Katy Perry Responds to Criticism of “Woman’s World” Video
On July 12, the official video for Katy Perry’s new single, “Woman’s world”, was made available, a preview of the pop star’s next studio album, entitled “143” and due out on September 20. As highlighted by the American edition of “Rolling Stone”, the publication was however greeted with fierce criticism from several authoritative newspapers, more for the video clip than for the song itself, co-produced by Dr. Luke – already accused of sexual assault. Laura Snapes on the “Guardian” contested the video, between bionic and powerful women, and the song of being “a dated attempt to write a feminist anthem about how women really can have it all”.
Cat Zhang for “.The Cut,” meanwhile, wrote that “Katy Perry is stuck in 2016” and that “everything about the launch of her new album, ‘143,’ reeks of desperation,” before concluding, “’Woman’s World’ is so forgettable and embarrassing, it obscures the blatant hypocrisy of it being produced by a supposed maniac.” Of “Consequence,” Mary Siroky said, “The half-hearted anthem of female empowerment fails on nearly every front.”
Following criticism for “Woman’s World” and its accompanying music video, Katy Perry shared a video on her social media channels yesterday, July 13, in which she appears to respond to the attacks.
The clip, which Rolling Stone US points out was shot behind the scenes of the single’s music video, presumably in anticipation of the backlash, sees the singer explain the logic behind some of the video’s more controversial moments. “We’re having a little fun with being a little sarcastic, it’s a really cheeky farce,” the pop star explains: “With this set, it’s like, ‘This isn’t about the male gaze, but it’s actually about the male gaze,’ and we’re being really over-the-top and cheeky, because I’m about to be destroyed, like a reset for me and my idea of the divine feminine, a different world that we’re going to go to after this.” In the clip shared on social media yesterday, accompanied by the caption “You can do anything, even satire,” Katy Perry then emphasizes: “We wanted to open this video by making it look like a super glossy pop star video, and that’s what it is.”
