Katy Perry

When I listen to a piece of music, two things usually attract me to it - the melody and arrangement, and the beat. That is to say that I'm not too particular about lyrics even though they are very important as well. When I hear a good melody I usually get a soothing feeling and I'm able to use my mind as a mirror into what and how I want to feel, and if the melody is too good, I let it drive me and lead me to its desired destination. The beat gives me something to vibe along, something to dance to or probably just nod my head to. A good beat would literally have me imagining what dance styles to go with it and that results to a lot of happiness for me. A lot of people are like me. More than anything, music makes them happy. They appreciate music so much that just the beat or melody is enough to get them going. While other people insist that music can't be great if the lyrics is not great as well. If the lyrics is not on the same level with the beat and melody, they say it is trash or crappy music. While that is true to some extent, it is not entirely true. Some piece of music is just meant to make you feel good. Katy Perry's 2017 album "Witness" is that kind of music. Katy Perry serenaded her listeners with music that moves the mind and body. Set in 17 tracks namely, "Act My Age", "Bigger Than Me", "Bon Appetit", "Dance With The Devil", "Chained To The Rhythm", "Hey Hey Hey", "Into Me See You", "Mind Maze", "Miss You More", "Pendulum", "Power", "Roullette", "Save As Draft", "Tsunami", "Witness", "Deja Vu", and "Swish Swish", Katy Perry layered some sweet melodious tunes on fantastic beats arranged in really interesting ways, with a mix of some really interesting lyrics. That is to say that "Witness" is more than just beats and sweet melody, it contains good stories and experiences that everyone can relate to.

If you know me or have read literally anything I’ve ever written, then you would know that I absolutely love Katy Perry. I love Katy Perry. She was my favorite artist. I was known as the “Katy Perry guy” in high school. I legally own all of her albums and I forced my mother to buy me tickets to see her. Katy Perry was the main artist I was rooting for in the battle for mainstream success. After 3 iconic albums, Katy Perry did what any smart musician would do and she gave herself a much needed break. After countless broken records and chart-topping singles, it was best not to rush into another album too quickly for fear of a decrease in quality. During that break, Katy Perry continued her reign by performing during the Super Bowl Halftime show to the largest audience ever. She was obviously at the top, and she had the support. It seemed that even the slightest misstep wouldn’t be enough to take her down. Well, the break was going on for a little longer than anticipated… The first thing we heard from Katy Perry after her disappearance was the Olympic anthem “Rise” which didn’t capture the same uplifting power of her previous hits like “Firework” or “Part Of Me.” It was slower and it didn’t pack as much of a punch, I mean, it was for the Olympics. Something more fast-paced would’ve been more appropriate. Another misstep was not servicing the single to all streaming platforms. During its first week, “Rise” was only available for streaming on Apple Music. As a Spotify fan myself, I felt that this cut off a large percentage of her audience because “Rise” debuted at no. 11, before falling and never reaching a new peak. At least during the first week, I felt that the extra steaming would’ve done wonders, giving Katy Perry another top 10. “Rise” wasn’t the type of song for one’s musical return anyway. It wasn’t big enough. It didn’t have the same energy that her previous chart-topping lead singles had like “California Gurls” and “Roar.” And it pains me to say the same thing when it came to introducing us to her next full-length record Witness.

Witness is an album from Katy Perry that I love to listen to when I’m feeling under pressure or when I have a big project to work on, the album is very empowering to say the least. I was very compelled with the struggle in the story that this album told underneath the surface. Witness was a summer fitted album that I enjoyed all throughout the summer of 2017 for as a booster album and just an album to mark the times for me. I remember at the job I was working at; my 30-minute breaks being filled songs like “Tsunami” or “Bigger Than Me” and whether my shirt was damp from sweat or rain water it was in pure delight of the vibes of this album. “Make me ripple till I’m wavy, don’t be scared to dive in deep, and start a…..Tsunami” and “Don’t fight just ride the rhythm of the tide we swirl we spin salted sun kissed skin,” are just a few of the lines that truly defied the absolute intense heat of that summer, in my mind. Even now as I write those lyrics I’m hit with the heatwaves that would literally wipe across my face as I made my way to the subway to or from my job or as I would be cleaning my hardwood floors with the fan blowing absolute heat waves in efforts to keep a circulation going in that summer in the Bronx where I lived at that time. The fact that I can listen to Witness straight through without feeling a disconnect in the context or in the music production as far as the beats go, explains why I’ll never understand the negative critic the album underwent during the time of its release. I’ve always thought that the album was one of the first albums by Katy Perry that I could listen from front to start as I wasn't able to sink into her albums like PRISM or Teenage Dream released in the past in that same way. What was the real tea behind the fact that there wasn’t much diversity in the outtake of her album by mainstream reporters? It was almost as if she was just being sabotaged with a major lack of due diligence, it’s possible that it was all because of that beef she had with Taylor Swift at the time.

Life has always been a rollercoaster, but in early 2013, I experienced one of the worst down moments. Grades were dropping like snow, I was facing financial troubles, everything was just going the wrong way and all I could do was just watch helplessly as my life went down the drain. At a point, I considered ending everything completely. It was during this moment I had one of my course mates over at my place. He came visiting when he realized I was playing truancy and that was because I was at the verge of giving up completely. I refused to open up to him about what I was facing, I just told him I was a little sick and that's it. We kept talking about school and life in general. He himself was going through some problems financially and educationally but he was determined to keep trying and he didn't allow these challenges bother him. We were still talking when his phone rang, he excused himself, picked the call and almost as soon as he was done, he told me he had to start leaving, as there was something very important he had to go and attend to. I walked him down to the gate and just as he was about to leave, I asked him for the title of the song that played as his ring tone and he told me it was Katy Perry's "Roar". While his phone was ringing, I couldn't hear the lyrics of the song but there was something about the song that really struck me hard. I went back to my room, downloaded the song and immediately had it blaring on the sound system. The lyrics of the song were what I first paid attention to. For some weird reasons, my hope kept refueling at every listen of the song as I had it on repeat. The lyrics kept on pumping strength into me. Strength I never thought I could ever have or feel again. It gave me this boost of adrenaline and my courage heightened. I was ready to face all those challenges around me and conquer them all one after the other. Before the end of that year, I succeeded in conquering suicidal thoughts, grades started looking up again, my financial stability held into more solid ground. Life went from worse to better, all thanks to the visit of this course mate and the motivation I received from Katy Perry though her song "Roar". My likeness for this song prompted me into getting the album, which it was featured, in, Prism. My body, soul and heart longed more for her songs. Till date, if life tries to throw lemons at me, I would play "Roar" and it would boost my morale almost immediately and it always gave me the motivation I needed to turn the lemons into lemonades. The album was considered to be a success on all grounds by critics and it also earned a Grammy awards nominations for Best Pop Vocal album of the year at the 57th annual edition. This album served as a catalyst to the certification of Katy Perry as one of the most powerful female singers in the whole world and also one of the women with the highest record sales worldwide in the year 2013