‘Abysmal’: Katy Perry hits back amid backlash to new music video

Katy Perry’s answering her critics after her new music video was absolutely slammed. However, not everyone’s happy with what she has to say.

Katy Perry has released new behind-the-scenes footage in which she explains her new music video should be taken as “satire”, after the much-hyped comeback song received a critical mauling.

Perry’s female empowerment-themed comeback song “Woman’s World” arrived on Friday complete with a big budget video, the first taste of Perry’s upcoming new album 143, her first since 2020’s underperforming “Smile”.

Critics have not been kind.

The Guardian gave the single one star, asking, “What regressive, warmed-over hell is this?”

and calling the video “some sort of attempt at satire”.

Pitchfork called the song “abysmal” and a “monumental catastrophe”. The Cut said the video felt “desperate,” while Vulture said teaming with controversial pop producer Dr Luke for a female empowerment anthem “negates the song’s message”.

Perry explains the video during shooting.

Perry reveals the video is meant to be ‘on the nose’.

While the song itself – and Dr Luke’s involvement – have been heavily criticised, many have also called out the video, which is split into two distinct parts.

In the first half, Perry and her dancers mug for the cameras in Rosie the Riveter outfits, jokily promoting a variety of female-focused products like vibrators and facial rollers.

The video’s second half shows Perry reborn, strutting through the world wearing nothing but a tiny white G-string bikini and robotic legs.

Tweeting a behind-the-scenes clip from the video’s first half today, Perry wrote on social media: “YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! EVEN SATIRE!”

Standing in front of her dancers on set, Perry explains the thought process behind the video’s opening scene. The vibe, she says, is: “Girlboss s**t! You can do it! You go girl, you were born to shine!”

“We’re kind of just having fun, being a bit sarcastic with it – it’s very slapstick and very on the nose,” Perry explains.

“And with this set, we’re like, ‘Ooh, we’re not about the male gaze, but we really are about the male gaze. And we’re really overplaying it and on the nose.”

Perry in the second half of the Woman's World video.

She says this part of the video represents ‘a reset for my idea of feminine divine’.

That scene ends with a giant Looney Tunes-style anvil flattening Perry, “which is like a reset for me, and a reset for my idea of feminine divine.’ It’s a whole different world we go to after this.

“We wanted to open this video making it look like a super high-gloss pop star video, and that’s what it is,” Perry continues, adding an excited “WOO!” for good measure.

But Perry’s explanation has been bit with a drubbing of its own.

“One of the hallmarks of great satire is when you release a long follow-up video that explains in detail specifically how you are being satirical and why you chose to do it,” one person quipped in response to the video.

“If you have to explain the joke it’s not a good one,” another person tweeted.

Another fan had a pointed plea for Perry, whose sixth studio album is due for release in September: “Please pick the second single very wisely.”