base talk Thoughts on PRISM by Katy Perry?

[YourFavoriteWeapon]

It's a decent album as a whole (though I'd omit Roar and make This Is How We Freefall a better song because I only really use the bridge dd) but I wish the whole album sounded like the second half considering it contains some of the best songs of her career. That one-two-three punche with Spiritual, It Takes Two, and Choose Your Battles is a moment in pop history and she really showcased some raw talent in those songs. 

Edited September 5 by YourFavoriteWeapon

[rebeltwat]

her best album

[KatyPrismSpirit]

Magnificent pop album. Her best album.

[ChandlerBing]

The album is all over the place but everyone can find a couple of songs to enjoy. Double Rainbow and Spiritual are amazing.

[bielneira]

My favorite Katy Perry album.

[JoeAg]

Roar, Legendary Lovers, Walking on Air, Birthday, International Smile, Unconditionally, and This Moment are all excellent pop songs 

 

the rest is meh. 

[Gladiator]

Great pop album.

My favorite tracks are: Legendary Lovers, Walking On Air, Ghost, Love Me, Double Rainbow, By The Grace of God, Spiritual, It Takes Two, Choose Your Battles

Edited September 5 by Gladiator

[Into The Void]

Legendary Lovers and Walking on Air should have been singles

[MonsterNavy]

this is where her "flopping" and her being out of touch with her music and overall started tbh

 

Roar and Dark Horse smashed because she was coming off Teenage Dream era but PRISM was just already another attempt at Teenage Dream

 

Roar = Firework

Dark Horse = ET

Birthday = California Girls

 

and the rest of the album are unlistenable or just plain boring.

 

then Witness era came and it just made everything worse. from there, the rest is history

[Klein]

There are some great songs on it: Legendary Lovers, Walking On Air, Unconditionally, Dark Horse, This Moment, It Takes Two, Choose Your Battles... but the rest is meh at best. It's a decent pop album overall but it doesn't come close to Teenage Dream (though LL is better than anything on TD, and probably her whole discography).

[Kiss It Better]

she could've recreated TD success if she had played her cards right...

 

for the millionth time, the singles should've been

Roar - Birthday - Dark Horse (with the album) - Walking on Air - Legendary Lovers - It Takes Two (feat. Bruno Mars) - Unconditionally

 

also, Spiritual is her best song ever

[Rihinvention]

1. I'll never understand the love for 'Legendary Lovers'. I didn't then, and I still don't. It's one of the weaker songs on the album.
 

 

2. 'Walking On Air' 100% should've been a single.

 

 

3. She shouldn't have tried to replicate Teenage Dream's single strategy by going Anthemic Hit > Love Song. Having 'Dark Horse' and 'Walking On Air' as promo singles cannibalised 'Unconditionally' and therefore it was unable to become PRISM's 'Teenage Dream'. It's also not as good, but it shouldn't have been the 2nd single if the "promo" singles were the two best songs on the album. One of which ('Dark Horse') was PRISM's 'E.T.'

 

 

4. 'Birthday''s video is terrible and ruined an incredible pop song. Some would say this video was the first nail she ever bought for her coffin. It should've been a colourful, 1960s housewife video (like the 'Small Talk' video) showing that some wives' love language is acts of service, and they actually like doting on a man — similar to 'Cater 2 U' by Destiny's Child, or that final scene in 'Mona Lisa Smile' where Julia Stiles chooses being a wife/mother over law school, because it's truly her choice.

 

 

5. Aside from 'Unconditionally' being released at the wrong time, and 'Walking On Air' not being released at all, I actually think she chose the right singles. 'Birthday' and 'This Is What We Do' are overhated.

 

 

6. 'This Is What We Do' is actually a great video, but choosing to make a pop-art video during the ARTPOP era just felt like a stupid decision. It was like kicking someone when they're already down. I hate ARTPOP, so I probably enjoyed Katy doing this at the time, but Lady Gaga is genuinely a good person, and I think someone on Katy's team should've looked at the 2013-14 "Little Monsters vs. Katy Cats" stan-war and said, "this is not the time to make a pop-art video."

