Katy Perry - Swish Swish

I think she's done silly and cartoonish well in the past (California Girls, Roar), but there's a glint of desperation this time around, and the video really isn't focused. It smacks of desperately throwing a dozen different ideas at the wall and hoping one of them sticks.

I do like the song, but it's already dead and buried and I can't see this reviving it.
 
That video is exceptionally cringeworthy and this era HAS been a disaster but I've never found her more endearing - she's clearly in the midst of a profoundly bad addiction or five and knows she's done a load of shit wrong in the past but doesn't know how to make up for it in a way that doesn't seem forced. But hey, she's embarrassing herself mortally but this is still in my top five of the year, which is more than I can say of anything ELSE she's done :disco:
 
I think she's done silly and cartoonish well in the past (California Girls, Roar), but there's a glint of desperation this time around, and the video really isn't focused. It smacks of desperately throwing a dozen different ideas at the wall and hoping one of them sticks.
Yep. She's leaping to try and piggyback on meme culture as a shortcut to maintaining relevance and it couldn't be more transparent. Comes off about as well as it does when brands on Twitter do it too.
 
Also, not to be all SJW, but surely we're past casting fat girls in pop videos and having them eat everything in sight throughout as a visual gag?

I have no idea who that character is and whether that's her whole deal if she is in fact some kind of 'meme', but it made me uncomfortable.
 
The video is a complete HORROR :D I'd be embarrassed for her if she was even slightly endearing.

Obviously Nicki's minute is the highlight by far. I like that she filmed it in another city altogether, presumably because she didn't want to catch Katy's chart curse.

Should've just done four minutes of Backpack Kid flailing his arms around and told Katy she was surplus to requirements.
 
That really is a TERRIBLE video. The song's whole ETHOS is lost entirely...
 
Trying to channel MEME CULTURE in a music video is such a terrible idea. Half the jokes in the video are already dated and it's only just been released.
I was gonna say the same. The video is the visual epitome of throwing everything at the wall to see what sticks, it's exhausting to watch and not very rewarding.

I don't think there's anyway around that this all has been a bit of a disaster. She's had the benefit of a poor sales climate in general (esp for pop females :eyes: ) and she's still a talking point, but her appeal has always been as thin or thick as her chart hits. I can't see anyone caring by the time she comes back with another album. "Swish Swish" is a great pop song, and late delivery of the video aside, there's really no excuse for it not being at least a mid-sized hit. It made #40 in the UK, #46 in the US.

Things started fairly well with "Chained to the Rhythm" but it all went to shit as soon as she cut her hair and dwelled on the Taylor feud.
 
Things started fairly well with "Chained to the Rhythm" but it all went to shit as soon as she cut her hair and dwelled on the Taylor feud.

funny how everyone assumed this was her #WOKE era and she was gonna go all political on us but then came along BON APPETIT and we all know how THAT turned out :D

Chained was a certified hit though, I wonder what hit her and made her go back to the pop fluff route
 
It's very obvious that the three singles were recorded later because the label heard ZERO HITS. Chained was the last thing she recorded.

Should've DONE A COUPLE MORE.

I do think Bon Appetit is a complete 10/10 though.
 
All three singles are fucking MARVELLOUS. She's gone loop-the-loop and looks a STATE, and god I love it :disco:
 
I think she's done silly and cartoonish well in the past (California Girls, Roar), but there's a glint of desperation this time around, and the video really isn't focused. It smacks of desperately throwing a dozen different ideas at the wall and hoping one of them sticks.

I do like the song, but it's already dead and buried and I can't see this reviving it.

It actually seems to be doing okay in the UK. It's been around for about three months now hasn't it? Finally made the airplay top 50 last week, and now with the video and discount it's zipped up to #19 on iTunes. It's probably not going to have a good peak but I reckon it could end up with a solid 4-5 months on the chart overall which is not too bad, though she should be doing much better.
 
In this era of streaming it's far too early to write a possible hit off.
 
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Taylor Swift isn't going to do her any harm, either.
 
The haircut and Bon Appetit fucked the era for her... if she'd dropped this (with a good video) after Chained I reckon it'd be a different story.
 
I was listening to Bon Appetit yesterday and I really like the production, but the lyrics are terrible and I think the video falls onto the wrong side of uncomfortable to watch.
 
