“Smile” often feels like testing a few different concepts about how Perry’s music may sound in the future, once she accepts that she’s no longer chasing world dominant hits. The sweet, compelling closer to “What Makes a Woman” offers one possibility, while the appealing, guitar-driven beach doll of “Tucked” offers a more familiar.
At its lowest point, however, “Smile” still feels attached to the cold, steely, semi-desperate radio-hunting aesthetic of “Witness.” The acclaimed anthem “Not the End of the World” shakes through several different expensive shot hooks (an interpolation of “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye”, a years-long nod to Drake’s “What a Time to Be Alive”), but none of has click. There are also two (consecutive!) Songs about the well-worn pop tableau of crying on the dance floor, and while one (“Teary Eyes”) is better than the other (“Cry About It Later”), there would be zero have met. “Harleys in Hawaii” and “Champagne Problems” make it not rich, famous and in love sound particularly relatable, as interesting.
However, the most surprising strength of “Smile” is the way it goes back to the early days of Perry’s recording career. Years before she became Katy Perry, 16-year-old Katy Hudson released an anxious but ecstatic Christian rock record – remember alanis 90s, she had directed her songs to Christ instead of Dave Coulier. While “Smile” lacks that alt-rock edge, the deepest felt material has a well-known devotional quality about it. “I’m elastic, born to be brilliant,” she sings with soulful conviction on “Resilient,” a reunion with her “Firework” producers Stargate. On the title track, she states that “rejection can be God’s protection.”
Most striking, however, is the Amy Grant-style gospel doll from the penultimate track, “Only Love.” On top of open-hearted keyboard chords, Perry, a new mom, extends an olive branch to her parents: “If I had nothing to lose, I would call my mom and tell her I’m sorry,” she sings. “I would pour my heart and soul into a letter and send it to my father.”
Their version of faith may look different than theirs, but Perry sounds like she has not given up looking for a power greater than herself. In these moments, however fleeting, she seems to have finally figured out what “purposeful pop” actually means to her.
Katy Perry
“Laugh”
(Capitol)
