It’s safe to say that Katy Perry hasn’t had a great new album launch so far. Her seventh album (if you count her heavily religious first album, released under the name Katy Hudson) is out today with a cryptic nomenclature that’s had everyone guessing.
Perry herself has explained that “143 is code for I love you” in previous interviews and it’s not hard to find affirmation all around the internet. The number one signifies the single letter I… Love featuring four letters… And you being made up of three…
However, the seriously superstitious Perry just revealed two more reasons for the new album’s odd titling and they’re both rather at odds with the spiritual, balanced and grounded way in which Perry is conducting herself currently.
The latest info comes courtesy of a Apple exclusive video interview with resident Apple Music host Zane Lowe – a man not best known for his merciless grillings – and his almost-hour-long chat with Perry bears few surprises, giving Perry all the room she needs to explain why 143 is the sparkling return to form her fans are begging for and why she didn’t bat an eyelid during the last seven years of diminishing sales and audience indifference.
At one point Lowe even feeds her the fact that she’s matured and that being a mother has broadened her outlook and perspective on life. Something which Perry unsurprisingly agrees with.
“Before 143 I didn’t have a whole home life that brings me safety and security and love. My joy can never be taken away because my joy is no longer outside of myself,” she explains, perhaps referencing the fact that post 2013’s Prism, the star's career hasn’t been like a firework…
143’s lead single Women’s World immediately fell foul of her fanbase by virtue of being co-written and produced by Dr Luke, someone who many fans consider well beyond the pale following allegations of dubious conduct from Kesha.
The 143 launch then further fizzled with the release of second single Lifetimes, a lacklustre retro rave track that could easily have been released half a decade earlier.
But Lowe manages to tease out 143’s backstory and Perry’s need to try something new and get her groove back.
“That switched around Witness time,” Perry explains, referencing the reception that her fifth studio album received after the huge success of her fourth, Prism. “I was really trying to clean the palette and do something different to what I was doing. That’s why I dramatically shifted everything. I didn’t want to keep repeating myself. I was so grateful because it got me out of this loop.”
And there are glimmers of Perry’s new-found spirituality throughout. “I use the stars everyday to GPS what’s coming next,” says Perry. “People look up what’s the weather going to be today. I look at my stars and I say ‘OK, this is what’s coming and this is how I’m going to play it.” Perhaps her view of the heavens was obscured on the day she hired Dr Luke?
“How’s your judge of character?” probes Lowe at one point, inching closer to the questions that we want answered. “I’m very intuitive. I just read their energy,” Perry bats back.
So why 143?
“To be exact, I’ve sold 143 million records,” Perry reveals. “When I saw that on my Wiki page, 143 was coming to me a lot. It was a nice little sign and it felt in alignment.”
Sure enough the number is right there front and centre.
“And I go to play Rock In Rio on the release date of my album – that’s for 100,000 people – and that sold out in 1 hour and 43 minutes… I thought this is bogus, but we had lots of people check it.”
So the number not only means ‘I love you’ but, for Perry, it contains two big material reasons why rumours of her demise have been greatly exaggerated and that her naysayers need to pay her some respect.
143 is out to stream right now.
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