I was listening to Bon Appetit yesterday and I really like the production, but the lyrics are terrible and I think the video falls onto the wrong side of uncomfortable to watch.

I like it a lot, but it is a bit SILLY for someone of her stature to be releasing- it's almost "Hanky Panky"-esque, but let's face it, Marge was MUCH BIGGER A STAR and the tongue was far more obviously planted in cheek...
 
I've actually come around Boner PEtite nowadays, it really wasn0t that bad! I can't make out what caused such a backlash hit-wise for her.
Age perhaps?
 
I think it's just poor single choices and a terrible, unfocused promo. It really felt like the wheels were coming off even when Chained To The Rhythm was charting for some reason.

I like all 3 singles from the album too, but realistically 30-something gay men aren't her target audience if she wants big hit singles.
 
Getting sucked back into the Taylor feud and the whole 'woke pop' thing probably didn't do her any favours. The former made her look a bit sad and petty, and the latter left her pretty open for mockery. Also talk about MIXED MESSAGES.
 
PRECISELY! That's like 50 in the POP WORLD.
HARDLY! Beyoncé's "36", Nicki Minaj is 34, Pink at 38 I'd say is the closest to feeling like age might catch up with her. I think the line on these things before industry types and listeners start thinking on those lines is somewhere between 35 and 40.
 
It's not an issue that she's 32 - it's the fact that she is selling herself to teenagers which makes her look too old now

And that video - I agree with Sheena that it completely misses the point of the song
 
To invoke the BOOK OF STATS I'd say if pushed most people would probably presume she was still in her late 20s/just turned 30.

The criticism she's been getting hasn't been "aren't you a bit too old for this?" - she was always a bit cartoony so it's not really off brand - it's more that the concepts themselves put into action have just been a bit embarrassing and desperate and haven't really worked. The video for Swish Swish isn't mortifying because it's a 32 year old trying to be relevant, it's mortifying because it's trying to be relevant in a forced, superficial way and completely failing.

Last Friday Night is a really good counterpoint, thinking about it - that delved into meme culture with Rebecca Black etc and it worked because it felt natural and fitted really well with the theme of the awkward teen party, which showed understanding of the meme itself to begin with. The Swish Swish video is just references for the sake of references with no real understanding or relation to the video, the theme, or the track itself.
 
That is a really bad video. Despite that, and despite the fact she's terminally rubbish, Minaj's bit is really very good though.
 
HARDLY! Beyoncé's "36", Nicki Minaj is 34, Pink at 38 I'd say is the closest to feeling like age might catch up with her. I think the line on these things before industry types and listeners start thinking on those lines is somewhere between 35 and 40.

I don't think age in itself is a problem other than the fact that she was a late starter by comparison. Look at the amount of material the others have under their belts (albeit Nicki Minaj is a bit of a misnomer there as a rap artist).

Katy's last two albums haven't really added THAT much to her canon, which at this point is still very much centered around Teenage Dream.
 
I don't think age in itself is a problem other than the fact that she was a late starter by comparison. Look at the amount of material the others have under their belts (albeit Nicki Minaj is a bit of a misnomer there as a rap artist).

Katy's last two albums haven't really added THAT much to her canon, which at this point is still very much centered around Teenage Dream.
Roar was a massive hit for the basics and Dark Horse was pretty out there for a big pop artist and still a huge hit. Both get played about as much these days as most of Teenage Dream's hits, Firework aside.
 
Roar is surely her signature hit now. I think it's surpassed Teneage Dream and possibly Firework too.

And Pipo kindly wash your mouth out because Birthday was and remains AMAZING
 
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And Pipo kindly wash your mouth out because Birthday was and remains AMAZING

you know I did try to name the OTHER singles from Prism but couldn't get past Unconditionally because it was a massive flop and This is how we do because it's an awful song but I totally forgot about Bday happening which sums it up for me :D Roar and Dark Horse remain good.
 
I'm still appalled that she didn't release Walking on Air with a hilarious Nineties dance video theme, she could have put some funny memes in it like the Gangnam Style man and that confused-looking dog.
 
I loved Ghost from Prism apart from the part where she sings "my vision's TWONNY TWONNY".
 

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