The song that started Katy’s decay

[socotra 3,310]

i'm still surprised Birthday missed the Top 10 considering what a fuggn bop it is (but also had super offbeat, cringey MV so who knows)TIHWD was certainly the wrong choice for a 5th single tho. Should've been Walking On Air or Legendary Lovers.

but I think what really contributed to her decline was waiting FOUR YEARS to release Witness after Prism. Girl is not Adele, she could NOT afford to wait that long. It totally stalled her momentum and the GP had completely moved on from her by the time she came back...

... and when she did come back, her new style + behavior was a massive turnoff for a lot of people. It's sexist and unfair, but I really do think if she'd stuck with her signature black hair, Chained to the Rhythm and Bon Appetit both would've done better.

(cuz honestly, I'm still not sure why Bon Appetit flopped – it was a super trendy song. One of her most misunderstood singles tbh, kinda annoying how people completely shut her down when she tried out new things, but are now criticizing Smile for being too safe/regressive/generic)

[xoxo Craig 55,649]

15 hours ago, Doot said:

Didn't Chained To The Rhythm underperform compared to her previous singles?

Only because Katy and everyone was so used to her getting number ones... Chained To The Rhythm went number 4

[Sister 9,907]

Her personality turns me off her, also her silly childish aesthetics. I only like the songs and videos for Teenage Dream, Wide Awake and Unconditionally.

I also hated her going blonde, getting a severe haircut and joining American Idol.

She's cute with Orlando Bloom and I am happy for them and their new baby. I wish them well.

My family is fans of her, so I do have to see it all throughout the years. 

[boyerased 2,886]

When the last two Prism singles failed to go top 10 I saw the warning signs. It felt like when Gaga released MTN. Maybe she was discouraged by Unconditionally’s performance or that Dark Horse was so big that the next single should be something light but Birthday and This Is How We Do were such choices. 

If she released Walking on Air/Legendary Lovers or if she wants something light International Smile/This Moment she could’ve built a narrative of being a more substantive artist. No matter how those songs will fare. It could’ve been a better transition to a more political album. She pushed a more goofy image further with the last two Prism singles when it should’ve reached its nadir with the Dark Horse video. While it might be what she liked, a goofy image isn’t sustainable long term and now people aren’t taking her seriously.

If only she got Sugar instead of Birthday. That would’ve been a hit. Also we have to look at how she went missing when major industry changes like streaming and r&b dominance changed the landscape. Gaga struggled with it too but then Shallow happened and she’s perceived to be a more interesting artist. 
 

She can still come back from this, but she has to reformulate well. A good example would be Mariah with TEOM. Mimi had two “flop” eras too before that. If Katy can pull that off she’ll be back. It’ll depend on a lot of factors but she needs an insanely good song that’ll match what will be the industry mood by then like We Belong Together was.

[GregJA 5,224]

[SEANGT 5,289]

maybe we just moved past a commercial pop sound with nothing to say 

[BlondeQueenOfGGD 25,454]

I actually liked bon apple tit

[Hyoha 1,613]

People grew tired of her voice after Dark Horse got promoted and played to death.

[Thomas P 18,479]

Her fall started with Birthday and really got into motion with This is How We Do. Rise came and went, CTTR and it’s political message did some damage, and then Bon Apetite was somewhat the final nail. 
 

[elijahfan 26,168]

Technically, Chained to the Rhythm is when it started to go downhill. I don't get the hair argument, many pop stars change their hairstyle all the time... I refuse to believe the public is shallow enough to stop listening to an artist because of her hair 

[StrawberryBlond 14,849]

Glad I'm not the only one who saw there were bad days ahead when Prism had two #1 smashes but everything else failed. That is a bad sign for future prospects when you're an artist who has such a hot/cold reception with the public (no pun intended). Everyone at the time just laughed at me when I said that 3 years before Prism came out but they're eating their words now. But Bon Appetit was clearly what made it abundantly obvious that there was a big problem as it was her first single that failed to go top 40. And it was the second single. And it was an on-trend sexual pop song featuring the hottest rappers at the time and had a controversial video. All the makings of a hit and it failed. That's a sign that a popstar's career is never going to be the same again.

