{"id":560175,"date":"2025-11-09T21:54:11","date_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:54:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/560175\/"},"modified":"2025-11-09T21:54:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-09T21:54:11","slug":"katy-perrys-new-song-bandaids-is-not-awful-ill-take-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/560175\/","title":{"rendered":"Katy Perry’s new song ‘Bandaids’ is not awful. I’ll take it"},"content":{"rendered":"

‘Bandaids’ is a perfectly fine pop-rock ballad. Is Katy Perry turning a new leaf? I don’t know, but I’m going to keep my expectations low so I can \u2013 hopefully \u2013 be pleasantly surprised again.<\/p>\n

\"play\"<\/p>\n

Watch zero gravity inside Blue Origin space flight with Katy Perry<\/p>\n

Katy Perry, Gayle King and four other women experienced zero gravity as they reached the edge of space on Blue Origin.<\/p>\n

Last year, I posed the question<\/a>: What would a good Katy Perry song sound like in 2024? That ask came in response to \u201cWoman\u2019s World,\u201d the supposedly cheeky feminist anthem that served as the lead single for her seventh studio album, \u201c143.\u201d<\/a> The song was outdated in sound and subject matter, and it made me wonder if Perry had lost the sauce. The rest of the album didn\u2019t offer any clarity, either.<\/p>\n

She tried to join the house party two summers late<\/a> with \u201cI\u2019M HIS, HE\u2019S MINE\u201d featuring Doechii just before she shot up to rap superstardom. The album\u2019s second single, \u201cLIFETIMES,\u201d sounds ready made for “Love Island” transition scenes with its tepid tropical house production. The rest of the album is quite forgettable, and I\u2019d rather not be reminded.<\/p>\n

Perry\u2019s public life post-\u201d143\u201d has made equally head-scratching choices. She notoriously went to space alongside Gayle King and Lauren Sanchez as part of Jeff Bezos\u2019 space tourism endeavor, Blue Origin. The fight lasted 11 minutes<\/a>, crossed the internationally recognized boundary of space and gave them a few moments of weightlessness.<\/p>\n

Upon her return, Katy Armstrong Perry said the experience made her feel \u201cconnected to love\u201d \u2026 whatever that means. Speaking of love, Perry split from fianc\u00e9 Orlando Bloom in July<\/a> and sparked relationship rumors<\/a> with former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the two were spotted on multiple outings together.<\/p>\n

The randomness of these happenings seems like a perfect source of inspiration for more cringe, lifeless pop dribble. Perhaps an ode to maple syrup or a schmaltzy, inspirational ballad about being among the stars. Instead, Perry goes in the opposite direction \u2013 and finally answers my question.<\/p>\n

Opinion: <\/strong>Katy Perry really went to space. It’s the most Katy Perry thing she’s done yet.<\/a><\/p>\n

The new Katy Perry song is … good?<\/p>\n

When she recently announced a new single, \u201cBandaids<\/a>,\u201d I had no expectations at all. Her recent offerings didn\u2019t exactly give me something to look forward to. If anything, I admired her perseverance; despite the critics dogpiling on every album since 2017\u2019s \u201cWitness,\u201d she never shows signs of slowing down.<\/p>\n

Much to my surprise, \u201cBandaids\u201d is not terrible. I\u2019d even call it good! No wheels are being reinvented \u2013 duh! \u2013 and I\u2019m sure it\u2019ll slide under the radar as one of her better “underrated” songs, but it\u2019s proof that Perry still has some creative gas in the tank. \u201cBandaids\u201d is the best song she\u2019s released this decade and, though the bar is criminally low, it\u2019s an accolade for Perry nonetheless.<\/p>\n

Opinion: <\/strong>Taylor Swift makes her own mythology her muse on ‘Showgirl.’ How boring.<\/a><\/p>\n

What makes \u201cBandaids\u201d so good is that she trades her eye-roll-inducing cheekiness for earnestness as she reckons with her past heartbreaks. It\u2019s a maturity I find better fitting for this era of Katy Perry (\u2122) than the endless \u201cTeenage Dream\u201d nostalgia slop. Perhaps the recent virality of her ballad \u201cThinking of You\u201d<\/a> inspired its pop-rock production.<\/p>\n

Opinion alerts:<\/b> Get columns from your favorite columnists + expert analysis on top issues, delivered straight to your device through the USA TODAY app. Don’t have the app? Download it for free from your app store<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The music video sees Perry in one near-death situation after another, as is the nature of life and heartbreak. It\u2019s also sort of what it\u2019s like to follow this stage of her career and watch her crash and burn, get up, and crash and burn again.<\/p>\n

\u201cBandaids\u201d is an enjoyable pop-rock ballad with a familiar melody. Is Perry turning a new leaf? I don\u2019t know, but I\u2019m going to keep my expectations low so I can \u2013 hopefully \u2013 be pleasantly surprised again.<\/p>\n

Kofi Mframa is a columnist and digital producer for USA TODAY and the USA TODAY Network.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"‘Bandaids’ is a perfectly fine pop-rock ballad. Is Katy Perry turning a new leaf? I don’t know, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":560176,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5311],"tags":[5784,4021,4080,5787,11753,11757,5762,11765,8745,77,15276,12766,133225,6855,15274,1631,15277,10521,3462,5791,269,7629,5488,12,391,11768,11767,7670,5179,5496,15275,11752,11763,3020,711,7626,11759,6928,5181,49,978,659,11758,11770,11769],"class_list":{"0":"post-560175","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"tag-affiliate","9":"tag-arts","10":"tag-celebrities","11":"tag-celebrities-u0026-entertainment-news","12":"tag-center","13":"tag-collection","14":"tag-columnists","15":"tag-columnists-opinions","16":"tag-content","17":"tag-entertainment","18":"tag-gayle","19":"tag-gayle-king","20":"tag-justin","21":"tag-justin-trudeau","22":"tag-katy","23":"tag-katy-perry","24":"tag-king","25":"tag-left","26":"tag-local","27":"tag-local-affiliate-arts-u0026-entertainment","28":"tag-music","29":"tag-music-reference","30":"tag-neutral","31":"tag-news","32":"tag-opinion","33":"tag-opinion-collection","34":"tag-opinion-content","35":"tag-opinions","36":"tag-overall","37":"tag-overall-neutral","38":"tag-perry","39":"tag-politically","40":"tag-politically-center-left","41":"tag-pop","42":"tag-pop-music","43":"tag-reference","44":"tag-sharing","45":"tag-trudeau","46":"tag-u0026","47":"tag-united-states","48":"tag-us","49":"tag-usa","50":"tag-usat","51":"tag-usat-content-sharing-entertainment","52":"tag-usat-content-sharing-opinion"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":"Validation failed: Text character limit of 500 exceeded"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560175","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=560175"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/560175\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/560176"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=560175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=560175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=560175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}