Katy Perry’s long-awaited seventh studio album 143 did not get off to a good start with music critics on Thursday night, after it was released onto streaming platforms.
143 – which references the expression ‘I love you’, but is also what Perry considers to be her symbolic ‘angel number’ – is her first album in four years, following Smile in 2020.
One damning review from a top entertainment outlet declared that Perry ‘struggles to reclaim past glory on the flat 143.’
Much of the criticism even before the album was released was down to Perry’s decision to work with her old music producer Dr. Luke who settled his longstanding sexual harassment lawsuit with Kesha last year – which he vehemently denied.
But even with the hitmaker onboard – he produces 10 out of the 11 songs – the reaction so far has been less than favorable.
Katy Perry’s comeback album 143 gets SAVAGED by critics calling it ‘rife with clichés, as though it was generated through AI’
Critic Steven J. Horowitz writes for Variety: ‘The album is flat, coasting on cascades of lyrical clichés and musical ideas that rarely crest. Across many of its 11 songs, Perry sounds disaffected and removed, as if she’d just punched in between ‘American Idol’ tapings.’
‘Little of the clever wit that emboldened some of her biggest hits peeks out on the album, a disappointing slide away from the savvy she once so effortlessly exuded.’
Horowitz adds that some of the songs sound ‘mechanical’ and that the song Crush sounds like a B-side by the Vengaboys.
He adds: ‘Like with her past few albums, the lyricism on ‘143’ is rife with clichés, as though it was generated through AI.’
Meanwhile, The Guardian gave it two out of five stars saying the album ‘isn’t the calamity expected – but it isn’t good, either.’
One damning review from a top entertainment outlet declared that Perry ‘struggles to reclaim past glory on the flat 143.’
Critics Alexis Petridis writes: ‘It feels slightly out of time, a common-or-garden mediocre pop album with the misfortune to be scheduled in the wake of Charli xcx’s Brat, Chappell Roan’s The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess and Sabrina Carpenter’s Short N’ Sweet, a trio of messily inventive and hugely successful albums that collectively suggest a certain raising of the pop bar has taken place.
‘What would once have sufficed, at least commercially, now won’t: that its author and her team didn’t notice seems far more intrinsic to 143’s downfall than questionable choices of collaborator, misfiring videos or indeed damage to the sand dunes of S’Espalmador.’
The last line referencing Perry being under investigation for possible environmental damage to Spanish dunes where she filmed music video Lifetimes.
Mark Kennedy for AP said the album was ‘uninspired and forgettable’
Kennedy calls out the final track Wonder as the ‘worst’ song on the album, writing it’s a ‘cynical attempt to have moms in the audience wave their hands in unison as balloons float up, even as it decries cynicism.’
Despite her daughter Daisy Dove making an appearance on the track, Kennedy adds: ‘But by this point, she’s lost our trust, with the 10 previous songs a sonic slog. ‘143’ has no soul or emotion; it’s just a number.’
Katy has been supported by her husband Orlando Bloom throughout the rollout
The Independent also gave it two stars and said it was ‘painfully dated and glaringly out of touch.’
Suggesting that Perry is trying to chase hits on the album, the review said: ‘Most songs here have an underlying hesitance, too preoccupied by their commercial aspirations to have any real fun.’
A 5 out of 10 review from music publication Clash said that ‘the world has moved on.’
‘On ‘143’ however, there’s a feeling that the world has moved on – with Chappell Roan’s tour sparking Beatlemania-esque scenes of adoration and Sabrina Carpenter maintaining a stranglehold on the charts, you struggle to see where this playful yet unsatisfying record fits into pop’s firmament,’ it states.
Despite the critical mauling, Perry has found some favorable reviews from fans on X.
She’s also been supported throughout the dismal rollout by her husband Orlando Bloom who cheered her on at the 2024 MTV VMAs last week.
