Katy Perry recently dropped the first single from her upcoming album, “143,” which comes out Sept. 20.
The singer has said "Woman's World," an upbeat anthem and her first new music since 2021, was inspired by her experiences as a new mother and is meant to celebrate the fact that women are “unstoppable.”
However, soon after its release, the pop song and its accompanying music video received widespread backlash from fans and critics, with some saying Perry over-sexualized and objectified women, and others questioning her collaboration with the controversial music producer Dr. Luke.
Read on to learn more about the controversy surrounding Katy Perry’s “Women’s World.” TODAY.com has reached out to Perry for comment.
What is ‘Woman’s World’ supposed to be about?
Perry has said “Woman’s World” is meant to be an empowering anthem that celebrates women and helps everyone embrace their “feminine divine.”
“Sexy, confident / So intelligent / She is heaven-sent / So soft, so strong,” she sings in the first verse.
The chorus later repeats the words, “It’s a woman’s world and you’re lucky to be livin’ in it.”
This is the first song Perry has released since welcoming her daughter Daisy Dove with partner Orlando Bloom in 2020.
In a recent interview with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, Perry said the “transcendental” experience of becoming a mother and unlocking a “feminine divine” inspired her to write “Woman’s World.”
“I always respected my mother, but after I gave birth, there was this huge level of growth of respect for her. Just watching her as I grew up, all the invisible work that she did … Just how women are unstoppable,” she said.
“They create life, they carry life. They do it with beauty, they do it with grace. They are not one thing. They are soft, they are strong, they are chaos, they are cool,” she continued. “They’re all the things, and they contribute to the world, and I feel so celebrated in my life, and I hope that other women feel celebrated when they hear this, and that everybody connects to the feminine part inside of them.”
She added that she is aware that when people think of her, they often think of inspiring anthems like 2010’s “Firework” or 2013’s “Roar,” and said she views “Woman’s World” as continuing in that tradition.
“They think of these kind of empowering songs, songs with a message, songs that are like captions on T-shirts. … So I wanted to continue with that. Also, this is the first contribution I have given since becoming a mother and feeling really connected to my feminine divine, so I wanted to start with that,” she said.
What was the response to ‘Woman’s World’?
“Woman’s World” was widely criticized after its release on July 11. Much of the criticism focused on the song’s music video, which opens with Perry wearing a skimpy version of a Rosie the Riveter outfit.
The video also includes images of a scantily clad Perry using a bedazzled drill on a construction site, and later shows Perry wearing a bikini paired with futuristic robotic boots.
Many people on social media said they felt a dissonance between the song’s lyrics about female empowerment and the use of sexualized imagery in the video.
“As an OG KP fan… this was such a missed opportunity,” one person commented on a teaser for the video Perry shared on Instagram. “Could have shown real working women, mothers, military women, grandmothers. That’s what being a woman is about. We are not just our bodies.”
“So disappointed to see her video…Was thinking it might be an anthem for empowering women, celebrating us, and empowering us,” another person commented. “Instead, her new video says nothing about how strong we all are. Sorry Katy, but prancing around in next to nothing does nothing for us…you took a song and sexified it. It’s another video that objectifies women…again…put some clothes on and make a new video that speaks to women.
Others on social media criticized the video for pandering to the male gaze.
As one person quipped in the official video’s comments on YouTube, “This song is actually giving its a mans world.”
The overall effect was deemed "very cringe," as one X user wrote, remarking that the song's vibe seemed "stuck in the early 2010s and not in a good way."
The song was also widely panned by critics, with Vulture calling it “the stalest sort of retread," The Cut calling it “forgettable” and “cringe," and The Guardian deeming it "regressive" and "dated."
Some fans did leave positive feedback for the song in the comments.
“This song is pop perfection and music is back thank you for this beautiful anthem,” one person commented on one of Perry’s recent Instagram photos promoting the single.
“THEY COULD NEVER MAKE ME HATE YOU, MOTHER,” another person wrote.
What does Dr. Luke have to do with this?
Many people have also criticized “Woman’s World” because it was co-written and co-produced by Dr. Luke, who was previously accused by the singer Kesha of sexual assault and abuse.
“Working with Dr. Luke, are you serious? That’s not very feminist/ female empowerment. So disappointed,” one person commented on one of her recent Instagram videos.
“The irony of this being produced by Dr. Luke,” another commenter on YouTube posted.
Dr. Luke, whose real name is Lukasz Gottwald, was sued by Kesha in 2014. Kesha alleged Dr. Luke, who had been her longtime producer, had drugged her and sexually assaulted her in 2005. She also accused the producer of “mental manipulation” and “emotional abuse,” her attorney said in a statement to NBC News in 2014.
Kesha’s suit was ultimately dismissed in 2016 due to “jurisdiction and statute-of-limitation issues,” NBC News reported in 2023.
The producer, who was not charged with any crime, has denied Kesha’s allegations. He said in an Instagram statement last year, which was quoted by NBC News, that he “never drugged or assaulted her and would never do that to anyone.”
Gottwald then sued Kesha for defamation and won a civil case in 2020, when a judge ruled that she defamed him in her court filings, on social media and in a private message to singer Lady Gaga, per NBC News.
Kesha appealed the verdict, and the New York Court of Appeals ruled in her favor in 2023. They reached a settlement in June 2023. After the settlement was announced, Gottwald reiterated he was “absolutely certain that nothing happened. I never drugged or assaulted her.”
Dr. Luke’s collaboration on Perry’s upcoming album marks their first partnership in more than a decade; the last album he produced for Perry was her 2013 album, “Prism.”
How has Katy Perry responded to the criticism?
Perry appeared to respond to the backlash from her latest single in a recent Instagram video, in which she said the “Woman’s World” music video was meant to be satirical.
“YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! EVEN SATIRE!” she captioned the video.
In the video, which was filmed with her backup dancers on what appears to be the construction set from her music video, she further explained her creative intentions.
“We’re kind of just having fun, being a bit sarcastic with it. It’s very slapstick and very on the nose, and with this set, it’s like, ‘Ooh, we’re not about the male gaze, but we really are about the male gaze,’” she said.
“And we’re really overplaying it and on the nose, because we’re about to get smashed, which is like a reset, a reset for me and a reset for my idea of feminine divine, and it’s a whole different world we go to after this,” she continued.
“We wanted to open this video making it look like a super high-gloss pop star video, and that’s what it is.”
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
