6th November 2023
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So, it’s been a week since Katy Perry’s surprisingly dark comedic single bandaids was released, debuting on November 6th 7pm ET and 4pm PT. It was initially teased in September 22nd via 1 photo of Perry with bloody scratches on her nose, cheeks and forehead but was more explicitly revealed on November 5th. This displayed several counts of Katy being fatally injured, such as her hand down a garbage disposal, deliberately sawing off a tree branch she was sat on and tripping and falling back into an escalator. She was also electrocuted and withstood shards of glass from a café explosion, alongside a log piercing her windshield; this culminated in Perry smoking a cigarette and a huge gas station explosion.
Safe to say, this shift away from her more empowering tone of 143 is a welcome change, feeling much more authentic and associated with the chaotic, hyperbolic energy of her older music such as Hot N Cold, One Of The Boys, and Hummingbird Heartbeat. Out of all her previous music, I would say this feels like a part 2 to 2008’s Self Inflicted, offering a more modern auditory remix whilst paralleled with the theme of the self-saboteur persona (however, this was made back when she and her partner were infatuated with one another).
During an interview with Apple Music, Perry defined 143 as having 3 personas: the “quintessential [Katy] with empowerment [and uplifting] messages”, containing “real dance” and feeling “real rhythmic” (5:18- 5:28). Zane Lowe added a 4th persona, that being “this new found love and joy and discovery and experience of loving something more than yourself” (5:34-5:47); through this insight, Katy describes 143 as more of a “dance pop record” (6:12-6:24), amplifying the pop conventions she is renowned for with more choreography.
While I do admire Perry’s attempts to reinvent herself and embrace a more ‘boppy’ vibe, I think lows such as Woman’s World, Lifetimes, Wonder and Crush taint the quality of highs such as All the Love, Gorgeous and Nirvana. Even though Woman’s World is a guilty pleasure of mine, it feels far more postfeminist in its representation, which isn’t a good thing; we can see this in imagery such as a close-up of her wearing a patriotic star-shaped bra (0:41), holding the drill like a gun with her back arched (0:45), extreme close-up of her breasts colliding (0:46-0:47), stroking her upper body (0:50-0:51), and letting whiskey titled ‘Whiskey for Women’ drip down her exposed chest (0:52).
There is also the medium shot of a blonde pregnant woman holding her chest (1:30; this reflects Andrew Goodwin’s convention of musical lyrics amplifying the scene, via the blue blanket and white clothing symbolising “feminine divine”). Additionally, the exhibition of Katy’s cyber-bikini outfit (1:35) and a close-up of Perry sticking a gas pump’s suction tube in her buttocks (1:42-1:45). Yikes.
What we can learn from analysing Woman’s World?
This amalgamation in my opinion promotes regressive views on female representation, with the global consensus being that this song heavily conforms to the male gaze through inviting scopophilia and a sense of voyeurism. Although I recognise it was a satirical outlook on gender norms by being “very slapstick and on the nose”, which was intended to be uplifting – evident via the declarative “It’s a woman’s world and you’re lucky to be living in it” – I don’t think us fans are lucky to have this song, especially her female demographic; it is a shame too, as she recognises how her prior songs of Firework and Roar act as inspiration pieces for audiences.
There is a clear dichotomy of empowering lyricism and sexualised visuals. However, the clearest example of this forced messaging is actually embedded within the video when Katy steals a ring light from another woman (containing the iconography of the female gender) and flies off, arguably promoting Alvarado’s idea of racial pity due to the woman’s identity as an ethnic minority.
What makes it worse is the involvement of producer Dr Luke, who faced a sexual abuse lawsuit against Kesha in 2014 “in a bid to be released from her contract”, contradicting this attempt to provide contemporary female depictions. This positive face-threatening act incited the #FreeKesha social media campaign, with Kesha’s attorney stating “This lawsuit is a wholehearted effort by Kesha to regain control of her music career and her personal freedom after suffering for 10 years as a victim of mental manipulation, emotional abuse and sexual assault at the hands of Dr. Luke”.
bandaids doesn’t suffer from these same controversies, instead serving as a simple yet effective breakup song which embraces the macabre and reflects “emotional self-sabotage”. To understand the song’s subtext, we must identify her separation with reputable actor Orlando Bloom, with representatives informing DailyMail.com that “Orlando and Katy have been shifting their relationship over the past many months to focus on co-parenting. They will continue to be seen together as a family, as their shared priority is — and always will be — raising their daughter with love, stability, and mutual respect”.
