Since 2008 Katy Perry has been a staple in pop music releasing hit
singles one after the other from the rock guitar driven Hot
N Cold to 2017s trap and hip hop influenced Swish Swish.
Perry has continually moved with the times to stay current and maintain
her place as a contemporary pop megastar.
With that being said, this latest album Smile
has a rather non cohesive feel as it
attempts to emulate every genre that has topped the charts in the
past two years with hit or miss end results.
Album opener Never Really Over is a track
that represents what Perry has done best in previous years, feel good
pop that is perfect for the summer. This song harks back to hits such
as Roar with bright and catchy melodies but with fresh
2020 production and rolling triplet chords that drive the chorus forward.
The following two tracks Cry About It Later
and Teary Eyes differ greatly from track one with a darker
more bass heavy tone. These tracks blend into each other very well,
perhaps a little too well as they share similar tonal and rhythmic
ideas. The darker synth pop style suits Perrys voice
really well and wouldnt feel out of place on a euro house playlist.
These tracks would be ideal for remixing and adding big synth heavy
drops.
Another stylistic U-Turn follows with tracks four and five. Daisies
and Resilient have a far more uplifting vibe about them.
While songs about mental health and fighting through the hardships
of life are important as they put a spotlight on such important issues,
these tracks feel like Perry on
cruise control and her versions of Stronger by Kelly Clarkson.
A style that was cringe inducing in 2011 and definitely still is in
2020.
Not The End Of The World is a heavily trap influenced
song. Many pop artists have tried and failed to cash in on the trap
phenomenon and failed terribly, Katy Perry did a great job of this
with Swish Swish in 2017 and while this is another one
of the better attempts at doing trap as a pop artist it does feel
like shes going over the same ground.
Title track Smile fits nicely with the album
opener and has a similar vibe to Dua Lipas most recent singles.
The bouncy horns and guitar lines are welcome additions and the formant
shifted vocals in the middle eight give this track a very contemporary
vibe.
The second half continues to alternate between various
pop music trends, Champagne
Problems is another dark pop song that Perry nails and really
should have been the running style throughout the album. Tucked
is a largely forgettable album track with a vocal hook that lacks
character and movement, understandably it is buried in the second
half of the album in between a
great song and single Harleys In Hawaii which has latin
and reggaeton guitar loops and melodies, the vocal performance here
shows off Perrys range very well.
The final two tracks Only Love and What
Makes A Woman have uplifting and musical theatreesque characteristics
about them as if they came straight out of the Dear Evan Hansen
soundtrack. Although they make sense in the track listing to close
out the album being the more melancholic and soft songs, the melodies
and instrumentation come off feeling cheap due to their shallow lyrics
about love and strength.
The lack of cohesion on this album is easily the biggest flaw here.
While the darker songs are most prominent and by far the strongest
on the album, they are undercut by the phoney and uplifting cringe
of other songs which unfortunately discredit the highlights of this
album and make them seem like appropriations of other artists. Half
of this album is amazing and filled with honest lyrics and polished
production while the other half feels cheap and empty.
Ryan Bird
Smile is released 28.8.2020
Thanks to Warren Higgins at Chuff Media and Natalie Kalolita at
EMI Records.