Perry calls this new approach “purposeful pop,” implying that her previous music didn’t have a purpose. On her new album, “Witness,” Perry is abandoning all of that — her frivolity, her wink-wink sense of humor, that brassiere that shot Reddi-wip. And during the feminist rah-rah-rah of “Hey Hey Hey,” when Perry boasts about “karate chopping all cliches and norms, all in a dress,” please excuse the cliche she’s just evoked. pushing my thoughts to a new place.”What a demented thing to say on such a solipsistic, flow-sustaining, unwavy, missionless, momentum-deficient, same-old-place kind of pop album. At best, Perry sounds like she’s trapped in a purgatory, pantomiming progress, giving an endless pep talk to her own reflection.

Source: Washington Post June 12, 2017 17:22 UTC