I’ll preface this by stating that I’ve never been a big Perry fan, even during her imperial phase, that being said, I loved Never Really Over last year and enjoy Daisies (although I find the second verse a bit eye-roll inducing). Thus, I was initially cautiously optimistic about her upcoming album. However, the title track really didn’t click for me, or did What Makes a Woman. Ultimately, while I think this is better than Witness, I cant say I particularly enjoyed the album upon first listen. There are some nice enough melodies here and there, but this album is a stark reminder of Katy’s weaknesses as a songwriter. Most of the song’s are riddled with clichés and outside of NRO and Daisies, they lack stakes that make said clichés excusable and easier to overlook. The allusions to her rough few years following the Witness backlash are vague at best and quickly brushed aside with lines that sound like they were taken from a self-help book. I’m glad she seems to be in a healthy and happy headspace and place in her life, but in my opinion she was not able to translate that into an interesting or particularly meaningful album.