 

 

7. On that note, waiting for Gaga to announce Applause was super shady. The fact that she announced Roar the day after Gaga announced Applause, with a release week of 1 week earlier, created so much drama. I know the VMAs were coming up, but it felt, very, very intentional.

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/lady-gaga-unveils-applause-single-artwork-5044118/amp/

 

https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/katy-perry-to-roar-on-first-prism-single-5333083/
 

The dates on these articles imply that they were announced within 1-2 days of each other, but I have a very vivid memory of it being within hours of each other. I remember I was at uni/college, and I was lurking ATRL. I don't remember what their "teaser" schedule was like, but I do remember the announcements being extremely close. 
 

At the time, I loved it. What Gaga was doing in 2012 was turning me off her — choosing You & I and Marry The Night as singles, the Joe Callderone thing, teasing Princess High, Cake Like Lady Gaga (which is like the worst song I've ever heard) and just generally losing her sense of what's cool. Meanwhile, Teenage Dream's "five #1 singles" + Part Of Me + Wide Awake + her documentary really won me over.

So at the time, I enjoyed Katy's announcement strategy, but looking back, it seemed really calculated. I think she and her team knew she had more pop hits, and her popularity was growing, so it all seemed like a concentrated effort to end Gaga's dominance. Again, Gaga seems like a really good person, so I don't think Katy should've bought into their labels pitting them against each other.

 

 

8. I think the cover is terrible. There are so many things she could have done using "the refraction of light creates a rainbow" as her visual representation, but she chose…that. I don't like the photography, the lighting, the hair, the makeup, the border…I don't like anything. I think she didn't want to be seen as sexy, but if you've got it, flaunt it. Otherwise you just end up with a bad cover like this.

 

 

9. Going back to 'Legendary Lovers', I actually think that 'This Moment', 'International Smile', 'It Takes Two' and 'Ghost' are better. Super hot take, but I might even like 'Double Rainbow' more. I'll never understand why so many people wanted 'LL' as a single.

 

 

10. Overall, I think this is a great pop record. I would only consider like 3-4 songs filler. Which for a 16-track deluxe is a great success. She fumbled some decisions, and consequently it's overshadowed by 'Teenage Dream's shadow. However if any of our faves had an era with two songs as big as 'Roar' and 'Dark Horse', we would still be bragging about it.

 

 

There's a reason why, when people talk about Katy's downfall, they start with Witness, and say "girl, it's been 10 years" — and it's because 'PRISM' was objectively a success. Sure, not 'Teenage Dream' levels of success, but you can't say this album didn't do well whilst simultaneously counting her downfall from the moment this era ended.

 

 

Edited September 5 by Rihinvention

[3R1K]

Love the album, but unpopular opinion: To this day, I still don't get the hype around Spiritual. Like the verses are amazing but idk, the chorus sounds very uninspired to me? It´s almost like she sounds bored singing it But it could've worked much better as an opener instead of Roar, I'll give it that

[Spicy Pisces]

8 hours ago, Sheep said:

Her plan to make a heavy divorce album with extremely dark themes being thrown out in favor of TD 2 was the first nail in her coffin as it permanently cheapened her image

100% agree.

 

I always said she could've done something like a two-part album instead: the first half being dark themed, and then transition into the light for the second half. Like, take us through your journey, have something to say. 'The Butterfly Effect' instead of PRISM... she went from teasing a grungier look, to suddenly naming an entire album over her last minute discovery of the benefits of "meditation and reading Eckhart Tolle" like she said, and it shows in lyrics of songs like This Moment where they're a compilation of quotes.

 

[Feanor]

Her best album.

The first half is filled with 'Teenage Dream'-worthy bops & pop perfections (tho people won't admit it cause they weren't as successful ), and the 2nd half still has her best album tracks to date. It's no masterpiece, but it was Katy Perry at her best.