Katy Perry - Witness (Gatefold Jacket) (2 LP)

Double vinyl LP pressing. 2017 release, the fourth studio album by pop superstar Katy Perry. Witness includes the singles "Chained to the Rhythm" and "Bon Appétit". In her 10 years with Capitol, she has racked up worldwide sales of more than 40+ million adjusted albums and 125+ million tracks. Prism, her 2013 album, debuted at # 1 in 100 countries and has sold more than 12.5 million adjusted albums worldwide. Katy is the first female artist to earn two RIAA Digital Single Diamond Awards. She is the most-followed person globally on Twitter. Following the release of Prism in 2013 and the end of The Prismatic World Tour in October 2015, Perry told The New York Times in February 2016 that she was in the "research and development phase" of a new album. In February 2017, Perry stated that the album was "definitely a new era for me" and "an era of purposeful pop" she was proud of.

Katy Perry achieved maturation with Prism, the 2013 album anchored on the self-empowerment anthem "Roar" and the club smash "Dark Horse." Considering how "Roar" scored the closing stages of Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, it would've seemed like a logical move for Perry to build upon its adult alternative affirmation but she's instead chosen to use "Dark Horse" as a blueprint for Witness, the long-awaited 2017 successor to Prism. Perhaps Perry shifted her approach after "Rise," the "Roar"-alike written for the 2016 Olympics that she also performed at that year's Democratic National Convention, failed to crack the Top Ten, perhaps she always planned to construct this album with electronic beats and synths, but Witness is so slick with synths it seems slippery. Arriving on the heels of Prism, a record littered with AAA crossover ballads, the dance-heavy Witness feels like a bit of a shock. The album is filled with songs where Perry attempts to address big cultural issues while walking a musical cutting edge. These conflicting desires surface on a tune as effervescent as "Chained to the Rhythm" -- the only track here that could be called that, although "Pendulum" comes close -- and a song as somnolent as "Bigger Than Me," the second of two ballads on the record and the one that addresses the fallout of the 2016 presidential election. Despite some sociological broad strokes, Perry generally keeps her focus personal -- and usually romantic, although "Swish Swish" plays like a swipe at another superstar -- a decision that, when married to aggressive EDM-pop, makes Witness feel very different than Prism. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

• Format: Vinyl
• Released: 9/29/2017
• Genre: Pop

Tracklist