143

by 
AlbumSep 20 / 202411 songs, 33m 39s
Dance-Pop
Popular

When she skyrocketed to stardom at the tail end of the 2000s, Katy Perry was a girl-next-door gone wild: dancing on tables, kissing cherry-Chapstick-ed strangers, and shooting whipped cream out of her sparkly bustier. Her trademark hits represented pop as pure escapism—fun and frivolous, with production from the era’s biggest hitmakers (Max Martin, Stargate, Dr. Luke). Sixteen years after her breakthrough with 2008’s “I Kissed a Girl,” the era from which Perry emerged has cycled back into fashion as a nostalgic trend. But on her sixth album (not including her contemporary Christian record as Katy Hudson), named for her angel number—and for how people typed “I love you” back in the pager era—the 39-year-old singer is focused on the present. “When I was going through \[2008 debut album\] *One of the Boys*, it was like, ‘Oh my god, hold on to this ride!’” Perry tells Apple Music’s Zane Lowe, tracing the arc of her career as it pertains to her emotional life. She describes *Teenage Dream* and *PRISM* as periods of professional highs and personal turmoil. With 2017’s *Witness*, her world began to balance; that stability solidified on 2020’s *Smile*. “And now, *143* is the celebration of that wholeness, which is a space I’ve never written a record from,” she continues. “I’ve always written a record from defense, or not feeling enough, or trying to transmute my trauma. The biggest lie I think artists have ever been sold is that they have to stay in pain in order to create. That’s absolutely not true.” Four years after her last album, *143* arrives as a full-on dance record, sampling liberally from Crystal Waters’ 1991 classic “Gypsy Woman” on the Doechii collab “I’M HIS, HE’S MINE” and venturing deeper into piano house on the euphoric “LIFETIMES.” As for whether songs like “WOMAN’S WORLD” are works of high camp or the remains of a bygone era, your mileage may vary. “I just wanted to explore other territories; I didn’t want to keep repeating myself,” Perry says of her pivot to the dance floor. “The energy I’m hoping to create is freedom to be yourself—freedom to be sweaty, freedom to dance with a stranger.”

4.5 / 10

The popstar confidently returns with very little to say.

2 / 10

Katy Perry reconnects with old collaborators for her seventh album '143', but fails to recreate the magic – read NME's 2-star album review

2 / 10

Katy Perry sparks nothing on 143. It’s all about easy endings and uncomplicated emotions.

3.0 / 10

Katy Perry's '143' delivers glossy but hackneyed dance-pop. Averting your eyes and ears from this tedious trainwreck would be a relief.

Katy Perry's '143' Review

The sense of fun that propelled Perry to international stardom has been replaced by a weariness (or perhaps wariness) of the industry she once dominated

3 / 10

Your daily dose of the best music, film and comedy news, reviews, streams, concert listings, interviews and other exclusives on Exclaim!

5 / 10

The internet can be a curious place. One day, you’re the cream of the crop; the next, you’re a withering hashtag. Katy Perry’s online downfall has been

There are a few bright spots on Katy Perry’s ‘143,’ though none of them reach the singer’s peak output.

6 / 10

Katy Perry's '143' sounds out of step with current pop, and there isn't much here that is so eccentric and creative to justify the album's relative mediocrity.

2.5 / 10

143 by Katy Perry album review by Sam Franzini for Northern Transmissions. The album is out today via Universal Records

<strong>(Capitol)</strong><br>Following disastrous comeback singles and videos prompting environmental investigation, Perry’s seventh album isn’t the calamity expected – but it isn’t good, either

40 %

Album Reviews: Katy Perry - 143

The star was once known for her empowering, provocative pop. But this disastrous album is derivative, cack-handed and utterly lifeless

Album New Music review by Guy Oddy