base talk Looking back: Thoughts on Witness & Smile?

[Big Bad Wolf]

In hindsight, now that Katy has released her worst and least inspired album to date, what do you think of Witness & Smile?

 

Honestly looking back, Witness wasn't that bad. It had Bon Appetit which was actually kind of *****, Tsunami which is an amazing album track, Roulette and Power were pretty cool for her, Deja Vu has a nice chorus, Witness is actually a great title track, Power was cute. Pendulum gave me the anthemic feel goodness of TD and done right. Even the ballads Save as Draft and Into Me You See were kinda cute and chill. Overall, it felt like Katy actually had something to say with this album. Whatever that was. 

 

Smile has some nice pop songs. The imagery of the era was atrocious, but the songs were ok. At the time, I loved Never Really Over and thought it deserved to be a successful comeback for her. Pretty safe album for her but it served its purpose and helped remediate her image from 2017.

 

What are your thoughts on these albums now that Katy has further declined artistically?

Edited 3 hours ago by Big Bad Wolf

[vuelve88]

They kinda served. 
 

[Cheers]

Also awful

[Funnyfatty]

I'm not going to appreciate her horrible work because she made something that is worse. 
 

0

0

0

 

terrible

[Jotham]

I never liked Witness. It has a couple of good songs but overall I didn't like it.

 

I think that Smile gets way too much hate. Its aesthetics are cringey but I liked a lot of the songs. It also seems like the era where she seemed the happiest and most authentic.

 

Smile > 143 > Witness

[Kiss It Better]

i've never been on her hate train, Witness was her best album for me when it came out and Smile was a great pop record same with 143... she has no bad albums

[wastedpotential]

There was a point in time where I really was quite soft on Witless. I think there are gems there (Title Track, Roulette, CTTR, and Bon Appetit) that have been treated roughly, perhaps moreso than they deserved. Smell... I've never particularly cared for. I'm not really a zero calorie pop kind of person, but songs like CAIL, Teary Eyed, NTEOTW, and Tucked are inoffensive, and NRO and Harleys are excellent songs that get the accordant praises. I have zero desire to listen to either of them now, and I haven't in years, but I know there's some good to be found (unlike with say, 143).

[Doogle]

Witness has some of her best singles I love CTTR, BA, Swish Swish and ofc Roulette was a smasha. It did not flop because of the material imo
 

Smile sucks but Tucked was at least a cute little ditty and she had NRO and HIH which are classic Katy in sound. 
 

143 definitely makes the others look less severe cos it has absolutely nothing worth revisiting 

[Obsession]

Neither album is good, though Smile does attempt to resurrect her roots and Witness has some decent songs. Ultimately, though Katy doesn't seem to have ever really understood why people liked her music, and I think she has always struggled to adapt to changing trends. 

 

Ironically, I think we're at a point where if she'd just returned to her earlier sound, it would have been decently received - Sabrina and Chappell's music bear fingerprints of Katheryn's work on OOTB and TD. However, she did everything wrong and the album is very much not an old-school Katy Perry album, but some mishmash of trap and dance music that Katy has never been good with. And then it's all needlessly produced by a rapist who doesn't bring anything unique to the production. A cavalcade of unforced errors. 

[Mordecai]

Witness is a great album that is tarnished by horrible optics. It would benefit from trimming 1-2 tracks as it drags on a little too long, but it's a 8/10

 

Smile is okay, it's got some great tracks (NRO, HIH, Teary Eyes) but as a whole it's a bit too middle-of-the-road inoffensive pop for my taste. Plus it's got what is her worst song ever in Resilient. And let's not mention the concept of the album which was vile

[Gladiator]

Witness is a great album. I've always had high opinions on it and I wish it played out differently because I feel it was her first and only true exploration into not typical Katy Perry sounds and themes. I believe if it was more successful, the trajectory of the output in her following material would be much different. 

