Katy Perry - 6th Album

[Purple]

She’s such a flop nowadays, the Guardian is just saying what everyone thinks. She’s performing for crusty expired royals who protect child abusers, voting for republican-lite mayoral candidates and generally radiating nothing of value.

All this and she still hasn’t released a truly great album, the Grammys getting it right for once…

 

[drewsky]

I don't like any version of Firework because I strongly dislike the song itself kii.

 

[Robin]

She’s such a flop nowadays, the Guardian is just saying what everyone thinks. She’s performing for crusty expired royals who protect child abusers, voting for republican-lite mayoral candidates and generally radiating nothing of value.

All this and she still hasn’t released a truly great album, the Grammys getting it right for once…

Times have changed but I think it's a little harsh calling her a flop. I also think no matter what anyone thinks, Teenage Dream is one of the best pop albums ever.

 

[Violet Chemistry]

I also don’t think it’s offensive to refer to Katy as B-List… She’s not releasing hit music and her main source of income is from a reality TV show… What about her says to you she’s A-List any more?

I think this is also why she feels comparable to Ava/Bebe and the other minor pop girls. She can have an amazing ‘legacy’ but as of right now she’s just not up there with her former peers. Taylor has obviously become stratospheric, Gaga has pivoted towards serious acting, Rihanna has established brands and Beyoncé is still releasing iconic music and touring.

Saying this the whole hierarchy system of A/B/D list is about as old and stale as a monarchy so…

 

[theincredibleflipper]

I also don’t think it’s offensive to refer to Katy as B-List… She’s not releasing hit music and her main source of income is from a reality TV show… What about her says to you she’s A-List any more?

I think this is also why she feels comparable to Ava/Bebe and the other minor pop girls. She can have an amazing ‘legacy’ but as of right now she’s just not up there with her former peers. Taylor has obviously become stratospheric, Gaga has pivoted towards serious acting, Rihanna has established brands and Beyoncé is still releasing iconic music and touring.

Saying this the whole hierarchy system of A/B/D list is about as old and stale as a monarchy so…

This again. If Katy is B-List Ava and Bebe aren’t Alphabet yet. Love them as much as you want but call whenever they have a legacy in any way.

And saying it’s pointless after feeding into it is also cute.

 

[Violet Chemistry]

I should have articulated my point better as I’m not criticising Katy or trying to drag her down. I’m a fan and just a few pages back I was one of the few arguing that Teenage Dream is a great album!

In my opinion you don’t earn super stardom and then get to keep hold of that level of fame forever. I don’t think anyone thinks her star is shining anywhere near as brightly as it was from Teenage Dream - Witness and if we can all agree that around timeframe was her ‘A-List’ or BPG era then surely we can all agree that’s not where she is now. And she is more than allowed to not want to put the hours in to record, promote and tour!

I wasn’t saying she’s more/less famous than Ava/Bebe - ultimately they are out there working to promote their music giving a sense of ‘celebrity’ - I’m not really invested in either. I was just trying to connect the dots as to why they keep popping up as I think there is something behind the significance some people are attaching to being an active popstar vs a legacy act.

 

[j267]

Fuck the Guardian

Lol I really don’t think this is harsh critique. No one on here would ever think a line up of Paloma Faith, Gary Barlow et al and Katy Perry was A-List.

 

[2014]

Reading all this talk of Katy B-list is making me stan the Katy B

 

[Mike]

The debate feels pointless because, as the Guardian article itself pointed out, the younger audience who largely dictate who or what is 'A-list' at any given time wouldn't have been watching.

The lineup was hardly earth-shattering but at least the viewing public would have actually heard of them, which is more than can be said for the other women being bizarrely compared to Katy in this thread. And I say that as someone who doesn't even like her particularly.

 

[swim]

For a b-lister she sure gets people talking

 

[Suburbia]

I mean it's not like there's a voting board who have administratively removed her from the A-list and sent her a confirmation letter in the mail. It's all relative. I don't think anyone would argue Lionel Richie wasn't A-list despite not having troubled the Billboard chart since the Reagan administration. As mentioned above, some people are able to actually just enjoy an artist performing their old hit songs without having a manic episode and frantically searching for chart records and sales stats on Wikipedia (not me personally but I acknowledge those sorts of people exist).

