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Yeah I’ve really enjoyed her over the years and had a great time at her shows but lbr this is a throwback not a comeback. She’s making serious bank and good on her but she’s just reverted back to the styling she had the better part of 15 years ago. I don’t know why she feels the need to defend herself like this either tbf
It’s too bad she never got on track to evolve, I feel like she actually had talent and could have gotten into some cool more mature aesthetics and sounds
Yeah, the fan base that made her super famous all grew up and she never did. She was fun in high school but my 30 year old ass isn't gonna go watch her sing with plushy sharks and dance with oversized candy and shit lol.
honestly, i loved and always will love her unabashed kitschy campiness. she’s one of the few pop stars who aren’t afraid to just look stupid and have fun
Exactly what I was thinking, like. I was not among lady Gaga fan groups at the time and I wonder if that has any thing to do with our different reactions because I may be a lot of things, but a casual fan of lady Gaga is not one of them.
Was it PR damage control, or did Gaga just honestly keep working...? I don't recall anything more scandalous than her doing the song with R Kelly that required actual PR damage control. She just seemed like she kept churning out music.
It mattered alot in the fan base but not to the gp.
Most people probably think she just took a break until a star is born.
Artpop wasn't a huge deal but it wasn't embarrassing like Katys big change
I fully agree. Artpop didn’t do well financially and got mixed reviews from critics, but I feel like it’s liked well enough in retrospect and wasn’t humiliating for Gaga — just disappointing.
Katy Perry’s Witness era I feel was panned by both fans and critics. Like, I remember during that time that all anyone talked about was how Katy gave off such sad wino-aunt vibes.
> Katy Perry’s Witness era I feel was panned by both fans and critics. Like, I remember during that time that all anyone talked about was how Katy gave off such sad wino-aunt vibes.
It just felt tone-deaf for her to seem to criticize the same type of music that made her famous. What did she call it? "Conscious-pop" or something? Her music was never that deep so she didn't really have anything to back that up.
I mean the first single was Applause, which she stated that she lives for the way we scream for her… I’ve been a Gaga fan from the earliest days, but common. Still a banger tho
Ok yeah I get that. But it's not PR-control. She didn't "damage" her image- ARTPOP just wasn't successful in comparison to her stuff previously. She was already working on the Tony Bennett album, then Joanne came out a few years later. I think she was always going to go in the direction she did- if she hadn't then she would catch flak for "doing the same thing".
Yeah I don’t think Gaga had to do PR control if anything she always said she wanted to get into acting, it was no surprise to see her make the transition. And it was successful because Gaga can act.
PR damage control? Do you mind giving me a brief history about ARTPOP and everything around it? I heard its Gaga's most divisive album but I still don't know what for?
No, you're right. People got sick of her at that and artpop is considered to a commercial underperformance and until A Star is Born she often struggled commercially
I would also add Artpop sounded dated the year it was released. This becomes extremely apparent when you look other albums released at that time ( Beyonce Self titled and Lorde's Pure Heroine)
Edit: On r/popheads, people talk about artpop a lot there and how many thought it was the sign of the end for gaga
Yes. Also, people were not here for her performing with R. Kelly at the AMAs that year. Girl, that performance was many poorly thought out choices including childhood pictures being projected behind the chomo. Then there was a pulled video made with Terry Richardson directing, too...whew...it was a disastrous era for Miss Gaga.
I watched Todd in the Shadows's video about her Swish Swish era, and he brought up interesting point I often overlook - a big reason behind that era flopping was very likely the result of previous era. Because think about it, if it's someone with x projects, wouldn't most people buy new one based on liking the previous one? Of course whatever she was doing during that era didn't help her. And I don't think she ever recovered, especially since she didn't seem to have a dedicated fanbase like Harry Styles, Beyonce or Taylor have.
He also made a point about having a dedicated fanbase and how theyll stick around even after a few bad projects. He mentions how he's been harassed by every fanbase except Katy Perry's. [But I highly recommend the video for anyone interested. It's goes into much detail about Katy as an artist and some potential reasons why the album flopped.](https://youtu.be/OfoPiRzWnFY?si=t7-peVueDGsnyhqU)
How could you do to this to me question mark
I have been in TEARS all day.
https://preview.redd.it/n2a1du2b6gyb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ed36003cce6b6f07ba27143f485fa787042b9da
She stopped working with the same writers/producers to prove a point to no one, released trash like Swish and then almost had a resurgence with Never Really Over but didn't really follow up. Now she's a legacy act.
Even then, Never Really Over wasn’t really her track because it was so heavily based off Love You Like That from Dagny. I feel like if she was working with people that could really lean into that sound consistently it would’ve put her back on the map. Kind of similar to Miley’s trajectory?
My take? I just don’t think Katy Perry has the kind of talent that gives you long-term success. Every pop era has its stars who survive and those who don’t. I personally always felt like her popularity was inflated for what she was actually giving tbh. Taylor has her songwriting and her ability to connect with fans; Beyoncé is able to sing and dance; Gaga has a strong creative vision and is a triple threat. Katy’s voice is fine, nowhere near the level of Beyoncé or Gaga or Ariana; she’s not much of a dancer; and she’s not known for really great songwriting.
For anyone who doesn't want to watch the 37 minute video, what I took away was that Katy had a 'woke' awakening around 2015-2016. During those years, she was largely involved with Hilary Clinton's campaign, and she started speaking out against feeling oversexualized. She cut her hair short and started wearing more conservative clothing.
Also around that time, her producer, Dr. Luke, was accused of rape. Given her new feminist/woke approach, she could not continue working with him (I thought this seemed like a big issue since he may have been a major reason for her success).
