Album Review: Katy Perry - 'Smile'
Katy Perry’s career is built with a solid arsenal, and she sticks to her guns on new album ‘Smile’.
In a ride that reflects many lives, including Katy’s own, the LP’s reflective and deeper moments are met with occasional colour and dance vibes. ‘Never Really Over’ kick-starts the record, proof that Katy’s strengths lie with hits that can be replayed again and again. It remains a killer electropop track 15 months after its initial release. It’s closely followed by another massive chorus, as ‘Cry About It Later’ sets itself up to be another big hitter in the artillery.
The lack of a new dawn comes with an appreciation of previous days. It’s a slightly more mature version of 2013’s ‘Prism’ record, most noticeable in ‘Resilient’ and the ‘Dark Horse’-esque ‘Not The End Of The World’.
‘Smile’ balances gratitude for what she has, with acknowledgement of past mistakes. In the title track, Katy sings: “Had a piece of humble pie/That ego-check saved my life”. This could be about her personal life, or the poor reaction received by 2017’s ‘Witness’. Apologies to her parents are a key part of the penultimate track, ‘Only Love’.
Whenever it threatens to get too dark, there’s a little light to bring back the joy, or the real strong dance beat present beneath ‘Teary Eyes’.
Katy Perry may want to avoid battling her contemporaries, but lazy comparisons to ‘folklore’ and ‘Chromatica’ are inevitable despite the different things they bring to the table. This album’s ‘Tucked’ suggests a closer affinity to Kylie Minogue than either Taylor Swift or Lady Gaga anyway.
Closing track, the pre-released ‘What Makes A Woman’, has been declared as a dedication to her new daughter, rounding off a brief visit to Katy’s world – 12 songs packed into just 37 minutes.
The singles of 2019 and 2020 proved she never lost the good songs, and this traditional album is consistent enough to satisfy KatyCats. It lacks a little oomph at times, possibly an acceptance that ‘Smile’ won’t need to satisfy a full-blown arena tour any time soon – for several reasons.
It’s also an opportunity to delve a little deeper. Katy’s contemporaries make albums worth revisiting, and ‘Smile’ contains several treasures wrapped up to enjoy long into the future. Sure she’s content with what she has, but why the hell not? This comfortable path has not misled her so far. Katy Perry has just one person to prove herself to now – Daisy Dove Bloom.
Words by Samuel Draper