I'm glad she didn't forget about Witness and its lesser-known songs, but it's a shame the public did.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Dbv_BqNvZ_P/
We thought Katy would take a break after her Azerbaijan Grand Prix concert at the end of September, but instead, an announcement appeared on her social media profiles about her participation in "El Festival Presidente" in the Dominican Republic in December, a country where she had never performed before. She literally never stops!
https://www.instagram.com/p/DbeI9HRzCTC/
I'm really happy this video was released; who knows, maybe it'll spark some interest in Watch It Burn, considering that, after just over a month since its release, it's been completely ignored by many.
In response to Katy's statements, in which she was strongly displeased with the use of "Firework" in one of the videos showing airstrikes on TikTok, the White House account doubled down in a new video titled "Now Look At Me," which uses "Part of Me" alongside images of Trump proudly walking around soldiers and planes flying overhead. https://www.tiktok.com/@whitehouse/video/7667303790869073166
What's worse this time is that excerpts from the video clip were used, one of which depicts Katy with a rifle. It's clear they want to further taunt her after what she wrote on her X profile, so I expect Katy to become even more angry and lean toward legal action. She's already spoken out against Trump's policies with "Chained To The Rhythm" nine years ago, so she has nothing to lose.
Sabrina Carpenter unfollowed Katy, and this is further proof that she's disrespected within the industry and held in very low regard by her peers. It's no coincidence that the interactions on her posts from other artists are practically nonexistent. I assume many of them choose not to interact with her because of the controversy (these are all PR moves) and frankly, this saddens me because Katy is one of the great music icons of this century, and she almost never gets recognized for that. I'd like to hope that in private, away from the greedy social media environment, others would show more support for Katy, but I doubt it. That's why I was pleasantly surprised when Dua Lipa, via that video call, decided to invite Katy to perform at her Sunny Hill Festival in Pristina. It was one of the very few times in many years that a successful artist has shown interest in Katy and her music.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uhczwQx9kw
"Only Love" is a hidden gem from Smile for me, and one of the best songs in her discography overall, at least looking at the period from Witness onward. This performance confirms that, paired with Darius Rucker, with whom she creates a wonderful chemistry. I think these are the kind of performances Katy should return to in the future, perhaps promoting the acoustic album she plans to release in important contexts like award shows and TV appearances, because here she expresses her true potential.
Scrolling through Katy's fan accounts on X, I came across one featuring a TikTok video posted by Malibu Babie, one of the producers of "Gorgeous" (the link to the video is here: https://www.tiktok.com/@malibubabie/video/7568647255759146295). In it, she reveals her ranking of the best beats she's worked on, and specifically puts "Gorgeous" at number one. Furthermore, in the comments, in response to a user, she admitted that "Gorgeous" was intended to be a single, which was ultimately scrapped. I remember at the time that Katy promised two to five singles from 143, depending on how the album sold, and most likely (or, dare I say, certainly), given the huge controversy surrounding this album, after I'm His, He's Mine, Katy and her team decided to do nothing more and essentially let the album go to its own devices, without any more singles (except for the deluxe version, which was released in December). I only found out now, maybe some of you probably already knew about this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0B4L8ppg2s
I'd like to share an old performance of Katy's "Teenage Dream" from 2010, uploaded to the David Letterman Show YouTube channel. From this performance, I can see that she's always had a greater aptitude for pop-rock songs (and here we connect to the sound of Watch It Burn and possible future album developments) thanks to her bright, powerful voice, which, in my opinion (and here I give her a slap on the wrist) she could and should have refined and perfected back then, because it had so much potential (in some places, I felt she was a bit off). By the way, it's been a while since she's done any TV performances; maybe that will happen again when she promotes KP7 (or at least I hope she does). Nothing was done with 143 (after all, it was right this way), and Katy only appeared on the Jimmy Kimmel Show once to promote the tour.
P.S. Oh, some of you might object, reminding me of her performance at the VMAs shortly before the album's release. I don't count that because it was more of a representation of the hits she's had throughout his career (though not all of them), including "Lifetimes" and "I'm His, He's Mine." Instead, I mean performances specifically related to 143 to promote it, like those on the Jimmy Fellon Show. I'm not aware of any.
It's just my feeling, but I see Katy in better shape and with a brighter smile. On the tour, I found her very thin, and even her makeup didn't do her justice. Perhaps the stress caused by the criticism of her music and her split from Orlando Bloom had an impact. Now that she's with Trudeau (actually, it's been almost a year), I see her more serene and cheerful, and this is also reflected in her physical appearance.
My fears have come true. Unfortunately, Watch It Burn performed even worse than Bandaids, failing to debut on Spotify's global charts (it totaled 1,247,671 streams) and its video clip didn't reach a million views on YouTube (just under 900,000, although it should be noted that YouTube no longer counts in the charts; in fact, other artists like Sombr, Benson Boone, and others are now reaching low numbers). At this point, I don't even expect it to enter the Bubbling Under Hot 100; there's no basis for that. It's clear that with every new song Katy releases, the public's reception becomes increasingly cold, and I'm disappointed, because this song in particular didn't deserve it, given that it belongs to the genre that best suits Katy's voice and fits her best in general: pop-rock. This song also deals with issues that have made her suffer, there's a significant meaning behind it, the lyrics aren't vacuous and superficial like those of 143, unfortunately the public isn't tuning in.