The separation was officially publicised in summer 2024, with Perry remarking on 9th November that she “struggled for months with the idea of putting this song out” and that “even after all these years it can be scary to be vulnerable”. Her hope is that the song’s lyrics “resonate with someone going through what [she has] been through and maybe they won’t feel so alone and will find the strength to keep going like” she has.
Let us deconstruct the music video.
The video begins in a typical suburban house, with Katy reflecting performative femininity via the gesture code of rinsing out plates in the sink. This idea of feminine purity is reinforced by the dominant white colour palette, symbolising innocence and virtue. There is a cut to her spraying sanitizer onto the scrub when a golden ring falls down into the garbage disposal, amplified by the echo and serving as an action/proairetic code.
A low angle POV shot from the disposal is used to show Katy overlooking it, where she responds appropriately via the expletive “Shit”. This offers a light humorous tone and relatability to individuals who may have experienced similar circumstances; this also challenges Lakoff’s genderlects by conveying “strong expression of feeling” through crude lexis. The song’s melody then fades in via an ambient synth pad as she reaches her hand downwards, with a sharp cut to a medium shot of Perry (supplemented by the banging of drums).
She then offers an almost religious confession via the kinaesthetic imagery of “Hand to God” that she “promised” and “tried”; these past stative verbs reinforce her past commitments and how dedicated she was to the relationship, with this biblical declaration almost an attempt to sustain the purity she has constructed within her lifestyle (this more vulnerable tone juxtaposes her arrogant persona conveyed within Woman’s World via her declarative “I’m Katy Perry” | 2:43-2:48).
Katy then continues this figurative path to redemption via her idiom “There’s no stone left unturned”, meaning she has made every effort to find a solution and presenting her as pragmatic. This is interspersed with her hand down the disposal, perhaps inferring that she has nothing left to lose as she is out of options.
After, Katy states that “it’s not what you did, it’s what you didn’t” and that “you were there but you weren’t”, with this melancholic deixis depicting Katy’s partner as being emotionally reserved and shallow. The euphemisms indicate to us as viewers that Katy has had time to reflect on the relationship and is willing to express her views but isn’t trying to come across as accusatory and hostile. This maintains the cultivated representation of her as humble and modest.
The plates then knock over and the wooden spoon falls, triggering the disposal mechanism, grinding her hand up. We can see through her shocked facial expressions, blood splatter and screaming the first of many accidents she will endure, perhaps serving as a hyperbolic allegory for her fractured relationship and its demise.
Moving on, the next scene takes place on a tree branch, with Katy using a saw to separate the connection, perhaps metaphorically sublimating her romantic frustrations over the relationship’s failure into an attempt to gain catharsis. She states how she “got so used to you letting me down”, with the idiom “letting me down” highlighting how disappointing of a partner he was for Katy that she became accustomed to it.
Additionally, this may also foreshadow her eventual downward fall from the branch, symbolising her inability to successfully move on without hurting herself. She then asserts how there is “no use trying to send flowers now”, with the idea of Katy rejecting the “send[ing] [of] flowers” almost in a way rejecting performative femininity. In a more bleak sense, it could suggest that their relationship shouldn’t be mourned, as it was an abrupt termination rather than a mutual decision.
Next, we can see Katy’s inner turmoil via how she is “telling [herself] you’ll change” but that “you won’t”, evincing that while she wants to believe her partner can undergo some sort of transformation, the idea would be in vain. From a feminist perspective, this could reinforce patriarchally internalised norms via her attempt to gaslight herself into maintaining patriarchal dominance. But, she chooses to fight against it through her realisation that her partner won’t change.
She culminates her self-reassurance by stating how she will mend herself through “bandaids over a broken heart”, connoting that she is on a path to self-recovery but isn’t immune to emotional instability. This exploration of the heart corresponds with her pre-chorus within Self Inflicted, where she remarks how “Every bone’s been broken but my heart’s still wide open”. That song tackled Katy apprehending a lover who she knew was problematic for her and how she mitigates it; this song is her attempt to reflect on the experience of heartbreak, but this time she does care if she “lose[s]”, instead mending the damage imposed onto her via “bandaids”.
This high angle long shot of Katy makes her feel distant with the audience, perhaps isolating her emotional pain and enforcing her powerlessness. We can see this through the symbolism of the downward escalator, perhaps insinuating that she is on a downward spiral and unable to combat her duress. This is reinforced by her stating how she “tried all the medications”. The past stative verb of “tried” reinforces her initial proclamation at the start of the video, appealing to the viewer’s pathos. Moreover, the medical jargon of “medications” appeals to the viewer’s ethos by deeming Katy as a credible individual who has been inflicted with an emotional pain and reinforcing the motif of healing within the song.
