Katy Perry used to be fun — what happened to that on her latest album?

Today, Katy Perry released her seventh album, 143. The first single off the album, Woman's World, already garnered a negative reception, ranging from criticisms of its generic sound to its meaningless lyrics. 

There was hope that the pop star might put out an album that's better than the single — but the group chat doesn't think so. Today on Commotion, culture critics Amil Niazi, Mel Woods and Sarah-Tai Black join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to discuss why Perry's new album falls flat.

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, including the panel's take on Demi Moore's new body horror film, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Mel, a lot of people hated the song, Woman's World, when it was first released. They called it bland, say-nothing feminism. Now we have the album and I get to ask you this question: does the album get better after Woman's World? 

Mel: In my take, no. It falls very firmly into a genre that I often use lovingly and sometimes use negatively — and in this case, negatively — "gay noise." You think about artists like Slater, you think about artists like Kim Petras, you think about RuPaul's original music. These are songs that will do fine being lip synced by a drag queen somewhere or being blasted in the background of a club where you're trying to shout a conversation at somebody. But beyond that, culturally, I don't know how much oomph they have to them. And it's really funny that that was my first association because as soon as I looked at the track list and was like, "Wait, Kim Petras is just literally on this album." It is pretty literal in that sense.

It feels behind the times. It's somehow both dated and trying to be keeping up with it. And I think it hits even worse than it may have otherwise, on the wake of what a summer of pop music that we just had. It's hard to be like, "Here's my feminist anthem, here's my fun party song, here's my little silly bit." When you have — in that order — Chapell Roan, Charli XCX and Sabrina Carpenter, who are all doing feminist anthem, fun party song and little silly bit, better and more interestingly and more relevantly. So I think it hits with a bit of a thud. I will be putting it on my gym playlist and that's where it belongs. And I look forward to watching somebody on Drag Race lip sync Women's World one day.

Elamin: Is there a case to be made for this moment in Katy Perry, Amil?

Amil: For the current iteration of Katy Perry? No, as much as I'm saddened by that.

Elamin: Because you're a fan.

Amil: I'm a fan of a version of Katy Perry. Do I ever feel like a plastic bag? Don't we all. 

Katy Perry, evolve. Katy Perry, grow. She has so much interesting — hopefully — to say about where she's at in her life right now. She's about to turn 40. She has had a child. She has been raked through the coals in the tabloids. She is aging in an industry, in pop stardom, you have the briefest of moments, and that she's lasted this long, gives her a platform to say something interesting. And the fact that she's still giving us these hollow platitudes, she needs to figure it out.

Elamin: At the peak of her powers, Katy Perry is someone who gave us weird, interesting phrasing. The idea that she would make a phrase like, "Do you ever feel like a plastic bag?" an iconic line is a testament to her charisma and her ability to deliver hits. And what I hear on this record is a record that literally anybody could have made…. Sarah-Tai, when you hear this album, do you see a point of view from Katy Perry? 

Sarah-Tai: I think that's the number one thing that's missing is it doesn't hit that positive gay noise, as Mel illustrated for us, at a point where it's campy and funny…. Here, we're not rising to the occasion of either giving us amazing, glossy pop songs like Teenage Dream, and also not giving us the camp, not giving us the performance  — Kim Petras is on this, for instance — there's no Coconuts-level of fun here at all. It sounds like it was made by AI that was very much geared toward pre-teens. It's really not making me feel my white girl pop fantasy, which, despite the phrasing, I do love to feel like I'm in my little convertible with my other little white girl friends, going to the mall, my gosh! It's not giving us that. 

Amil: Katy Perry, you are trapped in a version of pop stardom that existed when you were a teenager and you don't know how to get out of it. And no one around you is encouraging you to be honest. And I think that all of this fell so flat because she hasn't been honest about anything…. It all rings false. I think that's why no one is connecting to it — she's not even connected to it. 

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Jane van Koeverden.