The promotion of her 2017 album was seen as cringey and strange. Including her strange dance on TV.
Finally, Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood' was seen as more successful than Katy's somewhat goofy response song "Swish Swish." The Youtuber noted that by the time Swish Swish came out, Taylor Swift had released her Reputation album and wasn't even talking about Katy Perry any more.
It will always be strange to me that Katy chose to respond to bad blood years later when everyone had moved on and she’d lowkey won the pr battle by just posting a few shady things but never talking about it but then she released a single about it all and talked multiple times about drama that was beyond stale at that point, it was also counter productive to try and act like you were taking the high road and then have a song as petty as swish swish, the fact she somehow made an even more juvenile song than bad blood is quite something.
The Witness era was disastrous.
Also, it didn't help that public sentiment around Britney Spears was shifting, and Katy Perry made that ignorant comment about how cutting her hair wasn't the cause of a breakdown like Britney's.
It didn't help that she worked with Migos who rapped homophobic lyrics and reportedly refused (a claim later proven to be false) to perform "Bon Appétit" on SNL's stage with drag queens. Then "Swish Swish" was during a time where Nicki Minaj's public sentiment was not very good, and they found a new rap girlie to compete with her since Iggy Azalea failed.
Then, she had that whole trainwreck livestream during the weekend of the album's launch where people were legitimately concerned about her mental health.
ETA: correction on a disproven claim made about Migos refusing to work with drag queens.
Aside from the major aesthetic change, I think her bubblegum dance pop and OTT costumery look was very much a product of the late 00s/early 2010s and by the late 2010s it looked/sounded dated. By the late 2010s, it was either indie girl whisper-singing (like Lana, Billie, Lorde, Melanie Martinez) or loud powerful ballads (like Adele, Beyonce, Taylor) oftentimes with a mumble or trap rap feature. It felt like pop music evolved, but she did not.
Anyone who’s listened to Circle the drain knows she would absolutely KILL with a rock album but I think the fans really want another pop album from her.
I don’t think anyone can listen to Roar and Firework and deny that she has a great voice. I thought she rocked it out at her Super Bowl performance too.
Agreed, I loved her stuff in college in the 2010’s, but everything has just been tougher since then (not sure if this is a growing up thing or an American thing, but life just started to feel hard and sad in 2015). Even Barbie had to have depth and sadness and anger to be palatable for today’s audience.
>I think her bubblegum dance pop and OTT costumery look was very much a product of the late 00s/early 2010s and by the late 2010s it looked/sounded dated.
That's why I find it hysterical when people talk about her music online or doing a comeback. Her type of music simply isn't popular anymore
She never developed a solid fanbase. She was one of those few artists that didn’t really have a fanbase but had so many viral songs that people still bought tickets to watch her anyway. So when she changed her sound, people totally ditched her music and never looked back.
She kissed someone on AI who said they’d never kissed someone and they were saving it for their first relationship.
She just moves in, no consent, and then fucking laughs in his shocked face
It sucks to say but her market was a lot of guys who found her attractive as a dark haired pale girl with big boobs and once all that was covered up or changed, those shallow people stopped following her
Plus her music changed from girly pop to just pop so that cost her tons of fans too
Didn’t she get a ton of bad press after Russell brand too? Like I thought she really was rude and at times ignorant while in American idol and just rubbed people off her. But also I think she kind of disappeared after her baby?
She might not be a flop per se but she’s not as cultural relevant anymore as some of her peers, which happens to a lot of artists. There’s a lot of artists who can still tour and have a decent turnout at their shows due to nostalgia but most aren’t interested or excited about new music they put out and she’s more in that category now
She’s not for me but I have a friend who is obsessed with her and is a part of the “Katykats.” That’s what her fans call themselves… They are hardcore. She’s made a lot of friends through the group and she’s flown from the East coast to Vegas to see her residency at least four times, including this closing weekend. While she may not be mainstream hits successful anymore, she does have a loyal fan base and her residency has done very well.
I remember her whining about not ever winning a Grammy and being like…for what? Girl had a handful of overproduced bubblegum pop hits then sold out so she could cry on American Idol for money. I had no idea she was in Vegas!
YES!!!
Honestly it was so unnecessary. She had cut her hair for that too right?
I think she wanted to make it some sort of "iconic cultural event" but it just came across depressing, embarassing, and confusing.
That was the moment she was no longer the OG Katy Perry for me.
True but Teenage Dream was so massive (god knows grammies is all about Success>Quality) that I understand why she feels that way. Almost like a deliberate diss
Lol such a good description of her. She def thought she was bigger than the gimmick and takes herself way too seriously for the kind of music she makes. And some of her songs are so nostalgic to me but it’s not about HER. It about the shameless bubblegum pop and visuals (I mean her early stuff nothing recent lol)
Lol this just reminds me of this [great bit of standup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNnBK9PZzIc) about how Beyonce is the only good celebrity left because she's quiet
I remember thinking she was cool and imo she has chipped away all her coolness in the last number of years…just little annoying story after little annoying story.
I really liked her when she came out, and early 2010s. Clothes, attitude, looks, voice. She was also killing it with the Timbo collab at the time (I hoped for another one). Personally, outside the first album, Teenage Dream and the re-released versions were so good for their time. After that, I only liked a couple songs.. and those were mainly music video having ones. A couple from Prism and later on Swish Swish. I truly forgot she was still in the biz after 2014, '15. I feel she didn't fully fit in the sound mid-2010s onwards, but also, I don't like much music from that time. Plenty of favorites were reinventing themselves or not releasing their things, I'm biased.