She then remarks how she “lowered [her] expectations”, perhaps inferred via the iconography of a teddy bear within her red Mini So bag; in a way, Katy has mentally regressed to obtain a sense of purity by tapping into her youth. This idea of regression is evident within the song through its vibe being much closer to classic Katy hits. Ironically, the bag contains the tagline “Life is for fun”, almost mocking Katy’s sorrow and reflecting the song’s postmodernism.
We are then provided with a close up of Katy’s blue sneakers, with her right sneaker containing a loose lace, perhaps subliminally representing the loose ties she has to her partner that she is unwilling to suppress. Katy then declares how she “made every justification”, reinforcing these patriarchal standards of women via absorbing emotional labour from their male counterparts (we can see this within Jean Duncombe and Dennis Marsden’s article Love and Intimacy from 1993, determining that women in longer relationships with men had “been forced to build an emotional life apart from their husbands”). In Perry’s scenario, this is her being forced to construct an emotional life apart from her partner.
After, Perry uses the graphic asyndetic listing of “bleeding out, bleeding out, bleeding out slow”, with the triple epizeuxis of “bleeding out” connoting that she is forced to suffer in a prolonged state of suffering; this triadic structure could also be a subtle linguistic allusion to the triple shift, with Katy being bled dry from employment, domestic labour and emotional work. She then reiterates how she will apply “bandaids over a broken heart”, inferring that she will persevere, despite the trials and tribulations she faces.
We are then given a medium shot of Katy being dragged into the escalator slowly whilst displaying exaggerated shocked facial expressions, offering a comedic value through irony. This ‘death’ feels very inspired by The Final Destination (2009), where the main female nearly falls into an exposed escalator mechanism (1:43), offering a form of intertextuality to widen audience appeal.
The next scene takes place in what we can presume is outside the shopping mal, aptly titled “Light and Love Crystals”. This mention of crystals could be a reference to Katy’s spirituality – evident via the prior album’s title 143 signposting her angel number. This could be advising her to have a positive outlook on her life (however, the lack of numbers in this case could suggest a more harsh reality, suggesting she lacks a full vision in where her future lies). There is also within the left of the frame a black Tesla, with a male driver; the slight obscurity of the individual and the vehicle’s ability for autonomous driving could reinforce this tone of despair.
This is done by perhaps hinting at the technological singularity, implying that the things we take for granted are easily replaceable by digital counterparts; we can see this in terms of love via AI chatbots – such as Rizz AI and Nomi -, perhaps suggesting that artificial intelligence will jeopardise raw connections between human beings in favour of superficial discussions. Moreover, black serves as a semantic code of death, reinforcing the motif of transition through comparisons between romantic passion and passing away.
After, the Tesla drives off whilst connected to the pump, ripping the wire and causing an electrical spark. The wire falls onto a puddle, where we are given a medium shot of Katy’s reflection as the blue sparks continue to emit. Katy continues her vocals into the 2nd verse by recognising that “On the bright side, we had good times”, reigniting that initial pragmatism she held at the start of the song. However, we as viewers can see the emergence of true emotional self-sabotage, Katy once again trapped in the cycle of making another “justification” for her partner’s actions.
The use of slow-motion and the diegetic sound of her being electrocuted offers a profound visual experience, strengthened by a close up of Katy as she looks up in shock as the sparks circle her. This offers a better look at her necklace, written in a curved sans-serif font titled “Katheryn”, supporting Dyer’s idea of star power being exerted via a constructed public persona. While of course any person in the public eye conveys ideology in different ways, I do think Katy successfully represents herself in a positive and authentic way (although this is up to debate depending on who you ask); we can see this meta self-recognition via her comment of how she “never faked [their] pictures”.
The following scene shows a horizontal tracking shot of what we can assume are a couple (shown by holding hands) leaving the café, with the camera showcasing a lone Katy – covered in bloody scratches on her arms and face – alongside a croissant and a drink. The iconography of a French culinary delight could be a subtle allusion to the dominant ideology of France, specifically Paris being the city of love.
This multiculturalist approach fortifies how much Katy has romanticised the separation, almost a form of dissociation from who she is now in the present. She then recalls the relationship and how they “were perfect, til [they] weren’t”, hinting at some sort of breaking point for their love that shifted the dynamic (the base adjective “perfect” likely exaggerates the romance, as we can guess from the criticisms of Katy’s partner that these flaws were brought to the surface rather than developing as new traits).
