She was one of the world's biggest pop stars – but her new album has been plagued by controversy and failed singles. Here's why she's stumbled – and what it says about music today. The comeback has a special place in pop culture.
From Judy Garland's career-reviving 1961 concert at Carnegie Hall to Cher's reinvention as a chart-topping dance diva with 1998's Believe, it's a story that never loses its emotional piquancy. There's something moving and even comforting about seeing a great star return to the top, particularly because it doesn't happen every time. For this reason, the narrative's sad flipside – the failed comeback – is every bit as fascinating.
It reminds us that to miss the target is fundamentally human and that nothing in life is guaranteed. This is the prevailing wind that Katy Perry faces today as she releases her seventh album, 143. Its controversial lead single Woman's World stalled at number 63 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 65 in the UK when it arrived in July, while its more anodyne follow-up, Lifetimes, had to settle for a number 15 placing on the less prestigious Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100.
These are crushing results for an artist who has more diamond singles denoting US sales of 10 million units – six – than any female artist bar Rihanna. "Katy Perry is one of the biggest names in pop music, so when these songs didn't cut through, it created an interesting story for the media," says Hugh McIntyre, a music journalist with Forbes. An.