 

Smile is also great. I like Witness more, although I am more likely to listen to Smile. When I think of a quintessential Katy Perry album, it isn't Teenage Dream or Prism that come to mind. It's Smile. 

 

 

Edited 3 hours ago by Gladiator

[JoeAg]

Witness and Roulette are great pop songs

 

as are Never Really Over and Cry About It Later

 

can do without the rest of the respective albums

[Walk_Away21]

Witness was definitely a listenable, 6.5/10 pop album. Smile really only had the pre-release singles. I though the album tracks were horrible. Album I'd say 5/10. 143 is probably a 2/10.

[EnigmaticAndroid]

Neither are good albums, but both had clear standouts and Witness actually felt like a bit of an artistic swing. Not that it worked at all, or that Katy has it in her to execute what she set out to do, but it's interesting as an attempt at something. Both have gotten some modicum of redemption in light of how truly tragic 143 is. 

[bielneira]

'Witness' is decent. 'Smile' is very mid.

[GipJo]

Witness: her genuine effort to break her glam pop MO, but failed due to lacking the talent she needed to accomplish such transition. At least she tried.

 

Smile: cute little era when she reflected on her life, but not a lot of depth despite the heart.

 

143: completely waste of time. The empowering songs are hollow, the sexy songs lack the quality they needed. Artistry regression, let alone growth.

[Dula Peep]

Smile is all over the place but it has way more solid pop songs than witness 

 

both are miles better than 143 that sounds mostly like trash 

[Suilen]

Witness is a serve. Smile has a bunch of salvageable tracks.

 

[cyberraga]

Smile >>> Witness >>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 143

 

From Witness:

 

CTTR

Swish Swish

Bon Appetite 

Witness (title track)

Save As Draft

Roulette

 

From Smile:

 

NRO

HIH

Cry About It Later

Tucked

Champange Problems

Only Love

Resilient 

 

are all great. However Smile should've kept the 70s hippie/boho chic aesthetic from NRO. The clown theme was awful. 

[Kaykay]

I hated Witness when it came out, CTTR, SAD, SS, AMA and Roulette were the only songs I could listen to, but a year or so later I started enjoying more other songs from the album, notably the titled track and Bigger Than Me.

 

I didnt enjoy Daisies and Smile the song when they came out as singles, and I still don't. Yet the album Smile turned out to be better than I had anticipated. Teary Eyes, CAIL, and Tucked coulda been chosen as singles. NRO and HIH coulda also turned the table around if she had saved till 2020 and release them as official singles from the album and promoted them better.

 

143 is her most cohesive album to me sonically even though she coulda done more with it. The lyrics in most song feel kinda hollow, incomplete, or just kinda childish. But I think this era coulda also bene better if she had chosen singles wisely.

 

From Witness to 143, none of these albums is completely awful and lack potential. It's the way the chose singles and promote them and the eras in general catalyzes her downfall that no longer seems to be salvageable.

[Kaykay]

I hated Witness when it came out, CTTR, SAD, SS, AMA and Roulette were the only songs I could listen to, but a year or so later I started enjoying more other songs from the album, notably the titled track and Bigger Than Me.

 

I didnt enjoy Daisies and Smile the song when they came out as singles, and I still don't. Yet the album Smile turned out to be better than I had anticipated. Teary Eyes, CAIL, and Tucked coulda been chosen as singles. NRO and HIH coulda also turned the table around if she had saved till 2020 and release them as official singles from the album and promoted them better.

 

143 is her most cohesive album to me sonically even though she coulda done more with it. The lyrics in most song feel kinda hollow, incomplete, or just kinda childish. But I think this era coulda also bene better if she had chosen singles wisely.

 

From Witness to 143, none of these albums is completely awful and lack potential. It's the way the chose singles and promote them and the eras in general catalyzes her downfall that no longer seems to be salvageable.

[305]

I actually like both, not entirely but there are some gems in there