By Mia Shea
Staff Writer
Katy Perry’s latest album “143” harps on reveling with friends and having fun. While the title of the record has a deep, personal meaning for Perry herself, the depth of the production and lyrics do not support this narrative.
Perry shared in an interview with Apple Music that the number 143 became her own personal “angel number,” describing how she began to see that number frequently after her family dealt with medical hardships in the past.
The content and style of the album, released on Sept. 20, does not necessarily reflect this. The buildup to the album was immensely underwhelming, as was the album itself.
The first single from “143” was released on July 11 and is the opener for the album, titled “Woman’s World.” However, upon the initial release of the song, Perry faced a lot of backlash as some fans claimed that the song sounded AI-generated and was not nearly as fabulous as the songs she used to release. Nonetheless, “Woman’s World” truly does set the tone for the rest of the album and embodies Perry’s upbeat stylistic choices.
The controversy of this album stems even further than the production of the song, as Perry’s producer for “143,” Dr. Luke, was accused of sexual assault in 2014 by music icon Kesha. Kesha ultimately released the album “Rainbow” in 2017 as a way to share her story about the situation.
Perry received criticism for working with Dr. Luke, especially for releasing a song that holds high feminist values. Many deemed it almost ironic that Perry would find it appropriate to release a record with such an empowering message with a producer that has sexual assault allegations, taking to X to share to their disapproval.
The record features four other artists who enhanced it significantly. 21 Savage appears on the track “GIMME, GIMME,” which is no doubt one of the best songs on the album due to its fast, rap-like beat and catchy chorus mixed with Perry’s vocals.
Kim Petras is featured on “GORGEOUS,” and her feature reflects the feminist nature of the album as the main chorus is “All my girls look gorgeous.” It’s a song meant to be played while getting ready for a girls’ night out.
The track “I’M HIS, HE’S MINE” featuring Doechii has a recognizable, catchy beat since it samples Crystal Waters’ 1991 release of “Gypsy Woman (She’s Homeless).” The beat is hands down the most intriguing, appealing part of the song. Despite this, the beat being sampled from another song in turn makes this song all the less impressive.
As the album progresses, the style stays pretty consistent with the idea of upbeat, electronic pop meant to be played in the club with your girls. “CRUSH,” “LIFETIMES” and “NIRVANA” all exhibit that style. However, after listening to so many similar songs, they all begin to sound the same.
“143” starts to slow down with the ballad “ALL THE LOVE,” reminiscing on growing as a person and gaining back the love lost throughout a lifetime. Another ballad on this album is “TRUTH,” a song that clings to the idea that the truth about relationships will inevitably always come out.
The fourth and final feature is rapper JID on “ARTIFICIAL,” and it was definitely one of my favorites. The switch up from Perry’s singing to JID’s rap flows intrinsically, making this one of the stronger songs.
The album’s closer, “WONDER,” starts slow but shares a message of staying true to yourself and supporting one another, especially as women. I believe that this track was the perfect outro because it embodies Perry’s thesis for the record while keeping the synth beat. It wraps up and connects back to the first song, which I will give Perry props for. However, this track sounds like it is supposed to play during the credits of a poorly made, girl-power coming-of-age movie.
In this 33-minute, 11-track record, Perry showcases her vocal talent effectively and conveys that she can successfully collaborate with other artists. However, I believe that the depth of the songwriting and lyricism on this album is severely lacking.
While “143” can be fun to dance to, I believe that coming out with an electronic, house music style record shortly after Charli XCX’s smash hit record “brat” makes it difficult to overpower something so culturally significant.
When compared to Perry’s nostalgic 2000s records like “Teenage Dream” or “One of the Boys,” her older albums definitely take the cake.