Then comes the paradox that's inexplicable to me: how is it possible that with nearly 90 million monthly listeners, a song currently at #13 in the global charts, a beautiful and touching performance at the opening of the World Cup (doing justice to a song that also deserved more consideration and a spot on the Lifetimes Tour, Katy finally made the right decision here), and mostly sold-out European festivals (I'm not up to date here), the new song has achieved even poorer results than the single released in November and those of 143? I swear I can't explain it, it doesn't make sense to me. Unfortunately, Capitol is once again ignoring even the bare minimum in terms of promotion (it makes me laugh that Capitol's CEO said he was happy with their strategy, which led to increased streams of Katy's catalog. They literally do nothing for her.) and this is also having an impact; the fandom, unfortunately, is small and can't do much. At this point, however, I wonder: why did Katy admit that she and her team were waiting for "the perfect wave" to release the single (so I assume they were interested in it being well-received, right?)? Again, I don't understand the point; why wait until the end of June to release a song they already had ready if the reception wouldn't be good anyway? They might as well have done it sooner, a month or two ago; nothing would have changed. What was the point of all this waiting? However, I will continue to stream it because, as I said before, it's a song worth listening to, it's the style of music that in my opinion best exalts her, and I hope she continues along this path in the future, because I believe it's the beginning of the right path for her career, for the new Katy. At this point, I hope Watch It Burn will be appreciated by more and more people who attend European festivals, hoping that reception will gradually grow.
I also believe that after the festivals, she should take a break and carefully evaluate how to move forward, because this situation cannot continue like this. In my opinion, she should leave Capitol and begin a new phase of her career, also because I fear, observing the increasingly low ratings of her new releases, that they will no longer give her the budget for KP7, blocking her (maybe I'm being drastic, but that's what I think). The time has come for important decisions.
https://www.musicweek.com/interviews/read/tom-march-the-music-week-interview/094279
This Music Week article, written on June 16, features an interview with Capitol Music Group President and CEO Tom March. I'm including an excerpt in which, in response to a specific question, he discusses Katy and the growth of her catalog in recent months.
"With Katy Perry, Capitol has one of the biggest pop artists going. What’s behind her current streaming revival?"
“Her catalogue is up 70% since January. She’s the 16th largest artist on Spotify today, and this week is going to be the largest global streaming week of her career. So we are growing and growing. I put that down to brilliant cohesiveness between Katy and the team. My marketing team is exceptional. My viral marketing agency, which we have inside Capitol, is the best. Our strategy and our digital marketing is phenomenal. So really, it’s just her incredible catalogue, Katy being one of the best artists in pop history, and a whole new audience discovering these incredible songs. As we start to roll out new music, she’s in a brilliant place now. It is an entirely new global audience discovering these incredible songs.”
Tonight, Katy will kick off her European festival tour, performing at the "O son do camiño" festival in Spain. Do you think she'll introduce her new song "Watch It Burn" to the audience? And if so, will she perform just the previously shown snippet or the entire song? If I'm not mistaken, she said in the interview she gave at the Lifetimes Tour film presentation that fans would hear it first.
Watching the interview Katy did on Justin Tranter's podcast, the song's producer, along with Christian Breslauer, the director of the music video (he had already directed "Bandaids"), I realized that "Watch It Burn" and "Bandaids" are two complementary works, addressing the same feelings she's felt over the past two years or so, talking about "allowing yourself to feel angry," about wanting to face your dark side in order to grow and move forward. It's no coincidence that at the end of the "Bandaids" music video, the radio announcer can be heard announcing "Watch It Burn," as if to underscore the connection between the two songs. For this reason, they shouldn't be included in the possible future album, KP7; in fact, they represent a separate chapter, and I wouldn't be surprised if Katy were to perform the two songs back-to-back at festivals.
As for KP7, I think she's working on it too, but we'll have to wait a while for it to come out. I could be wrong, but I don't think it'll be out this year at this point, more likely next year, confirming Katy's tendency to release music not at the high tempo typical of her peers, but only when she feels like it. If you think about it, excluding Adele (who I consider a special case in terms of her way of experiencing fame), Katy is the pop star who has released the fewest albums, with an average interval of about three years
I don't know if you know, but Katy is the founder of her own record label, Unsub Records, which includes artists like her longtime collaborator Ferras, Cyn, and Michael Woodward. A video of "Thinking of You" was uploaded to the label's TikTok account (I think it's the official one). Some in the comments on the video have speculated that Katy is considering breaking away from Capitol and becoming independent. Could this be the case?
Because if we evaluate her current status within Capitol, we know that: the catalog from One of the Boys to Smile is owned by the external company Litmus; Capitol decided not to invest in 143 for obvious reasons, and furthermore, that album sold very little because it was widely criticized, so the label is making very little profit; in fact, Katy has recouped her investment with the Lifetimes Tour; Capitol has practically turned its back on her, having not featured her songs on mainstream playlists since 2019, focusing on younger artists like Doechii and Sienna Spiro. Furthermore, Katy admitted in a live broadcast a few weeks ago on Stationhead that Capitol would only decide to promote her on playlists again if she reached #1 on Spotify's Top Global 200, and we know full well that it's practically impossible to achieve that goal. "The One That Got Away" is doing great, remaining fairly stable around #10, but it can't go higher than that, considering Ariana's lead single is at #1, Olivia Rodrigo's soon-to-be-released album, Taylor Swift's song from the movie "Toy Story," etc. So Capitol will never do the much-desired promotion for Katy's new works, including "Watch It Burn," which her team is still hesitating to announce.
So what's the point of Katy staying with Capitol? She's had her time there, and they don't want to invest in her anymore. She might as well become independent and take full control of her musical projects without outside interference (we know from 143 what that entailed), taking into account that she has the assets to cover the costs. What do you think?
