Why Katy Perry’s attempt at satire in ‘Women’s World’ missed the mark

After a five-year hiatus, Katy Perry recently released her new single and music video, Women’s World, in advance of her upcoming seventh studio album, 143.

Perhaps inspired by the success of her previous singles, Roar and Firework, Perry’s song and video seem to attempt to communicate a feminist message, with her posing as Rosie the Riveter, waving a vibrator and talking about the feminine divine.

However, online and media commentators have argued that both the song and the video perpetuate misogynistic and stereotypical representations of women. Perry has also been blasted for working with Dr. Luke, a producer who has been accused of predatory sexual behaviour.

In response to these critiques, Perry has insisted the video is meant to be satirical. But Perry’s audience isn’t buying that argument — and neither do we.

As scholars who explore the intersection of gender and media, and as unrepentant fans of mainstream pop music, we have much to say about the song, video and these debates.

Success hinges on authenticity

The release of Woman’s World placed Perry alongside, and in competition with, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift and Chappell Roan, whose images and personas are marketed around transparency and authenticity. Eilish used her new single, Lunch, to open up about her queer identity.

Fans frequently dissect which of Swift’s songs are about which of her lovers. Roan’s videos offer explicit moments of queer joy as she delightedly represents both gender and sexuality as places of play.

The success of these artists suggests that relevance and success in the current pop music scene hinges on authenticity, and a lack of separation between personal and professional lives.

Perry’s previous hits, such as I Kissed a Girl, Teenage Dream, and California Gurls, draw from a toolkit of fun, impersonal, surface-level references to empowerment and liberation.

Rather than offering authenticity and inviting her fans into her life, this latest single reproduces and in fact exaggerates the same persona that fuelled her earlier success.

When effective, satire subverts cultural norms by revealing their absurdity. Does Perry accomplish this? We think not. Rather than revealing the absurdity of patriarchal tropes, the video suggests that the only way for women to be empowered is to adopt them.

Tired of outdated tropes

In the video for Women’s World, women are shown working on a construction site in short shorts, holding bedazzled power tools, drinking “women’s” whisky, using urinals and pulling monster trucks. These women appear to conform to masculine norms from an imagined “man’s world.” But Perry fails to offer an alternative to these tired tropes, and as a result, perpetuates them.

In contrast, both Roan’s Pink Pony Club and Swift’s The Man disrupt the same tropes, revealing not only their absurdity, but making it clear that women have other means of liberation and empowerment than the “master’s tools.”

Set in what appears to be a biker bar or strip club populated by older men, the video for Pink Pony Club challenges the audience to acknowledge and disrupt their expectations.

Roan appears on stage in a short, fringed teddy and rhinestone jacket. With the eyes of several older men on her, we expect her to undress. But this doesn’t happen. Instead, halfway through the video, drag performer Victoria “Porkchop” Parker comes on stage for a guitar solo.

As our view of the nightclub expands, we see that Roan’s character is not dancing for, but rather with a club full of queens and leather daddies, revelling in queer joy and acceptance. The absurdity of our expectations, and the norms that underpin them, is revealed.

In Swift’s The Man, the singer imagines how she might move differently in the world as “Tyler Swift.” The video satirizes and highlights the absurd double standard that celebrates problematic behaviour in successful men while scrutinizing the very idea of a successful woman.

There are no such reveals in Women’s World. Rather, it suggests we are trapped in a world where things always stay the same. This is disappointing given the video’s potential for the kind of self-exploration, authenticity and subversion that other artists achieve in their work.

Mid-way through the video, Perry is crushed flat by an anvil and revives herself, perhaps symbolizing her attempt to reinvigorate her career with this song and video. This moment could have been an opportunity for Perry to reinvent herself, to offer fans an alternative narrative of empowerment rather than the outdated tropes that worked decades ago.

Changing pop culture landscape

Other stars have seen the writing on the wall signalled by the popularity of artists like Swift, Roan and Eilish. Eminem and Donald Glover have released new albums that involve them grappling with their former selves and alter egos.

These artists, both similar in age to Perry, have sought relevance in a changed pop culture landscape by literally killing off the well-loved public personas Slim Shady and Childish Gambino that made them famous.

Maybe Perry should follow their cue. Instead of reviving her old persona, she could use this moment to move on from her “Teenage Dream” era and present a more authentic version of herself. She could, for instance, share her experiences as a parent and a partner, how she is balancing her music career with domestic life or simply reflect on entering her 40s, her changing body, and moving beyond the concerns of youth.

Perhaps she could find inspiration from the peers who are offering a plethora of thoughtful — and actually satirical — ways of finding power in aspects of lived experience habitually degraded in the “man’s world” Perry presents as inevitable.

Instead of relying on outdated stereotypes and fantasy, Perry could embrace change and difference as sources of power rather than shame, and leave the power tools and bad satire behind. In doing so, she might just find the authenticity that today’s fans are after.