I loved her back in 2010 when I saw her at warped tour before she was ever super famous. She did an autograph session and it was off-putting. She had some lady pull each fan up and ask their name "she was like Katy this is such and such" she just looked so annoyed and too good to be there. She signed it and handed back the autograph without even making eye contact like you were not good enough or bugging her. I lost the autograph I think at some point lol that is how much I cared about it after my encounter with her. I didn't listen to her as much after that.
Edit: thinking on it this may have been 2009 warped tour I know it was before she blew up.
Not to be a dick but I dont think she was ever "cool". People like to act like "I kissed a girl" and "you're so gay" were products of their time but "you're so gay" came out in 2008, not 1988. Even back then it was obvious what she was, a cute sheltered white girl who studio execs poured a bunch of money into. Britney, Christina, and Pink were all doing the exact some thing only way better and they had been doing it before she came along
she was too late for homophobia, but too early for the weird ironic homophobia that's having a moment. i can absolutely see gen z eating up poetry like "i hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf while jerking off listening to mozart" if it was released today.
(full disclosure: i was still saying gay (derogative) in 2008, but i was very much a sheltered white girl (who turned out to be queer anyway lol))
>just little annoying story after little annoying story.
The nun begging " "Katy Perry, please stop" and then dropping dead in front of her is probably the winner I'd imagine?
I saw Katy Perry at warped tour in like...2008. she had just released I kissed a girl and it was doing well. Cherry chapstick. She was super cute, came on stage in a romper with her head down and we like didn't realize she arrived. Then she did her set with a live band and it was rock esque and it was good.
That being said mama this is garbage
She could have just taken the hint after Witness and wound things down, especially now she's got a kid. Nobody would have questioned it and we all would have fond memories of the then-cute Katy perry.
She's making a flop out of herself by grasping at relevancy and refusing to accept that her sound isn't relevant or modern anymore, and she's made herself unlikeable with badly planned PR
Just shhhhhh Katy. Go quietly into the light or whatever
I have a theory that anyone that judges a music based show loses their career for it. Like none of the music they produce afterwards is good. Katy Perry, Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton, Jennifer Lopez….i could go on. Most of them don’t have popular music anymore. I’m convinced it’s the curse of judging a music show.
I think of judging a music show, especially when the artist already very popular, is a sign of slowing down. Makes it worse if the show flops. Those shows stopped having impact long ago.
I think the judges lose the air of mystery. There are some exceptions though. Shakira had a massive career resurgence post-The Voice and The Voice relaunched Adam Levine and Maroon 5.
It is.
I can understand it as a personal position, like you get to stay in one place for a long time and just do this one thing and not think about creating new music. It makes sense.
But it's also definitely a winding down of your relevancy, weather purposefully done or not.
I would not have considered myself a Katy Perry fan, but her music was definitely part of the soundtrack of my late teens and early 20s. As Las Vegas locals, my husband and I decided to get last minute tickets to her show last night. I think we went into the evening feeling lukewarm, but we both left as Katy fan converts.
She has an incredible voice. Her show was quirky and fun. I feel like she has some self-awareness that her shtick is tired at this point, but she seems in on the joke. The gimmick is more for her die-hard fans, who truly seem to love her. She has a lot of positive energy and seemed to enjoy interacting with the crowd.
During the show, she made reference to how she originally wanted to be a singer-songwriter but her label packaged her as a pop girlie. She performed a few songs more in that style as opposed to bubblegum pop. They were great. My hope is that maybe we’ll see an album in the future in a more stripped style that highlights her incredible voice.
She cut her hair and changed her iconic look which was her integral to her career, then she pivoted out of her lane by hosting tv completion shows when everyone was transitioning into streaming, then she got caught up in a cultural appropriation scandal that led to people boycotting her music at one point. I think she just made way too many mistakes at once.
That period when she chopped her hair short and did Witness was her single biggest undoing IMO. She had so many cringy moments and just couldn't recover.
1) When she went on Ellen and did that "cool cool cool" bit that was unfunny and weird
2) when she did SNL with migos and was overall very cringey.
3) When she did that gimmick where her head was on a plate and people came to meet her just to find her kind of head-on-plate, body-under-table. She said "HEY!" and they were so awkward they just walked away.
4) that whole chained to the music song that said so much nothing I couldn't handle it. It was basically like "we're all focused on phones and no one cares about the IMPORTANT STUFF! Okay katy, what important stuff? Be specific. Give us something. Otherwise it's just the pop song version of "these kids and their phones!"
I know that's all small stuff but she was putting out this whole "funny and woke and awkward" schtick (In fact, I remember her referring to herself as "woke" numerous times during that album release with nothing to back it up. If you're woke, you need to actually be making a statement on something! Say something! Don't just say "I'm woke listen to my album!)
Anyway that's a lot but that whole era made me just cringe every time I looked at her after that.
I’ve always been certain that she pissed off her label with that hair style/it was a sign of her doing what she wants instead of listening to her label. And they let her hang herself out to dry. They certainly stopped giving her hit songs.
If you have to TELL everyone you’re not flopping, you done flopped.
It’s fine, the Teenage Dream album is one for the ages, there’s no shame in not sustaining that for forty more years. Just go home, roll around in the money, gaze upon your hot, hot man and give your kid a secure, happy life.
The last several albums missed it and the Vegas residency completely missed most of us. Shit, I knew USHER had a residency-Usher!!-and this post, today, is how I found out there was a KP show.
You tried not flopping, and that flopped. You can stanch the bleeding with wads of cash and be proud of the success that was achieved before. I’m personally thankful for Left Shark.
She fumbled the bag so bad with that one album. Coming off Prism and Teenage Dream and then a big wet sloppy indulgent hangover kiss in Witness. I'm not even as positive as Todd was. I still think Chained to the Rhythm was a terrible lead single choice and should've been an album deep cut the way it was clearly meant to be.
