Katy Perry became a household name back in 2008 with her hit single I Kissed a Girl. Since then, she’s rarely stayed out of the public eye, and gone on to achieve huge success with her music. Not only did her Grammy-nominated Teenage Dream album send a whopping five singles to the US No 1 spot, but she also starred in her own 3D concert movie. Katy’s pretty much at the point of world domination – so what’s next for the songstress? A new album, of course…
PRISM is a collection of new songs by Katy, and is all about self-empowerment. There are plenty of feel-good anthems to choose from, with Roar being one of my favourites. This song is filled with feistiness and is all about proving your haters wrong. By the Grace of God is another song that deserves a round of applause. This is an emotional ballad about pushing through a bad relationship (wonder who inspired that). Through the honest lyrics and piano backing track, Katy’s proved that you can pick yourself up and dust yourself off after any hard time in your life.
The self-empowerment theme is continued with the song Love Me. This song is bursting with girl-power, with lyrics like: “I don’t negotiate with insecurities”. It’s great that Katy is inspiring girls across the globe to just be themselves – something a lot of female singers are neglecting to do nowadays.
However, I don’t think that Katy really stretched herself enough with this album – and hear me out. Teenage Dream really showed off the singer’s sassy side, but I expected PRISM to be a step up from this. I expected her to have grown and adapted as an artist. Let’s face it –she’s not getting any younger. Songs like Birthday and International Smile are fun – but that’s all they really are… fun. There’s no real depth to the lyrics, or any variation to the music. Personally, I expected more maturity from this album. Instead, it sounds like I’m listening to Teenage Dream – The Sequel.
Overall, PRISM promotes a positive message, but the album lacks versatility. While there is the rare slow song on the album like Ghost, this is only a snippet of Katy’s more serious side. She has the potential to sing powerful anthems – so why is she still singing the same old dance tracks? She’s pushing thirty – how long can she keep this up for? But the more important question is: will this album live up to the success of Teenage Dream? I’m not so sure – but only time will tell…
[rating=3]
