Witness
by Katy Perry
  • Record Label: Capitol
  • Release Date: Jun 9, 2017
User Score
7.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 3037 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2,112 out of 3037
  2. Mixed: 289 out of 3037
  3. Negative: 636 out of 3037
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  1. RosieWood
    Nov 5, 2021
    0
    I am not a fan of this kinda music but Kety Perry is my favorite singer of this style , I also like to write eview o my fav music albums . Some of them I ordered on essays writer https://essays-writer.net/
  2. MadonnaFan
    Nov 25, 2021
    0
    Pior álbum que já ouvi na vida. Essa fracassada morreu quando separou daquele produtor bandido!
  3. Rumours
    Nov 24, 2021
    0
    One of the worst albums ever released on this planet. Pure trash, Katy’s over.
  4. wallacejdiniz
    Nov 24, 2021
    0
    Terrible. No passion, no soul. Worst album of the year. I need something really good to clean up my ears right now.
  5. iPhone
    Nov 22, 2017
    0
    It's quite a good album, although the songs are pretty similar to each other and repetitive. I don't hate any of the songs, but I'm not in love with many of them.
  6. Segundoleo26
    Nov 23, 2021
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. "Witness is an album full of bizarre choices--both the DJ Mustard and Hot Chip-produced tracks are, for some reason, ballads--that has the inherent appeal of a spectacular failure, but that’s about it." ...… Expand
  7. BlownSpeakers
    Jun 21, 2017
    3
    With an average Metascore of 53, it’s safe to say that mega pop star, Katy Perry, has never enjoyed the best of reviews. But what do reviews matter when you’ve already made millions off songs like “Firework,” “Dark Horse,” and “I Kissed A Girl?” I have no idea; but seeing the especially awful reviews for her latest release, Witness, I was intrigued. I figured the critics and fans wereWith an average Metascore of 53, it’s safe to say that mega pop star, Katy Perry, has never enjoyed the best of reviews. But what do reviews matter when you’ve already made millions off songs like “Firework,” “Dark Horse,” and “I Kissed A Girl?” I have no idea; but seeing the especially awful reviews for her latest release, Witness, I was intrigued. I figured the critics and fans were reacting more to her new Trash-Bag-Miley-Cyrus look than her new music, but boy was I wrong. Dead wrong.

    The album gets off to a decent enough start with “Witness,” a song whose dance music isn’t anything special, but its chorus is catchy enough for me to be singing it loud enough in my head that I forget my order at Burger King. “Hey Hey Hey” is more memorable with its growling synths, creating a unique contrast to Perry’s sweet voice. The track finds the singer doing a bit of bragging- her money situation is ridiculous, she’s strong and independent. Basically, she’s a bad **** She continues the braggadocios delivery “Swish Swish," a confirmed Taylor Swift diss track. Overall, Perry takes some nice shots (Yeezy would be proud) and Nicki Minaj closes out the track in typical Nicki Minaj fashion- flexing on haters while switching deliveries/voices several times over. Is the track dumb? Yes. Is it a lot of fun? Absolutely.

    Then the album completely dies.

    In classic pop album fashion, this record is front loaded like a mother. After the first four songs, all the effort the album puts in to convey Perry’s strength as an independent woman is deconstructed by a series of sappy love songs that harp on unrequited romance and “what if” scenarios. The sparkling turd in this pile is “Miss You More.” It dials up the cringe to 11 as Perry exclaims in the chorus, “I missed you more than I loved you.” Everyone’s experienced puppy love before, but no one wants to talk about it, let alone hear a 3 minute song about it.

    In addition to the smh-love-songs, there’s some “party anthems” (“Chained To The Rhythm”) that are about as energetic as Chris Cornell’s corpse and sex songs that fail to titillate (“Bon Appétit”). Not to forget, all of this “fresh” material is delivered to you, the listener, courtesy of some lukewarm club music.

    If you really want to get some joy out of this album, listen to it for the hilariously awful metaphors/analogies that litter the album’s lyrics. Let’s check some out-

    You’ve got me spread like a buffet (“Bon Appétit”)
    I take a deep breath and save as draft (“Save as Draft”)
    You came in like a sailor with your heart that anchored me (“Into Me You See”)
    Life’s a pendulum/It all comes back around (“Pendulum”)
    The entirety of “Tsunami”