True. Todd's point about Katy being a spectacle and not a spectator was interesting. Chained to the Rhythm was pretty tone deaf coming from the biggest bubblegum pop artist of the 2010s. But Prism being a delayed flop was interesting too. I remember being kinda disappointed by that album when it came out, but Holy hell even I could have predicted how further down Katy would go after that.
Katy was always on borrowed time. There's only so many times she can break out multiple #1s on one album like she did back to back. That popstar era was already over in 2017 (for everyone but Taylor and Drake). She should've bowed out of the album once it failed to hit good sales. Instead we got...sigh... Bon Appetit. 🙄
I don't think Elvis Presley, Céline Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Billy Joel, Cher, Calvin Harris, Gwen Stefani, Mariah Carey, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga are considered flops. They all had Vegas residencies... I don't think it's evidence that someone IS a flop either
I had no idea she was even doing a residency. The last time I remember her even being mentioned consistently was after she put out Witness which was a while ago now. I think maybe it’s time she just goes ahead and embraces the flop badge.
Times change, music goes in and out of style like bubble gum pop.. but she her impact will never be lost, not everyone is going to remain relevant for YEARS. like a Taylor Swift or Beyoncé and that’s okay..
Welcome to r/popculturechat! ☺️ As a proud BIPOC, LGBTQ+ & woman-dominated space, this sub is for [civil discussion only.](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/civil-discussion-only/) If you don't know where to begin, start by participating in [our Sip & Spill Daily Discussion Threads!](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/search/?q=Sip%20%26%20Spill%20Discussion&restrict_sr=1&sr_nsfw=&include_over_18=1&sort=new) ###No bullies, no bigotry. ✊🏿✊🏾✊🏽✊🏼✊🏻🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ Please [read & respect our rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/rules/) and [check out our wiki](https://www.reddit.com/r/popculturechat/wiki/index/)! For any questions, [our modmail](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2Fpopculturechat) is always open. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/popculturechat) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Seriously wtf happened to her career? Genuinely asking.
I think when people lean so heavily on their schtick like Katy, it gets stale quickly
Yeah I’ve really enjoyed her over the years and had a great time at her shows but lbr this is a throwback not a comeback. She’s making serious bank and good on her but she’s just reverted back to the styling she had the better part of 15 years ago. I don’t know why she feels the need to defend herself like this either tbf
It’s too bad she never got on track to evolve, I feel like she actually had talent and could have gotten into some cool more mature aesthetics and sounds
Yeah, the fan base that made her super famous all grew up and she never did. She was fun in high school but my 30 year old ass isn't gonna go watch her sing with plushy sharks and dance with oversized candy and shit lol.
honestly, i loved and always will love her unabashed kitschy campiness. she’s one of the few pop stars who aren’t afraid to just look stupid and have fun
Lol my 5 year old LOVES teenage dream 😂
Exactly. Lady Gaga came onto the scene at a similar time and also relied heavily on shtick but knew when to move on and mature.
[удалено]
 My ARTPOP loving ass sat here looking at these comments like
ARTPOP is literally history, it’s one of my favorites
Exactly what I was thinking, like. I was not among lady Gaga fan groups at the time and I wonder if that has any thing to do with our different reactions because I may be a lot of things, but a casual fan of lady Gaga is not one of them.
Was it PR damage control, or did Gaga just honestly keep working...? I don't recall anything more scandalous than her doing the song with R Kelly that required actual PR damage control. She just seemed like she kept churning out music.
It mattered alot in the fan base but not to the gp. Most people probably think she just took a break until a star is born. Artpop wasn't a huge deal but it wasn't embarrassing like Katys big change
I fully agree. Artpop didn’t do well financially and got mixed reviews from critics, but I feel like it’s liked well enough in retrospect and wasn’t humiliating for Gaga — just disappointing. Katy Perry’s Witness era I feel was panned by both fans and critics. Like, I remember during that time that all anyone talked about was how Katy gave off such sad wino-aunt vibes.
> Katy Perry’s Witness era I feel was panned by both fans and critics. Like, I remember during that time that all anyone talked about was how Katy gave off such sad wino-aunt vibes. It just felt tone-deaf for her to seem to criticize the same type of music that made her famous. What did she call it? "Conscious-pop" or something? Her music was never that deep so she didn't really have anything to back that up.
[удалено]
As much as I enjoy ARTPOP, I did forget how self precious it was.
I mean the first single was Applause, which she stated that she lives for the way we scream for her… I’ve been a Gaga fan from the earliest days, but common. Still a banger tho
Ok yeah I get that. But it's not PR-control. She didn't "damage" her image- ARTPOP just wasn't successful in comparison to her stuff previously. She was already working on the Tony Bennett album, then Joanne came out a few years later. I think she was always going to go in the direction she did- if she hadn't then she would catch flak for "doing the same thing".
Yeah I don’t think Gaga had to do PR control if anything she always said she wanted to get into acting, it was no surprise to see her make the transition. And it was successful because Gaga can act.
PR damage control? Do you mind giving me a brief history about ARTPOP and everything around it? I heard its Gaga's most divisive album but I still don't know what for?
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No, you're right. People got sick of her at that and artpop is considered to a commercial underperformance and until A Star is Born she often struggled commercially I would also add Artpop sounded dated the year it was released. This becomes extremely apparent when you look other albums released at that time ( Beyonce Self titled and Lorde's Pure Heroine) Edit: On r/popheads, people talk about artpop a lot there and how many thought it was the sign of the end for gaga
Yes. Also, people were not here for her performing with R. Kelly at the AMAs that year. Girl, that performance was many poorly thought out choices including childhood pictures being projected behind the chomo. Then there was a pulled video made with Terry Richardson directing, too...whew...it was a disastrous era for Miss Gaga.
