The campaign for Katy Perry’s sixth album had staggered beginnings. Released last May, lead single and opening album track Never Really Over showed promise for a successful pop reboot following the “purposeful pop” misfire of 2017’s Witness.
With a tongue-twisting chorus and hi-NRG synths, it seemed as if Perry and her songwriting team found their sweet spot again, only for it to be demoted with the biteless Small Talk, a single that just about made it as a bonus track.
Momentum should have picked up with the hazy and oddly brilliant Harleys in Hawaii but it slumped. “When I hula-hula, hula so good, you’ll take me to the jeweller-jeweller, jeweller. There’s pink and purple in the sky-y-y, we’re ridin’ Harleys in Hawaii-i-i,” she whispers over a tropical love-drunk beat that saw the song peak at 42 in the Irish charts.
Daisies, Resilient and Only Love recycle the sentiment that she can’t be worn down by critics, but this sentiment gets in the way of making a good song. Sung through gritted teeth, the lyrics on the title track are nonsensical and stale: “Now I got a smile like Lionel Richie. Big and bright, need shades just to see me. Tryna stay alive just like I’m the Bee Gees”.
It’s only when she shakes this narrative does she land a winner. See: Cry About It Later, the grown-up version of 2011’s partially problematic Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) but instead of having so much fun that she blacks out, she channels the coldness of boozing to forget.
Like many stars of her era, Perry’s big brand of pop is not just a good hook and powerhouse chorus but it’s an emotional narrative that mirrors her personal journey. So when Witness failed, it means that she failed and Smile is a chance to get back to basics.
On the country-tinged closing ballad What Makes A Woman, Perry wraps up the question of femininity – “Is it the way we keep the whole world turning in a pair of heels? Yeah that’s what makes a woman” – and congratulates herself for figuring it out. “There it is, Katheryn,” she says – except, it’s not.
Smile misses the mark by pairing subpar lyrics with otherwise perfect melodies and getting totally bogged down by the need to bounce back from past failings. Modern pop stars are often plagued by “the comeback”, a tactic imposed by fans and their team to outdo themselves and everybody else. So whenever Perry does, eh, come back – she gave birth to a daughter on Thursday – hopefully she returns with a clean slate.