    There's loads more, but I'd like to close this out with one of my own-

    Reviewing Katy Perry is like trying to make love to a Hoover Vacuum Cleaner, it sucks.    … Expand
  8. Prisila
    Nov 25, 2021
    0
    This album doesn't go anywhere. A festival of bad taste, a homophobia show with prejudiced partnerships. It was on this album that she went off the rails to never come back.
  9. tsarouhas
    Jun 14, 2017
    1
    Most of the songs in this album are total trash with no sense of rhythm, definitely not music you can dance to. The only one worth listening to is the collab with Nicki, and that's because the beat is awesome and she slays her part. Very disappointed by her new music, hope she gets back to making good pop hits
  10. kazerike
    Jun 13, 2017
    0
    The worst album of Katy Perry's career. It is disappointing an album that begins with a slight footprint in the title track, witness, go falling while listening to the others. The generic instruments and lack of concept in the album make anyone give up listening to it until the end.
  11. EmanueleBerton
    Jun 20, 2017
    3
    Her worst album. Katy Perry lost her soul in this work, i can't feel her. Prsim was even more mature. I don't think if she's going to sell again like she did before.
  12. TheCriticReview
    Nov 17, 2017
    0
    The worst album of Katy Perry's career. It is disappointing an album that begins with a slight footprint in the title track, witness, go falling while listening to the others. The generic instruments and lack of concept in the album make anyone give up listening to it until the end. I'm shocked that people are giving this heap of steaming dog crap 10 stars reviews. I suspect that most ofThe worst album of Katy Perry's career. It is disappointing an album that begins with a slight footprint in the title track, witness, go falling while listening to the others. The generic instruments and lack of concept in the album make anyone give up listening to it until the end. I'm shocked that people are giving this heap of steaming dog crap 10 stars reviews. I suspect that most of them are teenage Katy Perry stalker fans because this album is embarrassingly bad, especially after the way it was hyped up. I'm still confused as to why any artist would make a grandiose announcement claiming that they will be releasing purposeful music, and then come out with a song like "Bon Appetit". Seriously? I can't even listen to the whole song because my head hurts from face-palming so much. Personally, I barely made it through this album. I found the songs to be, for the most part, boring, and the lyrics nothing short of cringe-worthy. I honestly feel like a middle school student could write better lyrics, and that's just sad knowing that there was an entire team of people working on this album. I think there was 1 song that didn't make me want to jump out of a window: Into Me You See. The rest seems over-produced and I agree with other reviewers who said it doesn't seem like Katy believes the words she is singing. I'm glad I didn't spend any money on this album, as there are other artists making much better music right now. This fell very short for me.… Expand
  13. nastolfi
    Jun 14, 2017
    0
    I'm shocked that people are giving this heap of steaming dog crap 10 star reviews. I suspect that most of them are teenage Katy Perry stalker fans because this album is embarrassingly bad, especially after the way it was hyped up. I'm still confused as to why any artist would make a grandiose announcement claiming that they will be releasing purposeful music, and then come out with aI'm shocked that people are giving this heap of steaming dog crap 10 star reviews. I suspect that most of them are teenage Katy Perry stalker fans because this album is embarrassingly bad, especially after the way it was hyped up. I'm still confused as to why any artist would make a grandiose announcement claiming that they will be releasing purposeful music, and then come out with a song like "Bon Appetit". Seriously? I can't even listen to the whole song because my head hurts from face-palming so much. Personally, I barely made it through this album. I found the songs to be, for the most part, boring, and the lyrics nothing short of cringe-worthy. I honestly feel like a middle school student could write better lyrics, and that's just sad knowing that there was an entire team of people working on this album. I think there was 1 song that didn't make me want to jump out of a window: Into Me You See. The rest seems over-produced and I agree with other reviewers who said it doesn't seem like Katy believes the words she is singing. I'm glad I didn't spend any money on this album, as there are other artists making much better music right now. This fell very short for me.… Expand
  14. romanthecount
    Jun 17, 2017
    0
    This album is awful. The worst one of the year. Katy's albums were always disgusting, but **** is the best example of tastelessness. Trasherina forever!
  15. ronalortiz
    Jul 1, 2017
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. i really dont like this album, is so very bad The rhythms are horrible, is it better Teenage Dream than this ****, is better all that this reaaaaaally… Expand
  16. art2503
    Jun 9, 2017
    2
    This album is not consistent. Every song is almost similar to each other. What is worse, autotune is everywhere here. And there is a lack of hits simply!
    After "Chained to the Rhythm", only "Witness" and "Roulette" are worth listening to.

