Album Review: Katy Perry – 143
2 min read
Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson is not a well-known name, however her professional moniker, Katie Perry, is one almost everyone knows. Returning to release her seventh album, 143 (through Capitol records), Perry reconnects with producers such as Max Martin and Stargate, to create a Katie Perry take on a dance album – high energy, high BPM, and full of joy, love and light. The title 143 is Perry’s symbolic angel number, one which she continually saw through tough times, and when researched, she found out it was code for ‘I Love You’ – a message from her angels saying everything would be ok… let’s have a look-see at the album to check it’s also ok.
Kicking off with lead single release, Woman’s World certainly demonstrates the dance-theme Perry promises – a synth heavy female empowerment track, which has a great beat and bass throughout. Following, Gimme Gimme sounds like a rehash of Dark Horse … but not as good, while Gorgeous follows a similar slow dub beat, making it a bit samey. Heavily leaning on Gypsy Woman, I’m His, He’s Mine is simply not a patch on the Crystal Waters classic, whilst the BPM is cranked up for Crush in an otherwise unforgettable Euro-bop track.
Lifetimes heavily features some classic 1990’s house piano, mixed with some modern bass synths in a nice touch which oddly works as a combination, but vocally and lyrically the track is lacking. All the Love feels like a rehash of Firework, though not a patch on the original, whilst Nirvana has a pretty formulaic beat (almost like it was made by someone who was trying to make a club track but doesn’t quite get it) and generic, almost aimless lyrics – and this is also the case for Artificial, though this is less clubby and more hip-hop… but lyrically it’s just lacking, sadly. Penultimate track Truth has all the components of the previous tracks – formulaic melody and beats & basic lyrics… but it works – I’m not sure if it’s the metronome hi-hat or the bass synth… but it does! Finally, we have Wonder, which is easily the best (and most unique) track of the album – displaying sincere emotion in this heartfelt track.
I think that 143 was Katy Perry attempting to remain current, but I don’t think she’s quite hit the brief. Much of the content of 143 either feels like a rehash of previous Katy Perry tracks (and never resulting in an improvement on the original), or heavily leans on other artists tracks (and again never resulting on an improvement on the original). I feel that pop music has actually seen a progression in recent times, and as a result, sadly, this kinda feels outdated.
