Katy Perry - Smile

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S

Suburbia

I know mentioning Katy and Gaga in the same sentence is such a prickly subject, but if Chromatica (an objectively bad album, in my opinIoN!!!!) was able to benefit from poptimist reviews and receive a critical lauding while this totally solid album, the pop equivalent to a cute golden retriever, gets completely mauled then I do find that unjust and plain weird. But that's not really the problem of either of these women, of course. Just an observation and perhaps a good example of why we just can't trust these straight people even when they lure us in with pretty reviews of things we like.
 
swim

swim

he / him
Suburbia said:
I know mentioning Katy and Gaga in the same sentence is such a prickly subject, but if Chromatica (an objectively bad album, in my opinIoN!!!!) was able to benefit from poptimist reviews and receive a critical lauding while this album, the pop equivalent to a cute golden retriever, gets completely mauled then I do find that unjust and plain weird. But that's not really the problem of either of these women, of course. Just an observation and perhaps a good example of why we just can't trust these straight people even when they lure us in with pretty reviews of things we like.
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sis this is basically what I was trying to say the other day I agree
 
swim

swim

he / him
Also how exciting is the rate going to be now we have all these potential high placers

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GimmeWork

GimmeWork

Wow this is so much better than I ever expected. Imagine having songs like Cry About it Later, Tucked and Teary Eyes and not releasing them as singles. Those 3, Never Really Over and Harleys... That's it, that's the singles run.
 
Synthline

Synthline

This is an aggressively okay album. Fairly consistent, nothing truly awful, but also nothing that really bothers the top tier of what she's released before.

Daises has really, really grown on me and feels like the one song here that jumps out and makes you say "whoa, this is Katy at 35 and this is what she has to say" in the best way possible. Never Really Over as well to a lesser extent.
 
VicePresidentJocasta

VicePresidentJocasta

This is a cute record. Far from great, but it's certainly not bad. Nothing lives up to the promise of Never Really Over, but Cry About It Later would have been a much better single choice than... anything they released after Never Really Over. It should have been the follow-up to Daisies. Resilient / Not The End of The World / Smile really drags down the middle of the record after a fairly stellar run of tracks. The last few songs are pretty much all forgettable, but Only Love does shmaltz well and her vocals on it are great. They also could have served that to Hot AC after Daisies, it feels very "song that gets stuck in your head when you leave the dentist" (and I don't mean that as shade). It feels tailor-made for radio.

Overall, it's impressively consistent, but I wish there were a few more highlights.
 
Drew

Drew

Never Really Over, Cry About It Later, Teary Eyes, and Daisies would have been a perfect run of singles. I realize Daisies didn't exist until February, so it wouldn't have been on the version of this album that existed last fall, but still...

Tucked and Only Love would also be great singles. In a perfect world Tucked would become the Sugar sized hit Birthday didn't get to become.
 
Leader Beans

Leader Beans

For the sake of my stress levels, I can't even touch on the choice of pre-release tracks compared to the gold they had warming up the benches. Katy and her team have become pretty hopeless in that regard and I stopped expecting them to make non-confounding decisions some time ago.

As for the music, I'm super proud of Katy. After the dearth of bops on Witness, she makes up for it here with uptempos that do justice to her talents as a popstar, even if there is a sense of defaulting to a comfort zone. The production is surprisingly fleshed out, particularly on Champagne Problems.

The platitude salad of Resilient (and Not the End of the World tbh) would normally drive me mad but the vocals and melody are divine. Only Love will be bringing me to tears all weekend, I can tell. It might be one of Katy's best-written choruses... ever?
 
An Insider

An Insider

The album cover weirdly really works in representing the album. It highlights the general theme across a lot of songs to trying to find joy by putting on a happy facade, hoping it eventually becomes the truth. But, in spite of it, there’s a quiet sadness simmering inside. We shouldn’t care about critics blah blah, but while not the most original concept, it’s a much better executed artistic statement than Witness sonically, and it’s a shame it’s probably going to fly over people’s heads in an age of poptimism.
 
suitechicguy

suitechicguy

I wasn’t feeling this building up to the album release but after a listen it actually all came together for me and I really enjoyed it. I see a lot of people don’t like Resilient but I like it something about those string plucks that reminds me of a older song that I can’t pinpoint. Only Love is very lovely and makes me feel fuzzy.
 
Shocked

Shocked

Teary Eyes is the one for me. I think the album is really strong, Resilient is a disappointment - especially being a Stargate production.
 
popzone

popzone

It’s a solid enough effort overall, but I could see some of these tracks growing on me within a couple of plays. Only Love is my favorite of the new material; such beautiful melody in that chorus.
 
Lila

Lila

Staff member
The title track is a bit too much for me and Resilient contains some of the worst tropes of her songwriting, but the rest of this might be her best album for me. I’ve felt awful for most of the day and it’s actually really perked me up, which is obviously the intent.
 
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