why the general public turned on katy perry: a thread

disclaimer: this thread is my own personal opinion and not intended for anything else. it’ll be about her music, her image, how the music industry has evolved, and her struggles mostly during the “witness” era.

katy perry was undeniably one of the biggest pop stars of the 2010s, especially during the first half of the decade in which she basically ruled pop music with major albums and singles.

coming off the success of her debut album “one of the boys” and it’s singles, she further cemented herself with “teenage dream” and expanded that success to “prism”.

she set many important records such as spawning 5 hits from one album, a record only michael jackson has.

in 2015, katy perry headlined the most watched super bowl half time show in history, which to this day still holds that record and by the end of that year, she had completed a successful tour.

katy perry was on top of the world but decided to take a break and left the spotlight while working on her next album, beginning her hiatus.

but by the time she was ready to finally make a comeback in 2017, things didn’t go as expected and there were several reasons as to why this may have happened.

• the public image

in 2016 during her hiatus, (a year before her anticipated comeback) katy was a strong advocate and supporter for presidential candidate hillary clinton. she would participate and even perform at rallies.

the music industry has a lot of artists who remain silent when it comes to politics due to the impact it can have when it comes to their music and public image, and this seemed to affect katy.

when endorsing hillary clinton in 2016, katy perry seems to have lost a good amount of the american public (rep*blicans). this would lead into her next era and practically be the drive of it.

in february 2017, after hillary clinton had lost the election a few months prior, katy perry announced her highly anticipated comeback with a new look and her lead single “chained to the rhythm”.

a single that would be similar to her usual signature pop sound but with a political meaning behind it, a message which she made evident with the live performances she did of the song.

she performed the song at the grammys and then at the brits, where she brought out skeleton figures to mock and represent donald tr*mp and theresa may.

the single did decently but underperformed for katy perry’s standards. she later announced through twitter that this would be a “purposeful pop” era.

katy’s public political stance revolving around her music clearly wasn’t appealing to the general public, and what came next would probably finish off the era completely.

in march 2017, katy unveiled a new haircut and then got an even shorter one a few weeks later.

throughout her career, katy perry had always been seen as a sex symbol and this new change of appearance would not be taken well at all, especially by outlets and the public who bashed her for ‘shaving her head’.

so once this change came, it would completely cause more of the public to turn against her, all because of her new appearance.

she then announced her second single “bon appetit” which would feature migos.

a little background on bon appetit- it was supposedly set to be solo but her label put the migos on it, probably in an attempt to appeal more to the general public and save the era.

her label failed because not only did katy get backlash for collaborating with the migos, but the song was a massive failure on the charts. probably her worst performing and most criticized single to date.

following that, she announced her fourth album would be called “witness” and introduced a campaign for the album release that the public and critics found unappealing.

at last witness dropped, and while many people (like me) think it’s great and one of her best projects to date, most of the public wasn’t here for it and the record was slammed by critics saying she was having an “identity crisis.”

but all of this change did not come out of nowhere. katy perry at the time, was facing many personal struggles that led her to this sudden change in style and image.

• her depression and personal struggles (tw)

in addition to a political stance, katy was depressed and tried to portray a new version of herself. as she herself said multiple times, she wanted people to see katheryn hudson and not the katy perry we had seen for three albums.

throughout the witness era and even before the album dropped, she was struggling with herself but not many people knew at the time.

the public wasn’t here for this new presentation of herself and her music started underperforming, which devastated her.

the night “bon appetit” dropped, fans believed she was crying on instagram live because radio wasn’t playing her new song.

when witness dropped, she did a three day livestream where she opened up on her depression and what she had been struggling with for some time.

again, she mentions that she wanted to be seen as katheryn hudson and that’s why she cut her hair.

in that three day livestream, she also opened up and educated herself on cultural appropriation in her past work, and more.

earlier that year, on the grammys red carpet she had also received backlash for a joke on mental health which many thought was aimed at another pop star.

she later apologized and said this was just her way of alluding to her own mental health during that time.

after witness dropped, it was trashed by critics and the album underperformed which made katy go into clinical depression.

later that summer, she was announced as host of the 2017 vmas where she herself made a joke about people not liking her politically-driven music.

“When Hillary Clinton becomes president, I promise to put out a timeless record that everybody loves.” (katy joking about a draft)

after the era was practically dead, she finally went on the tour in support of “witness” where many media outlets slammed her tour attendance, ticket sales, etc.

throughout the tour, she was suffering from depression due to how “witness” had been received and how it had underperformed:

“I would go on stage and I’d be like ‘why are people here to see me? They don’t really like me. I don’t even really like me.’”

• her label & lack of promotion

a ceo from her label said they had a plan for katy after “witness” underperformed, but that plan never seemed to come.

after the tour finally ended, in may 2019 katy announced a new single “never really over”.

never really over was a likeable song by the public, katy had long hair for a video again, and it performed decently, actually. it remained stable on charts for the whole summer, but that’s it. no push from her label or additional promotion.

having wasted a good song that had potential, her label moved on and released “small talk” followed by “harleys in hawaii”.

small talk wasn’t that liked and got no promo besides a video that dropped almost a month later.

harleys in hawaii however, was liked by a lot of people (that know the song even exists) and had a video released the same day, but on a wednesday.

harleys in hawaii was never sent to radio by her label and received no promotion at all. they released the song and forgot about it.

personally, i think the long hiatus between “prism” and “witness” was also a great contributing factor to why the era underperformed. new artists emerge and the industry changes a lot in a year, let alone four.

katy went a while without a proper release and while her radio hits are still there and continue playing, new things came about such as streaming. with “witness” it became difficult to find an audience.

in addition to the hiatus, with the public and critics slamming her left and right during “witness” it was hard to adapt to new ways such as streaming since many people weren’t here for her music in the first place & she had been absent from the music scene for a while.

songs like never really over had potential, but labels like hers seem to lose interest in older artists especially ones that lost a lot of the general public, and prefer focusing & investing on newer artists.

there isn’t much more to add to this except the fact that katy was clearly slandered by the public & critics for her looks and change of style during “witness”. and she needs much better promotion or a new label.

thank you for reading. in other news, katy just welcomed her first child and released her fifth album “smile” and she seems to be in a much better place in her life now.

https://open.spotify.com/album/47zMF6LrXQ8odi6Xv1unC0?si=TGB5Xs41RISAzPmUDLiC6Q