Katy Perry’s triumphant VMAs performance isn’t good news for her career

Katy Perry performs at the 2024 VMAs.

Katy Perry had one simple mission this week: Prove to pop fans that she still deserves our attention.

Perry was the guest of honor at the MTV Video Music Awards on Wednesday. Just over 15 years after she released her major label debut, “One of the Boys,” Perry became the latest Video Vanguard recipient, the VMA version of a lifetime achievement award.

Performing a career-spanning medley at the VMAs as a Vanguard winner should be a victory lap. Especially for someone like Perry, one of the biggest stars of the late aughts and early 2010s, whose seminal album “Teenage Dream” is one of only two in history to yield five No. 1 songs. (The other is Michael Jackson’s “Bad.”)

But her latest comeback hasn’t been going according to plan.

After an early career peak — Perry has released nine chart-topping hits to date, all before 2015 — she’s had none in the past decade. Her career thereafter suffered a series of false starts and flops, from the poorly received “purposeful pop” of “Witness” in 2017 to the corny clown imagery of “Smile” in 2020.

This brings us to July 2024, when Perry launched her new era. Armed with shiny visuals, eye-catching outfits, and a big-budget music video, it was clear that Perry planned to return to pop’s upper echelon.

Unfortunately, the lead single “Woman’s World” was mocked by fans and critics as tone-deaf, cringey, and all-around unpleasant sounding. It was bad enough to put Perry’s comeback in jeopardy, quickly devolving into a “career crisis.”

Katy Perry’s new album is called “143.”

It’s unclear if Perry was chosen as this year’s Vanguard recipient before her new album rollout began, or whether it was negotiated as a last-ditch attempt to save it. But Perry’s new album “143” will be released next week, and she still needs to convince people it’s worth a listen. (“Woman’s World” debuted at No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, while its follow-up “Lifetimes” hasn’t even cracked the chart.)

Either way, Perry arrived at the VMAs ready to celebrate her career. She swanned around the red carpet, taking selfies with fans and happily chatting with MTV hosts. When she passed through the press area, a female journalist next to me called out, “How does it feel to be the most beautiful woman on the carpet?” Perry immediately shot back in a flirty voice, “You would know!” Everyone erupted in giggles and applause. Perry was in full-on charmer mode.

I’ll admit I had very low expectations for her Vanguard performance. If you had asked me yesterday about the night’s most anticipated entertainers, Perry wouldn’t have even made the shortlist. (The answer would’ve been Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan, obviously.)

But when Perry took the stage — or, rather, hovered above it — and opened with an acrobatic combination of “Dark Horse” and “ET,” my honest-to-god first thought was, “Damn. She got me.”

Perry’s signature hits still sound as fun, fresh, and freaky as ever. At her creative peak, Perry’s lyrics were cheeky, her melodies stickier than anyone’s. Even as I’m writing this, the morning after the VMAs, I’ve repeatedly caught myself humming, “Kiss me, k-k-kiss me.”

The highlight was easily “Teenage Dream,” the title track from Perry’s 2010 album and one of the most perfectly constructed pop songs of all time. After the show ended hours later, I heard a girl say in a hushed, reverent tone, “Being so close to Katy Perry singing ‘Teenage Dream’ was… surreal.” And it was.

The sheer power of Perry’s early discography on display last night was both her triumph and her downfall.

Perry has timeless hits in her catalog. No one can take that away from her. But by mixing them into a medley with singles from “143,” Perry’s latest work sounds even more hollow and derivative by comparison.

Perry’s collaboration with Doechii, “I’m His, He’s Mine,” out tomorrow, had the misfortune of being sandwiched in between “ET” and “California Gurls.” There’s nothing wrong with the duet per se, but it had the effect of an interlude — a forced hiatus before getting back to the stuff we all know and love. Perry and Doechii carefully executed their intimate, tabloid-baiting choreography, interlacing their legs (à la Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion) and putting their faces close enough to kiss, as if they were trying to be shocking to distract from the song itself.

Perry capped off the medley with “Lifetimes,” a by-the-numbers dance song, which would’ve been an underwhelming closer even if it hadn’t been preceded by the one-two punch of “I Kissed a Girl” and “Firework.” I would never recommend chasing fireworks with a plastic bag drifting through the wind.

If Perry wanted to deliver an impressive spectacle and sing her heart out, then she most definitely succeeded. But if she aimed to prove that her new songs could hang with her beloved hits, I regret to report that she failed.