The 39-year-old dropped the video to her new single ‘Woman's World’ on Thursday and was met with waves of criticism. The video depicts Perry and other women doing “traditionally masculine” jobs such as construction work in “revealing outfits”.
Critics did not respond well, as many were quick to call the singer's feminist message “performative” and “shallow”. Many people found the video and song to be an offensive misrepresentation of the feminist movement with one youtube commenter saying: “small writing tip: if your feminist anthem’s first word is “sexy”... reconsider.”
Many were quick to point out the irony that the so -called feminist-anthem was co-written and co-produced by Dr. Luke.
Dr. Luke was accused of emotionally, physically and sexually abusing his former protégé Kesha over a period of 10 years. The singer sued Dr.Luke in 2014 but the case was eventually settled with no conviction or admission of guilt from the producer.
The California Girls singer took to Instagram and X to explain that the video was completely satire. The caption wrote “YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! EVEN SATIRE”
The video opens with Perry in her construction worker outfit from the video shouting phrases like “Girlboss sh*t! You can do it! You go girl!”
She then breaks character to explain the real intentions behind the track and its music video. “We’re kind of just having fun, being a bit sarcastic with it. It’s very slapstick and very on the nose.”
She continues saying ”it’s like, ‘Oooh, we’re not about the male gaze but we really are about the male gaze, and we’re really overplaying it and on the nose because I’m about to get smashed which is like a reset for me, and a reset for my idea of feminine divine, and it’s a whole different world we go to after this.”
“We wanted to open this video making it look like a super high gloss pop star video, and that’s what it is,” the music star concluded.
The video seems to be poking fun at a phenomenon the internet has dubbed “girlboss feminism”. A movement to empower women by saying “you can do anything” without addressing the structures in place that may prevent women from achieving the same success as men.
The post received mixed reactions with some users saying the clarification came a little too late. Many other users praised Perry for her supposed parody.
You can watch Perry’s music video here:
