 on US iTunes in 10 minutes becoming the fastest female album to reach the spot at the time. ‘Witness‘ charted on the Top 10 of iTunes in 74 countries and it was #1 in 38. It spent 7 consecutive days at #1 on the Worldwide iTunes Album Chart.
It debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with 180,000 units and it becomes Katy’s third album to reach the spot. Katy broke the record of the biggest first-week sales for a female artist in 2017 at the moment. She also debuted at #1 on the United World Album Chart with 288,000 sales
On June 15 ‘Feels’ was released, a song that includes Calvin Harris, Katy Perry, Pharrell William & Big Sean.
The song reached the Top 5 on UK Single Charts and Top 10 on Australia. The song remained 15 days at #2 on Worldwide iTunes Chart. It also reached the Top 10 on US Pop Radios and peaked #20 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The music video was released on the 26 of June and became one of the most viewed videos of that year. It gathers over 520 MILLION views and 2.8 MILLION likes.
The song is certified 2X PLATINUM by RIAA and it has sold over 10 MILLION units Worldwide. It remains as one of the biggest hits of 2017.
Katy announced the official music video for ‘Swish Swish’ on August 21st and it was released on the 24. It garnered 15 MILLION views in its first 24 hours. It has over 590 MILLION views and almost 5 MILLION likes.
The song has sold over 7 MILLION units worldwide and it is certified 1X PLATINUM by RIAA. It’s one of the most controversial songs by Katy and remains as one of the most memorable songs of 2017.
Katy started her ‘Witness: The Tour’ on September 19, 2017 in Montreal, Canada. It was critically acclaimed.
Katy started teasing a music video on her instagram account in mid December. Katy announced the music video for the female empowering song ‘Hey Hey Hey’ on December 19 and it was released the next day, the video was a gift for the fans and it has over 100 MILLION views.
On August 21st, 2018 Katy performed for the last date of her tour in Auckland, New Zealand. Katy visited America, Asia, Europe, African and Oceania, visiting all the continents and having a WORLD Tour. According to Forbes Katy grossed over $1 MILLION per night.
The era ended right before the tour did. It is one of the most iconic and memorable era in the history of pop music. It has sold over 36 MILLION records worldwide. It accumulates 2.2 BILLION views on YouTube and it has over 1 BILLION streams on Spotify.
People call it a flop era and the end of Katy Perry but that isn’t true. Answering the question: NO, Witness is not a flop era it is a remarkable era that changed pop music.