    Despite all, I cannot recommend you this album, sorry! It is a waste of time.
  17. Ultraviolenxe
    Jun 16, 2017
    0
    This is Katy's worst album to date. Every song sounds the same, and the production is lifeless. There isn't one song that can be a single, and she isn't challenging herself yet again. It's just the same old same old mediocre Katy.
  18. Oswa_Neria
    Jun 9, 2017
    1
    Si es un álbum con nuevos sonidos, sin embargo son sonidos que ya han sonado anteriormente. No creo que haya valido la espera por 4 años. Ella pudo haber hecho un mejor trabajo como lo hizo anteriormente.
  19. nels64
    Jun 9, 2017
    3
    Okay how are so many people giving this a 10. Also a "comeback"? where did Katy Perry go? I don't recall her leaving. I'm sorry but this album is awful from start to finish. You can tell her previous work was heavily co-authored by Dr. Luke. I don't know how her first two albums have such low scores. They were thoroughly enjoyable, but this album is quite terrible. Every song sounds theOkay how are so many people giving this a 10. Also a "comeback"? where did Katy Perry go? I don't recall her leaving. I'm sorry but this album is awful from start to finish. You can tell her previous work was heavily co-authored by Dr. Luke. I don't know how her first two albums have such low scores. They were thoroughly enjoyable, but this album is quite terrible. Every song sounds the same. They're overproduced but at the same time unfinished. The direction is all over the place and the lyrics are borderline ridiculous.… Expand
  20. 0m4rr0j4s
    Jun 9, 2017
    0
    Worst change of style. This era is so messed up. Generic songs & bad sounds. Bad lyrics and also she did not succeed with this new style. I cannot recommend you this album, sorry! It is a waste of time.
  21. beizxzx
    Jun 9, 2017
    3
    Didn´t really like the album it was lacking sounds, it sounds the same.
    really boring and not fun to listen to at all.
    i was hopping better from her this time but failed
  22. vgmkyle
    Jun 9, 2017
    2
    What can I say, for the first time as a fan I'm pretty disappointed. The writing isn't nearly as good as Prism, it's not as sexy as Teenage Dream. If anything the album art lets you know how weird it is in advance. :(
  23. degaspaaark
    Jun 9, 2017
    0
    Overall this album is lackluster. It's definitely pop, but her attempt to make it purposeful falls short. Due to the entirety of the album suffering from underwhelming writing I can't find a pulse. Although, the production for her lead single "Chained to the Rhythm" strikes a groove for a split second but dissipates as her guest drudges through. Other than that, the rest of the tracks areOverall this album is lackluster. It's definitely pop, but her attempt to make it purposeful falls short. Due to the entirety of the album suffering from underwhelming writing I can't find a pulse. Although, the production for her lead single "Chained to the Rhythm" strikes a groove for a split second but dissipates as her guest drudges through. Other than that, the rest of the tracks are quite unpleasant and unambitious. It needs some of her old flair from the previous albums, or at least a concept that will work in her favor. In a sentence, this album is too dense and dreary to accomplish what should be the best pop album this year.… Expand
  24. qming
    Jun 9, 2017
    0
    Total trash,Katy Perry is flop now.All I can say is very disappointed.These songs are horrible,and she should stop talking about her feud with taylor swift,people are very tired now,continue selling your shoes katy.
  25. andres6
    Jun 9, 2017
    0
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Katy decepcionó con éste álbum, ella dice ser "una nueva Katy", pero veo lo mismo de siempre, el álbum tiene muchos samples y se notan mucho, los ritmos no son tan buenos y su Auto-tune se diferencia mucho. Uno de los peores álbumes de Katy Perry.… Expand
  26. Noor_
    Jun 9, 2017
    1
    A very weak album, some tracks are really good while most of the album is rubbish, the lyrics are embarrassing, the vocals are weak/low and so many of the song sounded the same with flat instrumentals that i can't tell which one is which, the concept of the album she described is not there on the album much
  27. DangerousGagz
    Jun 9, 2017
    3
    The album is so weak compared to Katy's other. Swish Swish was a cringiest dis-track i've ever head. I love Katy but this album is really something. It's different i agree, but in a terrible way.
  28. TheGerm
    Jun 9, 2017
    0
    It's definitely her weakest album. Its a compilation of forgettable and overproduced songs. It's not even cohesive. I didn't even hear or feel the "purposeful pop". Mind Maze was the most disappointing, like really?! Auto-tune??!
  29. JoyBs
    Jun 9, 2017
    1
    Only a few songs are good. Katy Perry has made better songs. Very silly lyrics, anyway, I wish you the best, but this album is not so good. Sorry to talk.
  30. girzahoy
    Jun 9, 2017
    0
    Sorry but can we get our money back? I thought she would come with a strong album and woke songs but I was wrong. Just a normal generic pop album with no special things. 10 Pop songs and a couple of ballads. Yeah, I guess I'm witnessing her career to die.
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Awards & Rankings

1
#1 Most Discussed Album of 2017
4
#4 Most Shared Album of 2017

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
53

Mixed or average reviews - based on 20 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 20
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 20
  3. Negative: 2 out of 20
  1. The Line of Best Fit
    Aug 13, 2020
    75
    While it's certainly missing any form of coherency, Witness does feel like you're growing with Perry - going on this journey that's helped her find new ground and a reinvigorated appreciation for all walks of the pop music spectrum.
    Read full review
  2. Prefix Magazine
    Jul 6, 2017
    70
    While she may have slipped down the pecking order, Witness proves she’s still a more interesting pop star than she’s often given credit for.
    Read full review
  3. Drowned In Sound
    Jun 28, 2017
    50
    It’s a real shame Witness has come out as a bit of a disjointed mess, as there’s a decent record somewhere in there, but it gets lost in the fog of endless guest productions and co-writes that miss the point entirely.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »