Witness - Katy Perry

...And she's back. One of the biggest female artists of all time, Katy Perry has been a pop superstar ever since she burst onto the scene with I Kissed A Girl back in 2008. But long gone are the days of striking black hair, gummy bears and throwaway bubblegum pop hits. She's drastically changed her image this time around, but will her music have matured as well as her look? Let's take a look! 

See our ratings system below to find out how we rate the tracks fairly!

1 - Shouldn't have been recorded

2 - Filler

3 - Above average

4 - Killer

5 - Career defining masterpiece

Track 01 - Witness

John - 3/5

Tilly - 3/5

Track 02 - Hey Hey Hey

John - 2.5/5

Tilly - 2.5/5

Track 03 - Roulette

John - 3/5

Tilly - 3/5

Track 04 - Swish Swish - [Feat. Nicki Minaj]

John - 3.5/5

Tilly - 3.5/5

Track 05 - Déjá Vu

John - 2.5/5

Tilly - 3/5

Track 06 - Power

John - 2/5

Tilly - 3/5

Track 07 - Mind Maze

John - 2.5/5

Tilly - 2.5/5

Track 08 - Miss You More

John - 3.5/5

Tilly - 3.5/5

Track 09 - Chained To The Rhythm [Feat. Skip Marley]

John - 4/5

Tilly - 4/5

Track 10 - Tsunami

John - 2/5

Tilly - 2/5

Track 11 - Bon Appétit [Feat. Migos]

John - 2/5

Tilly - 2.5/5

Track 12 - Bigger Than Me 

John - 2/5

Tilly - 3/5

Track 13 - Save As Draft

John - 3/5

Tilly - 3/5

Track 14 - Pendulum

John - 2.5/5

Tilly - 2.5/5

Track 15 - Into Me You See

John - 3/5

Tilly - 3.5/5

Conclusion

John - This was so frustrating to listen to, because Chained To The Rhythm was so good. That single made me think that the album would have a heck of a lot of promise. Of course, then Katy Perry released Bon Appetit and those expectations went down drastically. That track, along with Swish Swish, are the standout highlights on the record - not because they are amazing, fantastic songs, but because they stand amongst some really quite bad ones. Whilst Witness is quite a cohesive and well produced listen, there's more than a hint of blandness. But that isn't really due to all of the tracks sounding the same, it's due to none of them (apart from the two aforementioned) showing off anything new.

I thought this was an okay album from Perry but there's nothing new here, despite everybody saying that she has a new sound and image. It's the same old Katy, in a slight disguise. The instrumentals were fairly good, the vocals were okay (for the most part), and the lyrical content was pretty damn awful in places. Having said that, it won't stop me finding myself singing along to it. She still knows how to write a catchy song, and thank the lord she does, because otherwise there wouldn't be many redeeming features here.

Overall Score - 2.5/5

Tilly - This was certainly very different for Perry. Whether or not that is a good thing, I'm still unsure. The singles were definitely the obvious choices as the production on them was far closer to her old sound than a lot of the other songs on Witness. Into Me You See was a non-single highlight, as was Miss You More. Both of them are incredibly emotion-driven tracks, which is what I believe Katy does best. I feel as if Witness was an album that was released to shed her old image, and perhaps not the musical direction she'll take in the long run. I know she's recently said that she wants to be more Katheryn Hudson than the Katy Perry brand she has created, and I do think this is a step in the right direction. With the exception of a couple of songs, it's by far the most mature release she's done. She's in her thirties, she's in control, and from what I can tell she's trying to find herself again. It's not a perfect record, far from it, but it's made me intrigued to see where she's heading. 

Overall Score - 3/5

For Fans Of - Lady Gaga, Madonna (her newer stuff of course) and Halsey