I'm always confused by people saying these songs were just 'undercooked.' This album wouldn't have been saved by an extra verse on one song and a bridge added to a few others. Beefed-up production couldn't save it. It was rotten to the core. The entire thing is plagued by lazy production, boring, cliche (frequently embarrassing) lyrics, and a very blatant 'this is what they want from me, right?' cynicism that wreaked of everyone involved being completely artistically checked out. She didn't need extended versions of these tracks; she needed to throw them all out and start from scratch. She should have skipped the deluxe entirely and just chucked out a new single or feature in Q1 that's completely detached from this project.
If any good comes of this, I hope it's Katy being able to see that chart-chasing isn't going to work. I don't care if she does dance, pop rock, acoustic, or anything else, she just needs to get into the studio for a reason other than, 'try to make a hit'. Her stuff has always been patchy for me, but she can't be written off entirely. She has incredible pop sensibilities when she's at her best, and there's no reason to believe she can't achieve the same again. As others have pointed out, Never Really Over and Daises aren't that old. She's more than capable of pushing herself and creating fun, interesting music still. But she needs to get the fuck away from Luke and focus on what she actually wants to say rather than what she thinks people want to hear.
