What Katy did (and didn’t do) Next!

Mainstream Innovation: Katy Perry's Witness

In the run-up to the release of Katy Perry’s new record, Witness, there was quite a bit of debate about how political the album was expected to be. To a great extent, these ultimately unrealized expectations were generated by the artist herself. Perry was very vocal in her support for Hilary Clinton’s bid for the presidency. Combined with her pre-release pronouncements about Witness and her characterization of herself as an “advocate,” this recent political focus led many listeners to expect a very ideologically intense work that would move away from Perry’s trademark dance-pop and take up the cudgels against President Trump’s administration. 

In the statements she made about the record prior to its release, Perry had promised something that would be liberating not only in narrowly political terms, but also in sexual (!), psychological, and even spiritual ones. That’s quite a big promise, and numerous commentators became quite heated as they addressed the burning question of whether or not Perry was the right sort of artist to engage in political cut-and-thrust. These commentators needn’t have worried, of course, because Witness is definitely not the record that Perry promised it would be.

Katy Succeeds on her own Terms

Irritated by this gap between what was anticipated and what was ultimately released, some reviewers have been too hard on Witness. In their view, Perry has delivered only the usual self-absorbed and sprawling album, instead of the innovative work she promised us. What these reviewers should realize is that the record we have actually been given is, disappointed expectations aside, quite the most interesting, adventurous and edgy work that Perry has ever released. Perry is still operating broadly within the confines of the pop-rock that goes down well in Middle America, but she is also pushing some boundaries by deftly integrating other, more challenging elements into that familiar mix. Repeated listens also reveal that Witness is essentially a break-up album recorded in the aftermath of her parting of ways with former partner Orlando Bloom.

Mainstream Innovation

Sometimes, artists who innovate but do so within a largely mainstream context don’t get enough credit for their skill and daring. Perry is very good at taking elements from spookier, darker forms of music, genres like future pop and witch house, and deftly weaving them into her own more mainstream and radio-friendly setting. And this is not an easy thing to do! So, we get elements drawn from electronic music styles that focus on the darker side of life alongside, or integrated into, turbo pop and R&B.

All-in-all, then, what we hear when we listen to Witness is an album that works on its own terms, even if it’s not what we were led to expect. It’s also a work of careful innovation, if you see what I mean. Perry knows that many of her fans want more of her breezy pop, along the lines of “Teenage Dream,” but she also knows how to change that formula without wrecking it.