Culture Chat: why is everyone so mad at Katy Perry?
Life and Art from FT Weekend
Forhecz Topher
4.6 • 601 Ratings
🗓️ 11 October 2024
⏱️ 30 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we’re sexy, confident, intelligent, heaven-sent – and taking on Katy Perry’s disastrous new album, 143. Featuring the lead single ‘Woman’s World’, this album has gone viral for all the wrong reasons: a muddled feminist message, a slew of publicity gaffes and even a government investigation. What makes the album so disappointing? And why do people care so much about a Katy Perry flop? Lilah is joined by two excellent guests who bring expertise in celebrity culture and music: Anne Helen Petersen hosts the Culture Study podcast, and Ludovic Hunter-Tilney is our pop critic of almost 25 years.
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We love hearing from you. Lilah is on Instagram @lilahrap, and email at [email protected]. And we’re grateful for reviews on Apple and Spotify!
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Links (all FT links get you past the paywall):
– Ludo’s one-star review of 143 by Katy Perry is here: https://on.ft.com/4gTRSga. Here’s the “Woman’s World” music video, so you can decide what it means for yourself! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVIJUH29pjU
– Anne Helen Petersen hosts the Culture Study podcast. Listen to her conversation with Lilah about cooking in the age of infinite recipes here, or by searching “Culture Study” wherever you listen
– Anne is on Instagram @annehelenpetersen. Her newsletter is here: https://annehelen.substack.com/
– Ludo is on X @ludohunter
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Special FT subscription offers for Life and Art podcast listeners, from 50% off a digital subscription to a $1/£1/€1 trial, are here: http://ft.com/lifeandart
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Original music by Metaphor Music. Mixing and sound design by Breen Turner and Sam Giovinco. Clips this week courtesy of Capitol.
Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to Life and Art from FT Weekend. I'm Lila Raptopoulos and this is our Friday chat show. |
| 0:06.5 | Today we are talking about the pop star Katie Perry, who is one of the best-selling musical artists of all time. |
| 0:12.8 | A few weeks ago, the singer released her new album 143 in a long-awaited return. This was her seventh studio album, and it immediately went viral, |
| 0:22.4 | but not in the good way. |
| 0:24.0 | Here is a clip of the album's first single. |
| 0:26.0 | It's called Woman's World. |
| 0:27.3 | It's a woman's world, |
| 0:31.1 | and you're lucky to be living in it. |
| 0:36.4 | You better celebrate. Because, baby, we're... When the song was released, the end of the song was released, Rolling Stone called it the end of 2010's pop. |
| 0:48.3 | Critics panned the song and the album for being dated, ham-fisted, and out of touch, and 143 made Metacritic history as the lowest-rated |
| 0:57.0 | album for a female artist in its entire history. The promotional campaign has been bad, too. |
| 1:03.4 | Perry collaborated with a producer accused of sexual abuse, Dr. Luke. She filmed a music video |
| 1:08.8 | on a UNESCO World Heritage site, prompting a government investigation, |
| 1:12.9 | and she had to publicly correct the record and tell fans that her music video was indeed satire. |
| 1:19.3 | So today we're going to talk about why exactly things have gone so bad for Katie Perry, |
| 1:23.3 | whether the album is actually that bad, and why people seem so uniquely let down by her. |
| 1:29.4 | Okay, let's get into it. I'm Lila in New York, and that is indeed me making out with my husband, |
| 1:34.5 | Orlando Bloom, as we hurl through space. Joining me from London, we're just a prisoner in his |
| 1:39.7 | prison. He's got us hooked on his algorithm. It's the FD's music critic and great friend of the podcast, |
| 1:46.2 | Ludovic Hunter Tilney. Hi, Ludo. Welcome. Hi, Luda. Good to have you. Also, joining us from her |
| 1:52.7 | home on the other side of the world in Washington State, we have a special guest. She is the host of |
| 1:57.6 | the Culture Study podcast. She writes the Culture Study newsletter, one of my favorites. And among many things is an expert with a PhD in the history of celebrity gossip. Sexy, confident, so intelligent, she is heaven sent. It's the great Anne Helen Peterson. Hi, Ann, welcome. |
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