Cliff Notes – Katy Perry’s reputation is in tatters; only this brave move will save her now
- Katy Perry’s recent attempts at a comeback, including the single “Woman’s World” and a space flight with Blue Origin, have been met with criticism, leading to a perception of her as culturally adrift.
- Crisis PR expert Laura Beeching advises Perry to reconnect with her original fanbase and embrace authenticity, rather than trying to appeal to Gen Z, to regain relevance and trust.
- To turn her image around, Perry should acknowledge her missteps, simplify her branding, and focus on meaningful engagement rather than over-the-top theatrics.
Katy Perry’s reputation is in tatters – only this brave move will save her now
Katy Perry’s comeback has not gone to plan. But the one thing that will save her now is not disappearing, but riding on the momentum of publicity and being honest with her fans, according to a top crisis PR expert.
After the 40-year-old popstar released Woman’s World in July, fans thought her head was in the clouds with her outdated, gaudy version of feminism.
Months later, her head really did go to the actual clouds when Katy boarded Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin flight to space for 11 minutes.
Pitched as the historic moment an all-female crew of astronauts made the journey, the move was in reality nothing more than a marketing tool for the besmirched Amazon mogul’s latest toy.
This all came after Katy’s worst PR move of all: Woman’s World. Katy’s big comeback single saw her attempt to be groundbreaking while denting nothing but her image. What’s worse, the so-called feminist record was produced by Dr Luke – the man who was previously accused by Kesha of raping and drugging her as well as physical and verbal abuse, which he denied.
A week later, Katy was forced to cancel gigs at Arena Guadalajara on May 1 and 2 because the venue hadn’t been constructed yet.
Now we can hardly blame Katy for that, but all in all, things aren’t looking good for the popstar who became a hero of the genre in the 2010s with her catchy, kitschy hits including California Gurls and Teenage Dream.
The question is – can Katy Perry recover…
What is the current state of Katy Perry’s career?
‘She is culturally adrift,’ top UK crisis PR expert Laura Beeching said.
‘The recognition is still there but the relevance isn’t. Fame today isn’t about sheer visibility, it’s about resonance,’ she adds.
While Lady Gaga has leaned into her nostalgia, reminding fans of a feeling through her music, Katy is becoming irrelevant in her attempt to stay culturally relevant.
‘The emotional continuity has kept Lady Gaga’s career alive,’ she says, while Katy has ‘pivoted so sharply to trying to appeal to new demographics that she’s lost the thing that her original fans connected with’.
Katy Perry’s step-by-step strategy to save her image
‘She needs to stop performing for Gen Z,’ says Beeching. ‘They didn’t grow up with her, they don’t have the same emotional connection. When she tries to speak their language it feels very forced, like an algorithm wrote it almost.
‘Instead, she should be re-engaging with her audience who grew with her, they still care and they would care if she stopped trying to reinvent herself into something they barely recognise.
‘At the moment, her brand feels caught in an identity crisis, floating between nostalgic icon and internet era activist without fully committing to either.’
Beeching advices Katy should:
Stop trying to be universally relevant. She doesn’t need to be everywhere, she needs to be intentional. Relevance today is about meaning not saturation. Pick a lane, own a tone and build credibility in that space.
A pull back from theatrics. The big visuals, overconceptualised campaigns aren’t landing right now because the messaging underneath isn’t connecting. Simplicity, visually and tonally, would feel radical for her. It would reset how people perceive her, less performative, more present.
Control the narrative before it controls her. She’s in her moment of regained visibility, for better or worse. That’s the ideal time to reframe things.
She should speak honestly, and not via a PR statement. But in a carefully chosen long form interview, something thoughtful and self aware. Acknowledging the disconnect would probably go a long way.
Finally, rebuild the trust by lowering the volume. Katy has always leaned into being a maximalist pop spectacle. But right now people seem to want realness not noise. That doesn’t mean disappearing, but it means showing up without the gloss and letting people see the person again. She doesn’t need to be Gen Z, but the artist Gen Z might respect. And her original audience might remember why they loved her so much.
Blue Origin didn’t help
‘It hindered her career badly,’ says Beeching, agreeing with the many criticisms Katy’s joyride to space sparked.
‘The idea of an all-female flight could have been meaningful but it ended up feeling like a high-production influencer trip disguised as history,’ Beeching says. ‘Referring to the participants as astronauts was very optimistic.’
Plus, Katy’s actions – bringing a white flower onto the spaceship, singing in space, and making floating poses, felt contrived.
‘The moment was tightly choreographed and it really did show,’ she says, adding: ‘People weren’t fooled.’
Woman’s World was a disaster
‘It felt like someone googled what Gen Z liked and tried to cram every buzzword into a 3-minute music video,’ says Beeching. ‘The result was a parody of feminism. Visually loud, thematically hollow.’
‘The issue wasn’t that she wanted to make a statement, the issue was the statement lacked substance.’
Katy Perry’s next step is not silence, but a shift
‘Ironically, irrelevance is often harder to recover from than being cancelled,’ Beeching says.
‘While brutal, cancellation at least signals energy. People still care enough to be outraged, while irrelevance is very different.
‘It means disengagement, that people have stopped bothering to look. That’s harder to turn around. Some of the hardest clients I’ve ever worked with are the ones who have slipped into irrelevance.’
Beeching uses an analogy of a jigsaw puzzle: when someone’s being cancelled it’s a complicated puzzle, but at least you can see the pieces.
‘Irrelevance is like solving a puzzle where half the pieces are missing and no one remembers what the pieces were supposed to be,’ she says.
While the Blue Origin moment was a disastrous venture, it actually gave Katy something useful: attention.
‘Even if negative, it sparked public interest and mainstream media,’ Beeching said.
Her advice?
‘I would treat that as a turning point. Acknowledge it, lean into the absurdity a little, laugh at it. Then follow it up with something more stripped back and emotionally grounded,’ she advises.
‘Nostalgia works when it’s intentional. Gaga is proving this. Disney has been proving this for decades. Familiarity is powerful, it creates longterm trust. People keep going back to it because it reminds them of who they were.
‘Katy doesn’t need to become who she was, she just needs to tap into why people loved her in the first place. I truly believe her public image will then improve.’