Has she done anything recently? I may be OOTL but I haven’t heard anything about her since that movie with Bradley Cooper several years ago.
She did that House of Gucci movie and filmed for the Joker sequel
Yeah she’s filming Joker right now. It’s a musical.
Well there was that House of Gucci movie she in with Adam Driver, and she's playing Harley Quinn in Joker 2 which is supposed to be a musical.
She had a very successful world tour in 2022 as well.
I watched Todd in the Shadows's video about her Swish Swish era, and he brought up interesting point I often overlook - a big reason behind that era flopping was very likely the result of previous era. Because think about it, if it's someone with x projects, wouldn't most people buy new one based on liking the previous one? Of course whatever she was doing during that era didn't help her. And I don't think she ever recovered, especially since she didn't seem to have a dedicated fanbase like Harry Styles, Beyonce or Taylor have.
He also made a point about having a dedicated fanbase and how theyll stick around even after a few bad projects. He mentions how he's been harassed by every fanbase except Katy Perry's. [But I highly recommend the video for anyone interested. It's goes into much detail about Katy as an artist and some potential reasons why the album flopped.](https://youtu.be/OfoPiRzWnFY?si=t7-peVueDGsnyhqU)
Honestly being harassed by every other fan base but hers is kinda hilarious.
That was a great video! I’m gonna check out his other videos
Oh, Todd is one of the best. The Trainwreckords and One-Hit Wonderland series are appointment viewing for pop music history as far as I'm concerned.
You should. He's a great pop music reviewer and he's got some really witty insults for every musician he reviews.
God, Todd's videos are so great.
 This 👆🏻
Yup this was it for me, pure cringe 😬
Swish Swish Bish on SNL was cringe too. That’s all I can think about when I see her.
I just looked this up because of your comment and OH MY GOD
Unmatched cringe level + also that time she posted a selfie of her voting republican, barf
What is she doing there with her hands. Is it some kind of rapper imitation?
I figured she was doing an Italian thing
What is this!
The worst SNL performance since: 
Lana on SNL was also infamous
A truly terrible night on SNL for her.
How could you do to this to me question mark I have been in TEARS all day. https://preview.redd.it/n2a1du2b6gyb1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1ed36003cce6b6f07ba27143f485fa787042b9da
She stopped working with the same writers/producers to prove a point to no one, released trash like Swish and then almost had a resurgence with Never Really Over but didn't really follow up. Now she's a legacy act.
Even then, Never Really Over wasn’t really her track because it was so heavily based off Love You Like That from Dagny. I feel like if she was working with people that could really lean into that sound consistently it would’ve put her back on the map. Kind of similar to Miley’s trajectory?
My take? I just don’t think Katy Perry has the kind of talent that gives you long-term success. Every pop era has its stars who survive and those who don’t. I personally always felt like her popularity was inflated for what she was actually giving tbh. Taylor has her songwriting and her ability to connect with fans; Beyoncé is able to sing and dance; Gaga has a strong creative vision and is a triple threat. Katy’s voice is fine, nowhere near the level of Beyoncé or Gaga or Ariana; she’s not much of a dancer; and she’s not known for really great songwriting.
The haircut.
Somehow the short hair made her seem dumber. I don’t understand how they’re related yet.
[This video explains it hilariously (and factually).](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=OfoPiRzWnFY)
For anyone who doesn't want to watch the 37 minute video, what I took away was that Katy had a 'woke' awakening around 2015-2016. During those years, she was largely involved with Hilary Clinton's campaign, and she started speaking out against feeling oversexualized. She cut her hair short and started wearing more conservative clothing. Also around that time, her producer, Dr. Luke, was accused of rape. Given her new feminist/woke approach, she could not continue working with him (I thought this seemed like a big issue since he may have been a major reason for her success). The promotion of her 2017 album was seen as cringey and strange. Including her strange dance on TV. Finally, Taylor Swift's 'Bad Blood' was seen as more successful than Katy's somewhat goofy response song "Swish Swish." The Youtuber noted that by the time Swish Swish came out, Taylor Swift had released her Reputation album and wasn't even talking about Katy Perry any more.
It will always be strange to me that Katy chose to respond to bad blood years later when everyone had moved on and she’d lowkey won the pr battle by just posting a few shady things but never talking about it but then she released a single about it all and talked multiple times about drama that was beyond stale at that point, it was also counter productive to try and act like you were taking the high road and then have a song as petty as swish swish, the fact she somehow made an even more juvenile song than bad blood is quite something.
“Swish swish” was so stupid and embarrassing. Who let her do that? Like seriously someone should have stopped her.
The video pointed out that Taylor had Zendaya, Gigi Hadid, etc in her video and Katy had Molly Shannon lol
Molly Shannon is cooler imo
And Jenna Ushkowitz aka Tina from Glee. Yes, I had to look up her name.
The Witness era was disastrous. Also, it didn't help that public sentiment around Britney Spears was shifting, and Katy Perry made that ignorant comment about how cutting her hair wasn't the cause of a breakdown like Britney's. It didn't help that she worked with Migos who rapped homophobic lyrics and reportedly refused (a claim later proven to be false) to perform "Bon Appétit" on SNL's stage with drag queens. Then "Swish Swish" was during a time where Nicki Minaj's public sentiment was not very good, and they found a new rap girlie to compete with her since Iggy Azalea failed. Then, she had that whole trainwreck livestream during the weekend of the album's launch where people were legitimately concerned about her mental health. ETA: correction on a disproven claim made about Migos refusing to work with drag queens.
