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. Wael
    Jun 11, 2017
    3
    Katy Perry's much anticipated fourth studio album is as disappointing as its two buzz singles 'Bon Appétit' and 'Swish Swish' promised us it would be. It is a hugely flawed record, and it feels like each song suffers from a different type of mistake. While some songs start up real good but fall short the second their chorus hits ('Pendulum', 'Tsunami', 'Roulette'), other songs have veryKaty Perry's much anticipated fourth studio album is as disappointing as its two buzz singles 'Bon Appétit' and 'Swish Swish' promised us it would be. It is a hugely flawed record, and it feels like each song suffers from a different type of mistake. While some songs start up real good but fall short the second their chorus hits ('Pendulum', 'Tsunami', 'Roulette'), other songs have very shallow lyrics, so superficial. they sound like they've been written by a 10-year-old (for example: 'I saw a balloon floating away/ I wondered did someone let go, or did they lose it?' on 'Miss You More'). Next to that, there are tracks that are just full-on annoying ('Mind Maze' comes to mind). KP tries to channel 'Ghost' by singing songs like 'Save As Draft', or tries to end the record with 'Into Me You See' on a similar note to that of 'By the Grace of God', but she just fails to do so. The only aspect remotely close to being very-good on this record is the production that glows from start to finish. Highlights are lead single 'Chained to the Rhythm', and probably the title track 'Witness'.
    The problem is that Perry's still trying to imitate her own work on 2010-pop-perfection-album 'Teenage Dream', but the outcome turns out to be 'Witness': a bunch of un-related non-cohesive wanna-be tracks influenced more by the A-Listers who worked on them, than by Perry herself.
    3/10.    … Expand
  2. chidime
    Jun 9, 2017
    3
    One of the most boring albums I have ever listened to. Only good thing about it is that the instrumentals are, for the most part, interesting. The singing drags on and on, all sounds the same and is not memorable in the least. Even worse, her voice sounds thin and off-tune in many parts. There was hardly a song on this that I wanted to listen to again (or even remembered) after I listenedOne of the most boring albums I have ever listened to. Only good thing about it is that the instrumentals are, for the most part, interesting. The singing drags on and on, all sounds the same and is not memorable in the least. Even worse, her voice sounds thin and off-tune in many parts. There was hardly a song on this that I wanted to listen to again (or even remembered) after I listened to the album. Hard to imagine the same Katy Perry who wrote 'Teenage Dream', 'ET' and all those hits that will probably never leave my head was responsible for this mess. Sad.

    BEST (more like OK): Chained To the Rhythm, Pendulum
    WORST: Swish Swish

    3/10    … Expand
  3. hipnose1
    Jun 10, 2017
    3
    Não sei nem como começar a resenha desse album, muito bem produzido, mas com proposta de nada, apenas para encher os bolsos da gravadora e até mesmo de katy perry, pois temos faixas ótimas no meio de fillers (a grande maioria), e tem mais, o que cada musica tem de propósito?? Nada, apenas o primeiro single deixou uma expectativa que o álbum não entrega. Nota 3, se não fosse a produçãoNão sei nem como começar a resenha desse album, muito bem produzido, mas com proposta de nada, apenas para encher os bolsos da gravadora e até mesmo de katy perry, pois temos faixas ótimas no meio de fillers (a grande maioria), e tem mais, o que cada musica tem de propósito?? Nada, apenas o primeiro single deixou uma expectativa que o álbum não entrega. Nota 3, se não fosse a produção seria 0.… Expand
  4. mat3uus
    Jun 16, 2017
    3
    This album is a hot mess! I love Katy but nothing matches here, the ballads are weak (usually they are wonderful in her albums) and the song that gives title to the album is a failure. The singles are really the highlights of 'Witness', Pendulum and Power are good though. But they seem to not fit in the concept of the album, if there is one.
  5. luixhlima
    Jun 9, 2017
    3
    She grow up as an artist but, she keeps with the same despair to get a #1 hit single, so this era are so messed up. Generic songs & bad sounds. Excited for KP5.
  6. SirFaulty
    Jun 18, 2017
    3
    God this new Katy Perry album is f*&king awful.

    I can see why iTunes music is recommending it to me because I do enjoy the occasional pop album (although I am not generally a fan of these big superstar pop albums because they all sound the same). This album however, is all over the show. There is not a single cohesive thread to the entire thing. Not to mention the lyrics are    God this new Katy Perry album is f*&king awful.

    I can see why iTunes music is recommending it to me because I do enjoy the occasional pop album (although I am not generally a fan of these big superstar pop albums because they all sound the same).

    This album however, is all over the show. There is not a single cohesive thread to the entire thing. Not to mention the lyrics are literally cringe-worthy. Most of this sounds like stuff I heard all the way back in 2007 and it wasn't even particularly good then. Now it's just sad.

