Katy Perry's "Woman's World" Controversy

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Overview

Katy Perry's "Woman's World" Controversy refers to backlash over Katy Perry's song "Woman’s World," which was released in mid-June 2024. The music video, uploaded in mid-July 2024, became the topic of viral debate and controversy, being heavily criticized for seemingly catering to the male gaze in contrast to its "empowering" or feminist lyrics and message. The singer was also criticized by many for working with controversial producer Dr. Luke on her new song and upcoming sixth studio album, as he was accused by Kesha in 2014 of sexual and physical assault in a since-dismissed lawsuit.

Background

On June 17th, 2024, American pop singer Katy Perry posted a snippet of her song "Woman's World" on TikTok^[1] in which the lyrics, "Sexy, confident, so intelligent. She is heaven-sent. So soft. So strong," are sung. The post (seen below) amassed over 4 million plays and 133,000 likes in a month.

A few days after the music's snippet was revealed, netizens started a debate on social media about Perry reconnecting with long-time producer Dr. Luke (real name Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald) for her upcoming sixth album. Prior to his involvement with Perry's "comeback" album, Gottwald was embroiled in a high-profile defamation lawsuit against pop singer Kesha, who filed against the producer in 2014 alleging sexual, physical and emotional distress.^[2]

Developments

"Woman's World" Music Video Criticism

On July 12th, 2024, Katy Perry released the "Woman's World" official music video (seen below) on YouTube,^[3] which was touted as a feminist anthem, featuring several references to female empowerment. The video amassed over 7 million views and 349,000 likes in four days. Using the Return YouTube Dislike extension in a browser, the YouTube video notably received more than 428,000 dislikes in the same timeframe, though the number is an estimate and not exact.

The lyrics and music video received largely negative feedback from netizens and music journalists over the following days. For example, the Guardian^[4] gave it one star, with the reviewer writing it “made me feel stupider every sorry time I listened to it.” Pitchfork^[5] described the music as “too dispiriting to even approach camp. It’s dismal.”

In response to the music video backlash on social media, Katy Perry then uploaded a behind-the-scenes video (seen below) on TikTok^[8] on July 14th, 2024, explaining that her new “Woman’s World” music video was intended to be sarcastic, and suggests that her intent may become clearer in the weeks to come because “It’s a whole different world we go to after this.” The video amassed roughly 391,000 plays and 19,000 likes in a day.

Online Reactions

Even before Katy Perry's "Woman's World" song and music video were released, numerous netizens were already criticizing the singer for working with producer Dr. Luke. For example, on June 19th, 2024, X^[6] user @new_avid tweeted under the news about Perry's interview for Rolling Stones, writing, "Releasing a female empowerment song called 'woman's world' and working with an abuser is crazy 💀." The post (seen below, left) amassed more than 50,000 likes and 5,300 reposts in a month.

On July 11th, 2024, X^[7] user @ori555_ recaptioned the "Wow, That Was Powerful" meme, replacing "powerful" with "fucking stupid," and pairing it with the caption, "just listened to Woman’s World." The post (seen below, right) received roughly 32,000 likes and 1,200 reposts in four days.

TikTokers also mocked Perry's "Woman's World" lyrics, like user @imfaithelizabeth,^[9] who wrote, "Katy Perry giving us nothing in her new single." The video (seen below) amassed over 5.8 million plays and 580,000 likes in a month.