In terms of being an “apology” record for 2017’s Witness, which might one day be vindicated in the same way Christina Aguilera’s Bionic has been, Smile, the sixth album (‘cause we’re counting Katy Hudson) from Katy Perry, doesn’t do much to recapture the pop star’s zenith, objectively viewed as 2010’s Teenage Dream (the second album in history to produce five number one singles after Michael Jackson’s Bad). To ease us into things, Perry commences Smile with a song she knows is sure to please, 2019’s “Never Really Over,” released as a stand-alone single with an accompanying video that heavily rips off both the final episode of Mad Men and Lana Del Rey’s “Freak” video.
The second track still holds our attention, catering to the sad clown a.k.a. wannabe Pierrot motif of the record (news flash: Madonna already did that with her Tears of a Clown show in 2016). Thus, the title, “Cry About It Later,” is in keeping with the tragicomic nature of a clown, which Perry dons the guise of for her record cover. Produced by Oscar Holter (Swedish, naturally, and who has worked with the likes of MARINA, Tove Lo and Charli XCX), the uptempo dance sound is complemented by Perry’s more serene vocals as she assures, “I’ll cry about it later, I’ll cry about it later/Tonight, I’m havin’ fun.” The “Smile Video Series” accompaniment features Perry as an animated witch (channeling some Sabrina Spellman vibes) traipsing through the land on her broom, encountering vampires and dragons before crashing the wedding of an unhappy woman who seems eased by being lifted onto Perry’s broomstick and then getting kissed by her (bringing it all back to her offensive-to-lesbians breakout single, “I Kissed A Girl,” n’est-ce pas?). As the song reaches its crescendo, an ultra 80s-sounding guitar riff is incorporated into the melody–for Perry has always exhibited an appreciation for this decade (she did, after all, once cover The Outfield’s 1986 hit, “Your Love”).
Talking of the 80s, the danceable, keyboard beat option-inspired “Teary Eyes” sustains this sonic theme (along with the aforementioned “tears of a clown” one). Addressing the deep depression Perry fell into after Witness was panned–having been previously so accustomed to the praise that always came with a hit single–the opening lyrics lament, “Have you ever lost, lost the light in your life?/Have you ever left, left yourself behind?/Have you ever lied and just replied ‘I’m fine’?” This brief tone of sadness transitions into Perry doing her best to resignedly brighten her voice for the chorus: “Just keep on dancin’ with those teary eyes”–a chorus, by the way, that surely must have been repurposed from Ultravox’s 1984 single, “Dancing With Tears In My Eyes.”
The following song, “Daisies,” was billed as the first “real” single from Smile (despite “Never Really Over” and “Harleys in Hawaii” being released prior to it in 2019), and probably not the best choice when considering it’s one of the cheesiest offerings of the record. That is, apart from the eponymous “Smile,” which isn’t even really worth mentioning save to say it’s track seven–oh, and that Lily Allen long ago had a much better hit called that. The song, regardless, clearly seems to be the nearest and dearest to Perry, who just named her first child Daisy (Dove Bloom) in narcissistic honor of the track. “Daisy Bloom,” on a side note, has plenty of stripper and/or porn star cachet, so Katy and Orlando might want to be wary of this girl’s inevitable fate.
Persisting with the floral motif is “Resilient,” another song that references Perry coming through to the other, lighter side of a dark period in her life. Of course, this warrants a Dolly Parton allusion in the form of, “I know there’s gotta be rain if I want the rainbows” (one of Parton’s most famous aphorisms is, “If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain”). Elsewhere paying unavoidably maudlin homage to her boo, Orlando, she sings, “Look at me now, look at me now/I’m in full bloom, yeah/They tried to poison the water.” Barring this cringey reference, for the most part, the track works as an empowerment anthem more than “Daisies” (those giving Perry undue credit would say it’s her version of Britney Spears’ “Stronger”–but after that crack Perry made about Spears at the Grammys in 2017, the comparison isn’t really deserved). Another perhaps unintentional parallel on Perry’s part is to Jerry Leiber and Phil Spector’s 1960 hit, “Spanish Harlem” (popularized by Ben E. King). For just as Perry sings of being a “flower [that] grow(s) right through the cracks,” so, too, does King sing of a “special” flower (in this case, a rose) “growing in the street right up through the concrete.” Yes, resilience in motion is managing to stay pretty amid the icky conditions of this ghetto Earth.
