• Katy Perry’s comeback has been hit by controversy after controversy.
• It started with “Woman’s World,” the first single off her new album “143,” being widely ridiculed.
• Here’s a brief timeline of all the major controversies surrounding her career relaunch.

Katy Perry can’t seem to avoid controversy as she relaunches her singing career.

Perry’s upcoming album, “143,” was supposed to mark her return to the top of the pop industry after her last two albums failed to resonate.

But, fans and critics have mocked and criticized Perry’s offerings from the album so far.

Eric Schiffer, a PR expert and chairman of Reputation Management Consultants, told Business Insider last week that Perry is in “a career crisis” thanks to the negative attention she has received.

A representative for Perry did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.

Here’s a timeline of Perry’s disastrous career comeback.

June 17, 2024: Fans mock the first snippet of “Woman’s World.”

On June 17, Perry teased “Woman’s World,” the first single off her new album, by releasing cover art and a snippet of the song.

Fans mocked the song’s lyrics on social media, saying they sounded dated and like AI had written them.

Others criticized the cover art, accusing Perry of clumsily imitating the aesthetic of buzzy musicians like Charli XCX to appeal to Gen Z.

June: Fans are upset that Perry is working with Dr. Luke again.

Soon after Perry released the teaser for “Woman’s World,” fans discovered the controversial producer Dr. Luke cowrote and coproduced it. This was the first time Perry had worked with him since 2013, before her career slump.

Kesha sued Dr. Luke in 2014 for sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Dr. Luke has denied the claims, and the pair came to an undisclosed settlement in June 2023.

Fans were disappointed by Perry’s decision to work with him on her singles “Woman’s World,” which has feminist themes, and “Lifetimes.”

Perry has not addressed the criticism.

July 12: Perry releases “Woman’s World,” and it’s trashed.

Despite all the criticism, Perry released “Woman’s World” and a music video for it on July 12.

Fans and critics immediately criticized the full song and the chaotic music video, where Perry plays a hyper-sexualized version of Rosie the Riveter that gets crushed by an anvil and a sexy half-cyborg that drives around town in a monster truck.

A day after the video was released, Perry released a behind-the-scenes clip on X in which she explained that the video was satirical, but fans were not buying it.

As Business Insider’s senior music reporter Callie Ahlgrim wrote in her review of the song last month: “Satire only works when it has something to say, and there isn’t a shred of complexity, self-awareness, or cultural analysis in lyrics like, ‘She’s a flower, she’s a thorn / Superhuman, No. 1 / She’s a sister, she’s a mother.'”

August 9: Perry releases the second single and music video from “143,” “Lifetimes.”

Perry powered through the backlash to “Woman’s World” and released the second single and music video from “143,” called “Lifetimes.”

In the video, Perry flies to the Spanish Balearic islands of Ibiza and Formentera to party.

Fans said the song was better than “Woman’s World” and should have been Perry’s first single. But they still failed to generate much of a buzz.

August 13: Spanish authorities investigate the production company behind the “Lifetimes” video.

In a press release published on Tuesday, a representative for the Natural Environment department of the Balearic Islands said that Perry’s production company did not get the correct authorization for filming part of the “Lifetimes” video in Ses Salines Natural Park.

The park is a protected area, meaning permission must be sought before it can be filmed for commercial purposes.

The department also shut down rumors that they were investigating the production company for damaging the environment.

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