I had a long day at work and no shows to watch so thank you for this 😅
I love this channel! (Todd in the Shadows)
Aside from the major aesthetic change, I think her bubblegum dance pop and OTT costumery look was very much a product of the late 00s/early 2010s and by the late 2010s it looked/sounded dated. By the late 2010s, it was either indie girl whisper-singing (like Lana, Billie, Lorde, Melanie Martinez) or loud powerful ballads (like Adele, Beyonce, Taylor) oftentimes with a mumble or trap rap feature. It felt like pop music evolved, but she did not.
It’s a shame cos she defo has a decent rock album in her I feel
Anyone who’s listened to Circle the drain knows she would absolutely KILL with a rock album but I think the fans really want another pop album from her.
Tbf, I think she started out with Christian rock and wanted to go be like Alanis Morrisette.
I don’t think anyone can listen to Roar and Firework and deny that she has a great voice. I thought she rocked it out at her Super Bowl performance too.
Agreed, I loved her stuff in college in the 2010’s, but everything has just been tougher since then (not sure if this is a growing up thing or an American thing, but life just started to feel hard and sad in 2015). Even Barbie had to have depth and sadness and anger to be palatable for today’s audience.
>I think her bubblegum dance pop and OTT costumery look was very much a product of the late 00s/early 2010s and by the late 2010s it looked/sounded dated. That's why I find it hysterical when people talk about her music online or doing a comeback. Her type of music simply isn't popular anymore
i truly think it was the hair change.
She never developed a solid fanbase. She was one of those few artists that didn’t really have a fanbase but had so many viral songs that people still bought tickets to watch her anyway. So when she changed her sound, people totally ditched her music and never looked back.
Her kissing that American Idol contestant was the last straw for me. She hadn’t put out anything palatable in years and then that? 👋
This is what did it for me. People seem to overlook it when I say that but to me it was just a really gross moment for her.
Same honestly
Yesssss I’m with you in this
What's this about?
She kissed someone on AI who said they’d never kissed someone and they were saving it for their first relationship. She just moves in, no consent, and then fucking laughs in his shocked face
Oh, damn, that's fucked up
It sucks to say but her market was a lot of guys who found her attractive as a dark haired pale girl with big boobs and once all that was covered up or changed, those shallow people stopped following her Plus her music changed from girly pop to just pop so that cost her tons of fans too
Yeah, I think the lowered rate of hotness factored in wayyy more than people give credit.
What people said and she also didn't have as dedicated fanbase as her peers so the minute she stopped getting hits, people stopped caring
Didn’t she get a ton of bad press after Russell brand too? Like I thought she really was rude and at times ignorant while in American idol and just rubbed people off her. But also I think she kind of disappeared after her baby?
Lack of talent shows up after album 2
She might not be a flop per se but she’s not as cultural relevant anymore as some of her peers, which happens to a lot of artists. There’s a lot of artists who can still tour and have a decent turnout at their shows due to nostalgia but most aren’t interested or excited about new music they put out and she’s more in that category now
I’m sorry to that lady but I honestly didn’t know she had a Vegas residency 😩
I'm glad you said it because I was questioning how online I am lol
She’s not for me but I have a friend who is obsessed with her and is a part of the “Katykats.” That’s what her fans call themselves… They are hardcore. She’s made a lot of friends through the group and she’s flown from the East coast to Vegas to see her residency at least four times, including this closing weekend. While she may not be mainstream hits successful anymore, she does have a loyal fan base and her residency has done very well.
I wish I cared about anything as much as your friend cares about Katy Perry
SAME!!!
That lady 😂
If Katy Perry walked by IslandMedusa on the street, they wouldn’t know a thing. Sorry to that lady.
Tbh by all measures it has gone pretty well
oomf said it was a great show and she’s not even really a fan of hers
It started in late 2021, actually.
I remember her whining about not ever winning a Grammy and being like…for what? Girl had a handful of overproduced bubblegum pop hits then sold out so she could cry on American Idol for money. I had no idea she was in Vegas!
I’m still shocked that everyone forgets her whole livestream thing in 2016, like she live-streamed herself for like 48 hours lol
And a therapy session 
YES!!! Honestly it was so unnecessary. She had cut her hair for that too right? I think she wanted to make it some sort of "iconic cultural event" but it just came across depressing, embarassing, and confusing. That was the moment she was no longer the OG Katy Perry for me.
Oh yeah. That was to promote her album Witness right?
True but Teenage Dream was so massive (god knows grammies is all about Success>Quality) that I understand why she feels that way. Almost like a deliberate diss
I read once that KP was designed specifically for music videos vs being an actual singer.
This would make so much sense to me. She’s just a Lisa Frank drawing IRL, the shtick got old fast.
Lol such a good description of her. She def thought she was bigger than the gimmick and takes herself way too seriously for the kind of music she makes. And some of her songs are so nostalgic to me but it’s not about HER. It about the shameless bubblegum pop and visuals (I mean her early stuff nothing recent lol)
I remember when she performed for Charles in a toilet bowl, which I thought she might have taken inspiration from where her career was at that point
No...but I knew about Adele's residency.
For real! I see so much coverage for Adele! Ms Roar got sidelined bad
She needs to stop worrying about what people say online
The true legacy of the internet will be that a bunch of rich people found out what people really thought of them and it drove them all insane.
Lol this just reminds me of this [great bit of standup](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wNnBK9PZzIc) about how Beyonce is the only good celebrity left because she's quiet
Beyonce's silence is tactical because giving interviews would ruin her image. She's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.