Katy then affirms how they’ve “got too many splinters”, with this analogy continuing to dissect the physical toll this is having on her, to the point where the relationship she had with her partner has become hostile. The video then cuts to construction workers attempting to land something (it is initially hidden from view, generating enigma codes), with the man’s frustration outside of the vehicle highlighting the failure. It then cuts to a long establishing shot of a wrecking ball crashing into the window of Crumb Café, interjected with slow-motion to keep a cinematic edge.
The camera then quickly zooms in as the CGI of glass shards surround Katy, with a fresh cut on her nose from the impact. This accident feels like a mashup of The Final Destination (2009; set in a coffee shop) and Final Destination (2000; ends in a French café), with the use of shattering glass perhaps an homage to Tim Carpenter’s death via a glass pane in Final Destination 2 (2003). Watch these scenes at your own discretion.
After, Katy is found in a car, attempting to recalibrate her GPS but to no avail. Because of this, she loses vision of the cars in front of her, causing her to drive into oncoming traffic and swerve to safety. We are then treated with a centrally aligned close up of Katy behind the wheel, with tears in her eyes as she states “It’s not that complicated, to ask me how my day is”. This reinforces Duncombe and Dennis Marsden’s analysis of male neglect towards female wellbeing, exhibiting how it is common decency to offer women support and interest.
We are then given an establishing medium shot of the car facing a truck filled with logs, with Katy attempting to drink her coffee. This causes a spillage, looking away again as she attempts to manage the scalding heat. Katy states how she is “flatlining, trying to save this”, with this adynaton re-establishing her dedication to preserve the love she shared with her partner. We watch as one of the logs fall and a sharp cut (both visually and through the removal of drums) once Katy reiterates the final line of the chorus “bandaids over a broken heart”. The transition between Katy’s shocked facial expressions to a 3D log rapidly approaching the camera, the scenario very much an homage to Final Destination 2‘s iconic highway crash.
After, the vocals are omitted in favour of letting the instrumental navigate the viewer’s experience, as Katy is seen walking on train tracks (while this is a common trope, it reminded me of Max and Chloe in 2015’s Life is Strange but also a childhood film I loved called Stand By Me, from 1986). However, Katy doesn’t have time-bending powers or Wil Wheaton to save her from this incident. She manages to get her foot stuck Chloe Price style, as a yellow train is accelerating towards her. The red lights increase in parallel with the instrumental’s tempo, with Katy remarking if she “had to do it all over again” that she “would still do it all over again”, strengthening this self-destructive behaviour.
She then proclaims that “the love that we made was worth it in the end”, followed by the dual interjections of “Oh yeah“. We are then given a close up of a white daisy, an explicit symbol of not only her daughter Daisy but also potentially a callback to her song Daisies, with the moment where she is “cover[ed]” in “daisies” finally arriving. This suggests a recognition of her own mortality.
In this sense, she is identifying the death of the old Katy – who was young, naïve and impressionable – to the new Katy, a metamorphosis the fans can comprehend. In a moment of true vulnerability, Katy faces the train head-on, closes her eyes and finds the willpower to remove her restraints and dive out of the way. Unfortunately, she ends up falling into a mud pile, with a static long medium shot of Perry being slowly submerged as the train passes by.
We then receive the final implementation of the chorus, heightened by Katy’s melodic riffs and ad-libbing, concluding with Katy’s entire body being consumed. Once the train has exited the frame, Katy emerges and gasps for air, a physical and emotional resurrection. She is seen entering a gas station, drenched in mud as she places a dollar on the counter. A long shot of Katy stood next to a gas station pump slowly zooms in, as she smokes a cigarette. In a manner of speaking, she has received this catharsis (as the meta use of Woman’s World plays in the background, a convention of recent music videos I really enjoy seeing).
Ironically, Katy’s pre-recorded lyric of “So intelligent” plays as soon as Katy begins lighting the cigarette, providing a far more nuanced attempt at satire compared to Woman’s World. Katy breaks the 4th wall by staring at the camera – actively addressing the viewer – as she realises her mistake, cutting to a long establishing shot of the gas station explosion and a TV feedback cut finishing the video.
So, bandaids is definitely a resurgence of the old Katy Perry, whilst also bringing in her new persona that feels more authentic and genuine. I feel as though this is more self-referential than 143 in regards to her past music, or at least I was able to more easily identify these links. Whether this is just a single or a part of a bigger album, I look forward to seeing what music she has in store next for us fans.
Any questions? What do you think about bandaids? Feel free to contact me via johnjoyce4535@gmail.com!
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