Katy Perry - Smile

The GAG of the season.

 

I've just started to listen to the "new" tracks and "Cry About It Later" is... amazing? Like it sounds like a Top 10 Katy song after just one listen?

 

Noonie Bao coming through yet again!

 

I'm going in, Smilers!

 

“Cry” will be on both Spotify and Apple’s New Music playlists and “Teary” will be on Apple’s New On Pop.

 

Smile is pretty great! On first listen, there isn't anything that stands out as "bad" which... is an accomplishment dddd. She's done a good job at making an authentically Katy album without indulging in her worst traits. Keeping it short & sweet definitely works in its favor. Even some of the "eh" moments are still solid.

Out of the new tracks, Only Love, Tucked, & Teary Eyes are the highlights. Tucked is a massive bop that would've been a great followup to Never Really Over. The production reminds me of Make Me Like You a bit.

 

I’m...smiling.

 

Never Really Over into Cry About It Later into Teary Eyes and then into Daisies?

Perfection.

 

Only Love is so beautiful I’m obsessed.

 

Ok after listening twice to the new songs, my first impressions are:

Properly amazing:

"Cry About It Later" - Already iconic.
"Teary Eyes" - She really served a 1-2-3 punch of opening tracks? Her mind!
"Only Love"​

Bops:

"Not the End of the World" - Yes it's dated and everything but it's also well done.
"Champagne Problems" - Nothing groundbreaking but again the production is on point.​

Meh:

"What Makes a Woman" ​

Kinda shit:

"Resilient"
"Tucked" - It's... the stereotypical bad Katy Perry song I guess.
"High On Your Supply"​

I will surely change my mind on some of them. I wonder tho if there's a full album in the vein of Never Really Over, Cry About It Later, Teary Eyes and Only Love. That would have been amazing teebs.

Also if Cry About It Later was already existing during the Never Really Over days, WHY did they keep it and WHY did they release Small Talk instead? Worms.

 

I am shaking

 

Tucked, Teary Eyes & Cry About It Later..........girl my wig.

 

I am impressed! Definitely her very best album by far, no competition. Like, mostly 8s and 9s everywhere, and almost everything sounds like a good single.

The album is a bit Witness (themes/approach,sonic identity) but infinitely more well-written/worded/more-fully-living its concept.
The more electronic tracks from Witness + 365 would fit here perfectly so I wouldn't object a dual package at some point, even if it is just a Spotify playlist.
It also sounds like a direct successor of her first two albums at the same time?

At first listen Daisies and Never Really Over sound a bit shit compared to how they sounded before?
But I have been listening to them on YouTube whereas I streamed the album on Spotify so perhaps that's why they sound different?
Anyway, Daisies should be the opener right before Never Really Over, because the former makes no sense at its place in the track list and the latter opens the album abruptly.

The clown theme (including the title) definitely should not have been used though, it only makes sense for the title track.
Smile sounds better in context (production-wise), but it still has a shit chorus and feels less important/essential than anything else.
I also don't care about Tucked, it is a bit nothingy and doesn't even earn its run time.
I am definitely cutting Smile, and I'm considering to do the same with Tucked but it transitions perfectly to Harleys so I'm not really sure yet!

Among the rest, I also did not particularly care for Only Love but almost everybody else seems to love it, and I like it on the track list as it feels like a companion piece to Daisies being on the more acoustic end.

What Makes a Woman is also spectacular, amazing closer!
And I'm waiting for a Not the End of the World / Dance with the Devil mash-up, where is it, I need it now.

That's good to know, because it's those and Champagne Problems that I'd love them to promote in any capacity above all other tracks!

 

What an opening. What a first half.

 

This whole album is so sparkly, frothy and joyous - she struck gold pretty much across the board, quite honestly. Where Witness is sonically darker and moodier, this feels the other side of the coin and full of optimism. I don’t think the criticism aimed at it being a collection of songs rather than a body of work is justified, because you can feel the catharsis in every song and the overarching theme of healing is resonant.

Such a huge pop record, she should really be proud - this is the album Never Really Over deserved to be housed in.

 

Girls, this is so good

 

What a closer. What a second half.

 

I'm getting my 2014 life to Not the End of the World

I'm a Black Widow baby!

 

I'm just finishing my first listen and I've thoroughly enjoyed the whole thing which is not something I've ever said about a Katy album. It definitely dips in quality in the middle but there are no bad songs and I absolutely adore Cry About It Later, Teary Eyes and Only Love (and Never Really Over and Daisies are objective 11s but that goes without saying).

 

Cry About It Later truly should have been the follow up to Never Really Over last year. What a bop.