Album: Smile
Artist: Katy Perry
Release Date: August 28, 2020
Genre: Pop
Length: 0:36:36
Label: Capitol Records
Producers: Josh Abraham/Elvira Anderfjard/Johan Carlsson/John DeBold/Dreamlab/Andrew Goldstein/OzGo/Oscar Holter/Ilya/ Ian Kirkpatrick/The Monsters & Strangers/Oligee/Charlie Puth/ Pierre-Luc Rioux/Stargate/Zedd
Smile and say "cheese"...
After a three year hiatus, and trying to capitalize on her early 2000s success, Katy Perry finally utilizes her talent to the fullest. With dance hits, ballads, and pop jams, Perry finds her voice amongst the pop-cesspool that is the music industry of 2020.
After the flop of an album like Witness, Perry re-established herself as a pop icon. With songs touching on themes like fame, empowerment and personal help, "Never Really Over", "Cry About It Later" and "Teary Eyes", the listener is blessed with a completely different pop artist than Perry's past while still keeping the comfortableness she exudes.
The lyrics Perry sings touch on subjects personal to her such as "Cry About It Later" and "Never Really Over". The dilution from the typical formula of pop music, "Daisies" showcases a pop ballad from Perry that splits the mature, dance-worthy record Perry probably hoped for into a more meaningful record. Even though this album isn't peak Katy Perry, the maturity in her lyrics, voice and style make this album exciting, especially after the roller coaster she's has had to deal with in terms of career, relationships, and life in general.
The lyrics, while only partially written by her, preach to women, minorities and outsiders to bring them into the forefront of the world. 2020 has been one of the most horrible years in history, but has been notable for minority rights. Due to this, Perry provides an anthem in "Resilient" and "Smile" to empower groups of people to rise up for what they believe in.
After her three year hiatus from music, one would expect Perry's creativity would less-than-stellar. Luckily, for the listener, Perry showcases her natural talent and is able to make any song within Smile an anthem for the life we're all living in 2020.
In order to recover from her downfall since 2017, Katy Perry matured and developed her voice further to provide an anthem-based album for the struggles of 2020. Even though the album gets repetitive and becomes eventually boring towards the end, the front bits of the album showcase Perry's maturity and happiness in life. Straying away from her formulaic vibe, Perry is able to develop a different, more mature sound, while still continuing to be the pop-star that gave us the bop, "I Kissed A Girl"...
Favorite Songs: "Never Really Over", "Cry About It Later", "Teary Eyes"
Least Favorite Song: "Tucked", "Harleys In Hawaii", "Only Love"
Production Quality:
Mix = 6/10
Innovation = 3/10 (Basic pop album with some cool sounds in some songs, but nothing special)
Songwriting Quality:
Arrangement = 6/10
Lyricism = 7/10 (empowering lyrics not written by Perry, sadly)
Instrumentation Quality:
Vocal Timbre = 8/10
Instrumental Timbre = 6/10
Group Chemistry = 6.5/10 (Many produced sounds to compliment her voice)
Overall Likability:
My Personal Rating = 7/10
Overall Rating: 6.25/10
Any confusion on how the rating is weighted/calculated, please look at my "About" page.
Remember this is all my opinion! Let me know if you agree, disagree or have any comments!