Is this a sign that Katy wants to break away from Capitol and become independent?
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?