On the subject of Earth being ghetto and probably ending sooner rather than later, the song that follows “Resilient” is “Not the End of the World,” which unexpectedly reinterprets the famed verse from Steam’s 1969 single, “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye,” with Perry instead insisting, “Na, na, na, na don’t say goodbye.” One can’t help but hear the line, “What a time to be alive” as sarcastic, for, yes, indeed, what a (shit) time to be alive. Still, Perry tries to tell us “it’s not the end of the world/No, not the end of the world/Throw on your fancy attire, fears in the fire/Don’t lose hope It’s no funeral we’re attending/Actually, just the beginning.” If you say so, deary–though this is probably what every new parent has to tell themselves after committing the ultimate sin of bringing a child into the world knowing it’s about to end.
For rich folk like Perry, of course, it’s all “Champagne Problems” anyway–for there are bunker and space defecting options for their kind when Earth gets uninhabitable. So it is that we have the discofied dance rhythm of this Johan Carlsson and John Ryan-produced acclaim for her relationship with Bloom. Triumphant about overcoming the obstacles of their various break ups and make ups earlier in the dynamic, Perry rejoices, “We put the dirty work in/So now we know it’s worth it/Now we’re celebrating I’m so glad we made it this far, ah/’Cause, baby, all we got are champagne problems now.” Still, it wouldn’t hurt to get a prenup.
Sure to be parodied at some point by a drag queen, “Tucked” is meant to be a “naughty” nod to fantasizing about someone you know would be terrible for you in practice–but oh so wank-worthy in your head. Hence, “I keep you tucked away inside my head/Where I can find you anytime I want to, baby.” It’s sort of like a tamer version of Ludacris’ “What’s Your Fantasy?” as Perry proffers such scenarios as “being” (read: banging) on an island, a mansion or the back seat of a car. Like Visa, “You’re anywhere I want you to be.” When you’re “tucked” safely in one’s imagination.
Placing “Harleys in Hawaii” toward the end of the record, Perry does her best to rejuvenate the track by creating an animated video for it (another in the Smile Video Series) in the stylistic spirit of cartoons of the 1930s and 1940s–you know, the ones that were so often blatantly racist. And yes, it is a bit dicey to play up the “Hawaiian” element of this song with talk of luaus and the hula. Yet, even after all this time, so many find it easy to stereotype Hawaiians in this often “unintended” derogatory manner.
Slowing down the pace further is “Only Love,” a track that speculates on what Perry might do if she only had one day left to live (because, for some reason, people can’t seem to find the “strength” to do what they really want until circumstances become dire). Among the people she would seek to radiate her love toward is her mother and father (the pop star has clearly had a contentious road with her born again Christian parents). Laying out the scenario, “If I had one day left to live/And if the stars went out on me… there’s so much I’d say and do/If I had nothing to lose, nah, nothing to lose.” Perhaps luckily for her, after the mixed reviews for this record, it could very well be that Perry does have nothing left to lose. And we all know the end of the world for her is still not being deemed ascendant in the eyes of the pop chart gods.
Echoing the tone of Kesha on “Spaceship” from 2017’s Rainbow, and borrowing from the lyrical ideas of “Hey Hey Hey” on Witness, “What Makes A Woman” is the final track on Smile. Seemingly tacked on to prove to the world that Perry is more femme-positive than ever, she ruminates on how so many try to define what a woman is, yet the gender is indefinable because you “could spend your whole life, but you couldn’t describe what makes a woman/She’s always been a perfect mystery/Could spend your whole life, but you couldn’t/Describe what makes a woman/And that’s what makes a woman to me.” So there you go, Perry has defined a woman in telling others that it’s impossible to. With a final line that gives a nod to her getting her smile back, Katy refers to herself by her Christian name with, “There it is, Katheryn.”
With various special editions (Perry pulled a Taylor Swift with Folklore move in offering up different limited editions featuring unique covers available for a brief period of time before the album’s release), some iterations also have “Small Talk,” “Never Worn White” (possibly more vom-inducing than “Daisies”), “High On Your Supply” (a ditty about “Instagram posers” getting off on their own ego trips–appropriately for the album’s theme, there’s an air sound effect ideal for evoking the image of blowing up a balloon), a remix and acoustic version of “Daisies,” and a “Message From Katy.”
Overall, Smile is a “fine” effort, with the more danceable tracks, like “Cry About It Later” and “Teary Eyes,” buttressing it from being totally deflated. But one imagines Perry was still hoping to offer us something slightly more “the bitch is back” as opposed to “hey, look at this clown.”