    I read somewhere that she had coined this phase of her career as "Purposeful Pop". Well if this is what "Purposeful Pop" sounds like then please pass me the club while I bash its head in.

    If this doesn't sink her career then I don't know what will.    … Expand
  7. spongeswift
    Nov 10, 2017
    3
    Witness is Katy's weakest album to date. Album's like Teenage Dream and Prism were good 7 or 8's but this album is a trainwreck. Instead of the hits that she used to create she decided to do more ballads and they fell flat. Chained To The Rhythm was ok but was it mind blowing? No and Bon Appetit was a disaster, it had a good beat but the lyrics were just cheesy as could be. Katy Perry'sWitness is Katy's weakest album to date. Album's like Teenage Dream and Prism were good 7 or 8's but this album is a trainwreck. Instead of the hits that she used to create she decided to do more ballads and they fell flat. Chained To The Rhythm was ok but was it mind blowing? No and Bon Appetit was a disaster, it had a good beat but the lyrics were just cheesy as could be. Katy Perry's new music was supposed to be bolder and louder but it's cringe worthy songwriting says the opposite. Overall the only decent tracks are Witness and a few others but the majority of this album is just meh.… Expand
  8. Gretusca
    Nov 14, 2017
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Apesar de ter ampliado sua sonoridade em seu novo álbum Witness, Katy Perry não corresponde ao desejo do público em entregar um álbum bem polido e coerente liricamente.
    Músicas como “Power” “Hey Hey Hey” e “Roulette” são músicas que as letras se demonstram tolas e desconexas. Outro fator interessante é que apesar de mudar sua sonoridade e convidar novos produtores para executarem o projeto, ela não soube guiá-los com maestria, gerando faixas algumas vezes densamente produzidas como as citadas anteriormente e outras totalmente entediantes como “Mind Maze”, “Tsunami” e “Miss You More”.
    Katy Perry falha até em sua maior especialidade que é criar faixas com refrões cativantes e catchy mirando o top 40 da rádios americanas, deixando faixas como “Bon Appétit”, outro exemplo de porcaria lírica; e “Swish Swish”, sua mais recente diss track para arqui-inimiga Taylor Swift que não possui uma letra nenhum pouco inteligível, no vácuo e demonstrando que o álbum não segue exatamente nada da proposta que a Ex-Hitmaker havia prometido: “Uma era consciente e com propósito” que a mesma apenas belisca a superfície com a letra aleatória de seu lead single “Chained To The Rhythm”.
    Há essa altura do campeonato, no jogo da Indústria Musical, Katy Perry já deveria ter entregado algo que nos fizéssemos lembrar dela no futuro, mas pelo contrário regrediu e entregou uma bagunça sonora e lírica que faz nós implorarmos pelo retorno de Taylor Swift para quebrar a barreira de homens no mainstream.
    Ela mostrou apenas uma regressão e que era uma artista que mirava em singles passageiros e imemoráveis, que não é nada sem sua antiga equipe de trabalho, que esgotou sua fórmula com Max Martin em nossos ouvidos, que nunca conseguiu entregar um álbum completamente digno sem se esbaldar em fillers e também mostrou que hoje é apenas a sombra do que já foi quando seus singles atingiam o topo das paradas.    … Expand
  9. 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.
  10. Clasire
    Jun 9, 2017
    3
    Boring, i spect more of KP, only the leader single and Swish Swish are better than the full album.
    I hope she do a better album next, because this is just meh.
  11. nroBXL
    Jun 9, 2017
    3
    where's the magic from "prism"? The lyrics are more mature, true. but no real memorable songs on this album. And the UK and US chart performances of the first singles are proving me right.
  12. 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.
  13. turksevend
    Jun 9, 2017
    3
    she has die-hard fans that is why she got +8 user score but we all know this album is cheap and simple even tho her best,of course there are good songs like pendulum,into me you see etc but rest of the songs look like just filler songs to me and i have no idea what was katy thought when she did bon appetit,or swish swish or mind maze..anyway i am giving 3 points because i feel sorry forshe has die-hard fans that is why she got +8 user score but we all know this album is cheap and simple even tho her best,of course there are good songs like pendulum,into me you see etc but rest of the songs look like just filler songs to me and i have no idea what was katy thought when she did bon appetit,or swish swish or mind maze..anyway i am giving 3 points because i feel sorry for you katy i know that you are sad and this album wont cross over +60 metacritic score i know..… Expand
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. PauloRoberto
    Jun 11, 2017
    3
    Esperava mais. Parece que essas músicas são demos ou versões ruins de outras músicas. A mais animada é Roulette. Perry tentou evoluir, mas não foi dessa vez.
  17. DiogoOliveira
    Jun 17, 2017
    3
    Sonoramente poluído e confuso, não tem personalidade e muito menos uma mensagem e um álbum amador pra uma cantora que esta em sua zona de conforto sem astucia para se arrisca ou compor seu próprio álbum.
  18. 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
  19. losterfrowden97
    Jul 7, 2017
    3
    Flat, incoherent, messy, aimless. What is the message here? There is nothing uniquely "Katy Perry" about any of this. I understand growing and changing as an artist with age, but this just sounds like much of the pointless garbage on the radio. This does nothing to seperate her from her peers. And sonically? It's just incredibly annoying.
  20. LeadOxide
    Jan 29, 2018
    3
    Katy has always been more of a singles artist than an albums artist. Her albums have always been carried by the singles. The singles on here are nowhere near as good as on her previous albums, and for the some reason this album is far longer. The result is that this is quite dull and lifeless.
  21. Morguein
    Mar 6, 2018
    3
    Sobre producción, bases electrónicas mal cantadas y elaboradas.... Poco mas se puede decir.

    -Se salvan: Witness, Chained to the rhythm.
  22. SamV1sion
    Mar 8, 2018
    3
    There are hardly any memorable songs and the only ones that are memorable are the singles so the rest of the album is pretty much filler.
  23. victorialiewind
    Sep 20, 2019
    3
    Bye-bye Katy? What have they done to you? Or it's just your fault? I really don't know but the album is totally the worst that I have ever listened. Collaboration with Migos could sound very good but if it was solo by Katy... The lead single gave me some hopes but when album dropped i was shocked.
  24. Icaront
    Aug 27, 2020
    3
    Não me identifiquei com este álbum, não achei tão coeso! A Katy poderia ter seguido a linha teenage dream
  25. miguelcstb
    Mar 14, 2022
    3
    So I know Katy Perry for making a very commercial type of pop, and what we're used to get from her is very different to what she did with this album. You can definitely tell she was experiencing with new sounds, and in my opinion, she experienced a lot. The moment the first song started playing I didn't like the way it sounded. It was weird, with a weird production that also was just tooSo I know Katy Perry for making a very commercial type of pop, and what we're used to get from her is very different to what she did with this album. You can definitely tell she was experiencing with new sounds, and in my opinion, she experienced a lot. The moment the first song started playing I didn't like the way it sounded. It was weird, with a weird production that also was just too much, and this was the case for most of the songs: weird sounds and overproduced tracks. And the thing is that the songs that stand out the most are precisely the singles, so it's like she made those songs on purpose to make the people think "Witness" is a good record when, in my opinion, isn't the case. I'd like to know where she was trying to get with this album.… Expand
  26. 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. :(
  27. joethealien
    Oct 17, 2017
    2
    Witness is a good song, Roulette is a decent attempt at continuing where The Fame-era Gaga left off. otherwise what we have here is vapid and lazy songwriting epitomized. Katy Perry has had a history of inconsistent albums with scant bordering-on-impressive standouts that are intimidated and overshadowed by the most trite lyricism and tired melodies in the rest of her songs.
    nothing here    Witness is a good song, Roulette is a decent attempt at continuing where The Fame-era Gaga left off. otherwise what we have here is vapid and lazy songwriting epitomized. Katy Perry has had a history of inconsistent albums with scant bordering-on-impressive standouts that are intimidated and overshadowed by the most trite lyricism and tired melodies in the rest of her songs.
    nothing here impresses though, and it leaves this as her worst album.    … Expand
  28. 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.
  29. Duvangel
    Jun 14, 2017
    2
    That´s very boring! is just only a second part of Prism, some songs are just crap, nothing on this album are very impresive, maybe just the cover. I'm disappointed with this album.
  30. MusicReviewsUS
    Jun 9, 2017
    2
    4 long years of wait that’s the first thing I can say about this .... didn’t expect much but also didn’t expect it very low we all had heard demos that were liked since last year and even after they are added to the album and it is called like that. The album it self it’s pretty basic only 4-5 songs can be saved from it the rest is just full in songs all sound the same and heavy auto tune4 long years of wait that’s the first thing I can say about this .... didn’t expect much but also didn’t expect it very low we all had heard demos that were liked since last year and even after they are added to the album and it is called like that. The album it self it’s pretty basic only 4-5 songs can be saved from it the rest is just full in songs all sound the same and heavy auto tune also releasing the singles which aren’t that great and all of them with feats wasn’t a good choice you can’t just do it to be integrated to the popular now days you ruined good chances for doing that. For an album that took 4 years to make we expected more and I can’t see any of the songs being a hit.… Expand
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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 »