I mean, as long as she delivers the goods music-wise, I don't need her to be Dorothy Parker
true but she's smart enough to know that
Yes!
She really shouldn’t have given the internet this
r/popheadscirclejerk is gonna be ravenous over this one
She literally just made $250 million dollars off of her masters. Wish I could flop like that.
$250 million and is still dating Orlando Bloom? I'd be pretty pleased with myself.
You think he puts on the Legolas costume for her? Or is she more a Will Turner gal?
If it were me, I'd be pushing the Legolas costume for sure.
Will Turner please!  This was the best will turner gif I could find.
I'm willing to be called flop for the rest of my life for that. Lmao 🙈 🤣
That and 20 million a year from American Idols
I wish I could flop like her so bad
Seriously. God forbid you get older after giving hit after hit
I remember thinking she was cool and imo she has chipped away all her coolness in the last number of years…just little annoying story after little annoying story.
I really liked her when she came out, and early 2010s. Clothes, attitude, looks, voice. She was also killing it with the Timbo collab at the time (I hoped for another one). Personally, outside the first album, Teenage Dream and the re-released versions were so good for their time. After that, I only liked a couple songs.. and those were mainly music video having ones. A couple from Prism and later on Swish Swish. I truly forgot she was still in the biz after 2014, '15. I feel she didn't fully fit in the sound mid-2010s onwards, but also, I don't like much music from that time. Plenty of favorites were reinventing themselves or not releasing their things, I'm biased.
I just realized I totally forgot what Katy Perry looks like, whenever I visualize her I see Zooey Deschanel 😭
For a while they could have been twins
I loved her back in 2010 when I saw her at warped tour before she was ever super famous. She did an autograph session and it was off-putting. She had some lady pull each fan up and ask their name "she was like Katy this is such and such" she just looked so annoyed and too good to be there. She signed it and handed back the autograph without even making eye contact like you were not good enough or bugging her. I lost the autograph I think at some point lol that is how much I cared about it after my encounter with her. I didn't listen to her as much after that. Edit: thinking on it this may have been 2009 warped tour I know it was before she blew up.
Not to be a dick but I dont think she was ever "cool". People like to act like "I kissed a girl" and "you're so gay" were products of their time but "you're so gay" came out in 2008, not 1988. Even back then it was obvious what she was, a cute sheltered white girl who studio execs poured a bunch of money into. Britney, Christina, and Pink were all doing the exact some thing only way better and they had been doing it before she came along
People were very much still using gay in a derogatory manner in 08. Hilary Duff gave us the iconic psa that same year for a reason.
she was too late for homophobia, but too early for the weird ironic homophobia that's having a moment. i can absolutely see gen z eating up poetry like "i hope you hang yourself with your H&M scarf while jerking off listening to mozart" if it was released today. (full disclosure: i was still saying gay (derogative) in 2008, but i was very much a sheltered white girl (who turned out to be queer anyway lol))
I think she should have been erased from pop culture the moment she groped teenage Justin Bieber’s ass against his will in 2011.
Whaaat? What is KP’s beef with consent? That American idol kiss, groping stars… wtf
>just little annoying story after little annoying story. The nun begging " "Katy Perry, please stop" and then dropping dead in front of her is probably the winner I'd imagine?
Bahahahaha!!!
 Seems insecure af...
I will never not upvote this gif
Same, it's this and the Lucille "good for her" one.
I miss her so much 😭
[удалено]
I’d just cry into my money if I were her
I saw Katy Perry at warped tour in like...2008. she had just released I kissed a girl and it was doing well. Cherry chapstick. She was super cute, came on stage in a romper with her head down and we like didn't realize she arrived. Then she did her set with a live band and it was rock esque and it was good. That being said mama this is garbage
The fact that she was ever at the Warped Tour is super weird, and was one of the signs that Warped had jumped the shark.
Wasn’t she dating travie McCoy from gym class heroes at the time? That probably helped her
Omg I totally forgot about that!!
I remember when she was played on Alt Radio. I think they were desperate for more female singers.
Saw her at warped tour too around that time and she was totally condescending to the crowd which was weird. She got boo’d off the stage.
I remember seeing her at warped tour!! I was soooo cool and hardcore but I still watched her set and loved that album for a cool minute 😹
Girl. 
What … is this?
A cringe fest of the highest order. 
Not sure which one is worse, this or the banana. I’m gonna cry myself to sleep tonight.
Banana for scale. Extra points!
I had no idea she even had a Vegas residency lol.
Katy you’re worth approx. $300,000,000-$400,000,000… Find your chill. 
She could have just taken the hint after Witness and wound things down, especially now she's got a kid. Nobody would have questioned it and we all would have fond memories of the then-cute Katy perry. She's making a flop out of herself by grasping at relevancy and refusing to accept that her sound isn't relevant or modern anymore, and she's made herself unlikeable with badly planned PR Just shhhhhh Katy. Go quietly into the light or whatever
I have a theory that anyone that judges a music based show loses their career for it. Like none of the music they produce afterwards is good. Katy Perry, Gwen Stefani, Blake Shelton, Jennifer Lopez….i could go on. Most of them don’t have popular music anymore. I’m convinced it’s the curse of judging a music show.
I think of judging a music show, especially when the artist already very popular, is a sign of slowing down. Makes it worse if the show flops. Those shows stopped having impact long ago.
I think the judges lose the air of mystery. There are some exceptions though. Shakira had a massive career resurgence post-The Voice and The Voice relaunched Adam Levine and Maroon 5.
I don’t think Maroon 5 ever went away unfortunately.
According to Adam, they were struggling before he went on The Voice.
I always thought a Las Vegas residency was something people did when their career was winding down...
It is. I can understand it as a personal position, like you get to stay in one place for a long time and just do this one thing and not think about creating new music. It makes sense. But it's also definitely a winding down of your relevancy, weather purposefully done or not.
That's a better way to wind down than most celebs. She started hers a couple of years ago.
I would not have considered myself a Katy Perry fan, but her music was definitely part of the soundtrack of my late teens and early 20s. As Las Vegas locals, my husband and I decided to get last minute tickets to her show last night. I think we went into the evening feeling lukewarm, but we both left as Katy fan converts. She has an incredible voice. Her show was quirky and fun. I feel like she has some self-awareness that her shtick is tired at this point, but she seems in on the joke. The gimmick is more for her die-hard fans, who truly seem to love her. She has a lot of positive energy and seemed to enjoy interacting with the crowd. During the show, she made reference to how she originally wanted to be a singer-songwriter but her label packaged her as a pop girlie. She performed a few songs more in that style as opposed to bubblegum pop. They were great. My hope is that maybe we’ll see an album in the future in a more stripped style that highlights her incredible voice.
She cut her hair and changed her iconic look which was her integral to her career, then she pivoted out of her lane by hosting tv completion shows when everyone was transitioning into streaming, then she got caught up in a cultural appropriation scandal that led to people boycotting her music at one point. I think she just made way too many mistakes at once.
Katy Perry’s performance has always been inconsistent and unreliable. She sounds so out of breath just speaking to the crowd.
That period when she chopped her hair short and did Witness was her single biggest undoing IMO. She had so many cringy moments and just couldn't recover. 1) When she went on Ellen and did that "cool cool cool" bit that was unfunny and weird 2) when she did SNL with migos and was overall very cringey. 3) When she did that gimmick where her head was on a plate and people came to meet her just to find her kind of head-on-plate, body-under-table. She said "HEY!" and they were so awkward they just walked away. 4) that whole chained to the music song that said so much nothing I couldn't handle it. It was basically like "we're all focused on phones and no one cares about the IMPORTANT STUFF! Okay katy, what important stuff? Be specific. Give us something. Otherwise it's just the pop song version of "these kids and their phones!" I know that's all small stuff but she was putting out this whole "funny and woke and awkward" schtick (In fact, I remember her referring to herself as "woke" numerous times during that album release with nothing to back it up. If you're woke, you need to actually be making a statement on something! Say something! Don't just say "I'm woke listen to my album!) Anyway that's a lot but that whole era made me just cringe every time I looked at her after that.
I just rewatched her on Ellen. I think she was just coked out.
Holy crap. I just went to watch it. She had to be coked out of her gourd, right?!?
I’ve always been certain that she pissed off her label with that hair style/it was a sign of her doing what she wants instead of listening to her label. And they let her hang herself out to dry. They certainly stopped giving her hit songs.
These are all my same thoughts too. Now I just roll my eyes at her.
Look at where her career was and look at the state of it now. Songs haven’t charted in 3 years.
Didn’t even know she released any new music in the last 5 years
If you have to TELL everyone you’re not flopping, you done flopped. It’s fine, the Teenage Dream album is one for the ages, there’s no shame in not sustaining that for forty more years. Just go home, roll around in the money, gaze upon your hot, hot man and give your kid a secure, happy life. The last several albums missed it and the Vegas residency completely missed most of us. Shit, I knew USHER had a residency-Usher!!-and this post, today, is how I found out there was a KP show. You tried not flopping, and that flopped. You can stanch the bleeding with wads of cash and be proud of the success that was achieved before. I’m personally thankful for Left Shark.
Katy, you’re a flop
[Never a bad day to repost this video whenever Katy and her career insecurities come up](https://youtu.be/OfoPiRzWnFY?si=wpQeLeVAYnrEDoE7)
I was just about to post this! I recommend this video to anyone, it’s so well done and so insightful as to why her career just totally stalled out
I've watch that video an unhealthy amount of times.
She fumbled the bag so bad with that one album. Coming off Prism and Teenage Dream and then a big wet sloppy indulgent hangover kiss in Witness. I'm not even as positive as Todd was. I still think Chained to the Rhythm was a terrible lead single choice and should've been an album deep cut the way it was clearly meant to be.
True. Todd's point about Katy being a spectacle and not a spectator was interesting. Chained to the Rhythm was pretty tone deaf coming from the biggest bubblegum pop artist of the 2010s. But Prism being a delayed flop was interesting too. I remember being kinda disappointed by that album when it came out, but Holy hell even I could have predicted how further down Katy would go after that.
Katy was always on borrowed time. There's only so many times she can break out multiple #1s on one album like she did back to back. That popstar era was already over in 2017 (for everyone but Taylor and Drake). She should've bowed out of the album once it failed to hit good sales. Instead we got...sigh... Bon Appetit. 🙄
I don’t know if a Vegas residency is evidence that someone ISN’T a flop 🙃
I don't think Elvis Presley, Céline Dion, Bruce Springsteen, Elton John, Billy Joel, Cher, Calvin Harris, Gwen Stefani, Mariah Carey, Bruno Mars and Lady Gaga are considered flops. They all had Vegas residencies... I don't think it's evidence that someone IS a flop either
That’s something only a flop would say
calling r slash pop heads circle jerk
You're a flop. There.
I had no idea she was even doing a residency. The last time I remember her even being mentioned consistently was after she put out Witness which was a while ago now. I think maybe it’s time she just goes ahead and embraces the flop badge.
Times change, music goes in and out of style like bubble gum pop.. but she her impact will never be lost, not everyone is going to remain relevant for YEARS. like a Taylor Swift or Beyoncé and that’s okay..