 

[theincredibleflipper]

I should have articulated my point better as I’m not criticising Katy or trying to drag her down. I’m a fan and just a few pages back I was one of the few arguing that Teenage Dream is a great album!

In my opinion you don’t earn super stardom and then get to keep hold of that level of fame forever. I don’t think anyone thinks her star is shining anywhere near as brightly as it was from Teenage Dream - Witness and if we can all agree that around timeframe was her ‘A-List’ or BPG era then surely we can all agree that’s not where she is now. And she is more than allowed to not want to put the hours in to record, promote and tour!

I wasn’t saying she’s more/less famous than Ava/Bebe - ultimately they are out there working to promote their music giving a sense of ‘celebrity’ - I’m not really invested in either. I was just trying to connect the dots as to why they keep popping up as I think there is something behind the significance some people are attaching to being an active popstar vs a legacy act.

Got it. Still I'd say having a massive legacy separates her from the others.

And in the end Katy was perfect for the audience of this. Besides the obvious weirdness of an American being the big name at a British coronation.

 

[swim]

Oh my

 

[HypersonicSupernova]

Compared to the say Beyoncé, Gaga or Taylor, Katy isn’t at that level any more and it’s not unfair to reflect on that.

That doesn’t diminish the fact that for a period of time Katy was ruling the pop game. Most artists would dream of having the commercial success she enjoyed during Teenage Dream / Prism.

But that was almost 10 years ago…

Katy never worked to establish a solid, extensive fan base and instead focused on mass commercial success. Which is why her fall from the top has been as harsh as it has.

And, if we’re honest, she’s never delivered a truly spectacular, artistic album. Bops, yes, of course. She’s never had her ANTI / Blackout / The Fame Monster / Renaissance.

And her performance skills have never been the best, nor have they really developed. Vocals that are often patchy and she’s not a dancer.

She’s got a lot of bops that I’ll always enjoy when they come on and I’d happily go to a greatest hits tour if she’s ever in town. But let’s not pretend she’s now anything other than a legacy act whose peak was a decade ago.

 

[Mikal]

I don't know if she's a legacy artist already. She's transitioning toward that by virtue of her age, the long-running Idol gig etc, but even her "flop" last album features three singles with fantastic streaming numbers most other acts would kill for.

Regardless, legacy artists can be A-list. Most of the enduring A-listers in music today are acts who debuted in the 20th century. I think (personal politics aside) this was a good gig for her and she has the profile in the UK to snatch another couple of hits of some kind. She's hardly Janet Jackson.

 

[HypersonicSupernova]

Oh there’s absolutely nothing wrong with being a legacy artist at all! Depending on how you determine that - be it hit singles or albums or whatever - I’d say some of the greatest artists of all time now comfortably sit in that bracket. Madonna, Britney, Shania, Rihanna etc.

 

[johnoclock]

Janet catching these strays out of nowhere, wow.

 

[Suburbia]

I don't know if she's a legacy artist already. She's transitioning toward that by virtue of her age, the long-running Idol gig etc, but even her "flop" last album features three singles with fantastic streaming numbers most other acts would kill for.

Regardless, legacy artists can be A-list. Most of the enduring A-listers in music today are acts who debuted in the 20th century. I think (personal politics aside) this was a good gig for her and she has the profile in the UK to snatch another couple of hits of some kind. She's hardly Janet Jackson.

You're right. Janet actually had huge hits in three separate decades, not three separate calendar years.

 

[popjunkie]

You're right. Janet actually had huge hits in three separate decades, not three separate calendar years.

My new favourite gif.

I haven’t watched the performance yet but during the Smile era Katy’s live vocals hugely improved like as if she had been working on that aspect. She sang some older songs she originally struggled with and her vocals were stronger, had more depth and her breathing was much better.

 

[Mikal]

You're right. Janet actually had huge hits in three separate decades, not three separate calendar years.

And what's that done for her today? This isn't a Janet disrespect post. However her legacy in the UK is almost nothing, which is a big shame given the fact that it's Janet fucking Jackson and she's released so many fantastic records (far more than Katy ever will ff). She did Glastonbury and somehow blew it.

The point was that Katy is quite well liked here, just as much as in the US, and she's not ready to be retired as a relevant popstar already.