I disagree that she can come back, however. Not after two flops in a row of this magnitude. She'll just have to make do with being a smaller artist from now on. It's sad but it's reality. She seems to be all about wanting to be a wife and mother now, so maybe that'll be her calling now more than music. She's made her name, she's made her money, she's made history and no one will ever forget the name Katy Perry. But there will be no comeback and we should stop pretending it's possible with a new image and sound. When the public's dropped you to this extent, there's no getting them back. At most, she could do a collab with a big name and get a hit again by piggybacking off their name recognition but on her own? Those days are over.

[Seryabkina 888]

Ironically enough, Rise was the starting point of her decay

15 hours ago, calmwaters3 said:

For everyone saying Birthday or This Is How We Do, that's not the case. Both songs did well, with Birthday reaching the top 20 and TIHWD reaching the top 30, and both spending decently long on the charts for fourth and fifth singles. I saw someone say Dark Horse was a fluke, and no, it wasn't. Teenage Dream was. No one is going to earn 8 top 3 hits from one album now. Unconditionally was her first underperformer, reaching only no. 14 despite being a pre-release single and getting a big budget MV with high profile performances. Birthday didn't get either of that and still did similarly. And personally I think Birthday was the best single choice on Prism. It fit her brand very well. Instead of Unconditionally she should've gone for the genuinely excellent Double Rainbow. It's much more radio friendly imo and even Billboard ranked it as one of the most deserving non-singles of the decade which ought to be made singles. I think Rise was an underperformer, but it was an awful song with no major performances and still nearly reached the top ten. What killed her career was the decision to take a long break (4 years) between two albums. 2015 was the year imo when streaming overtook digital sales to be the most popular method of single consumption, and any artist who wasn't releasing music to transition into the new era was gonna be on shaky ground with their next albums. Plus, with singles artists like Katy driven more by the general public buying their music rather than huge fanbases are more likely to go obsolete andd need to keep pumping new music to keep themselves in the public eye. Think of Maroon 5 or Post Malone. Katy didn't do that, and considering how quickly the gp loses interest in artists (especially aging female ones), it came to bite her soon. Secondly, going political or at least 'woke' is never a good choice, unless you're aggressive about it. Think of Madonna with American Life. An artist like Katy best known for shallow pop hits (don't come for me, I love her) was obviously going to generate less interest and even controversy that way because people don't think that artist can do that, and frankly she couldn't. The album's promo was misleading. Had it been marketed as a normal pop album, it would've done much better. Thirdly, the aesthetic change also hurt Katy. Katy's long black hair with bangs had become her signature look, and forgoing it meant she was alienating a lot of people. That's like Ariana Grande losing her ponytail in favour of a bob. It's just gonna repulse people. She could've gone blonde and still not hurt her image because she looked good with it. It just shouldn't have been that awful pixie cut. It made her look so much older and the music industry being the ageist and sexist one it is didn't like that. Fourthly, she shouldn't have sent CTTR as the lead to radios. Imo Act My Age was a much better lead. It's really damn catchy and upbeat, and in 2017 escapism was a huge thing. The US viewed Trump's presidency as a sort of death sentence, and an upbeat pop song reminiscent of better times would've resonated much more with the audience. That's a big reason why Shape Of You, Bodak Yellow, Despacito, Havana and That's What I Like were so huge in 2017. They made people forget what was going in the world. Act My Age would've done that, and people would've found it a natural progression from the previous two eras. Fifthly, she should've dropped that feud with Taylor. When Taylor was going at it she was at the peak of her popularity. Katy was at an accelerating point in her decline. In fact, a lot of people hated on Taylor for releasing Bad Blood. Katy doing it brought so much negative publicity towards her. It was an awful idea to release Swish Swish as a single. Tsunami should've been released or even Roulette. That's imo why Katy's career entered rapid decay.

though I agree with this whole post tbh

[bionic 50,106]

1 hour ago, Thomas P said:

Her fall started with Birthday and really got into motion with This is How We Do. Rise came and went, CTTR and it’s political message did some damage, and then Bon Apetite was somewhat the final nail. 
 

The funny thing about CTTR's 'political message' is that it is barely there  

[bionic 50,106]

I just personally think that Witness's underperformance was Hillary Cliton using her industry contacts to punish Katy for not working hard enough to secure the 2016 presidential election for her.

[gagaisitalian 3,573]

the decay started with TIHWD with the appropriation...