Katy Perry returns to the limelight with her first new single in nearly four years. “Woman’s World” is another female empowerment pop anthem …. that seems to have missed the mark critically and commercially.
“Woman’s World” has been widely panned in the mainstream media, and it landed with a dull and distant thud at No. 63 on Billboard’s Hot 100 singles chart. In fact, the song’s disastrous first-week chart performance prompted Rolling Stone to publish a news piece titled, “Did Katy Perry Release the Worst Comeback Song of All Time?”
Perry is no stranger to empowerment anthems, with her hit “Roar” topping the charts in 2013. Still, despite the massive successes of artists such as Taylor Swift, Sabrina Carpenter and Olivia Rodrigo since then, Perry takes up her cause almost as if no one has ever thought of it before.
The song itself doesn’t have huge lyrical missteps. But its video certainly does, and Perry’s production partner has raised eyebrows as well for being anything but female-empowerment oriented.
“Woman’s World” calls women “heaven-sent” and seeks to build them up as sisters and mothers. It also praises women for their good looks, confidence, intelligence and strength.
“It’s a woman’s world and you’re lucky to be livin’ in it” is repeated close to 10 times in the song. This may be a problematic message for some Christian families when the Bible teaches that it’s God’s world and we’re all lucky to be livin’ in it.
Perry also may be slipping down the slope from empowerment to self-worship, calling women “feminine divine” and “superhuman” along with almost demanding they be celebrated as such in the song’s chorus.
In addition, Perry seems most inclined to celebrate women for shallow reasons, with her first adjectival compliment being “sexy.”
And then there’s the music video…
Featuring a scantily clad Perry and equally skin-bared backup dancers, the music video claims that women can work in construction, drink whiskey and use urinals. (Yes, that’s what she says.). All this after Perry is shown dressed up like Rosie the Riveter, who is now likely turning over in her fictional grave.
In an Instagram post, Perry clarified that the video was meant to be sarcastic and satirical, but many fans and critics didn’t buy that explanation.
For most of the video, Perry wears nothing more than a small bikini with tight camera shots leaving little to the imagination. The backup dancers are similarly over-sexualized in their clothing (or lack thereof). Some are carrying sex products and show them to the camera as well.
After being crushed by an anvil, Perry blows herself back up like a balloon, now sporting two bionic legs. Later in the video we see her stick a gas pump into the side of her rear end to “refuel” her legs. For no apparent reason, we see two men kiss.
The video ends with Perry hanging on to a helicopter brandishing a female gender symbol-shaped ring light.
As I hinted in the introduction, there’s another layer of background information related to this song that has contributed to its negative reception.
Perry has received harsh criticism for her collaboration with Dr. Luke on this track. The producer has faced allegations of sexual assault, most notably from singer Kesha. And many other female artists have vowed never to work with him again.
Perry has seemed quite tone deaf to the notion that a song about female empowerment shouldn’t be produced by a guy whom the industry has largely shunned due to his alleged abuse of women.
And then we get to the final irony: the fact that the “Woman’s World” we see portrayed in Katy Perry’s hyper-sexualized music video sure seems a lot more geared toward men than its supposed female audience.
Caleb Gottry is the Plugged In intern for Summer 2024. Caleb studies journalism with a minor in music at Texas Christian University, where he will be a junior in the fall. He loves playing with words, listening to and making music, and spending any spare time with friends or family.
