143
Standard cover
Studio album by Katy Perry
Released	September 20, 2024 (2024-09-20)
Studio	Eightysevenfourteen (Los Angeles) Somewhere (Santa Barbara) Stellar House (Venice)
Genre	Pop dance-pop Europop
Length	33:34
Label	Capitol
Producer	Cirkut Dr. Luke Aaron Joseph KBeazy Malibu Babie Vaughn Oliver Rocco Did It Again! Stargate
Katy Perry chronology
Smile (2020 (2020)) 143 (2024)
Singles from 143
"Woman's World" Released: July 11, 2024 (2024-07-11) "Lifetimes" Released: August 8, 2024 (2024-08-08) "I'm His, He's Mine" Released: September 13, 2024 (2024-09-13)

143 is the seventh studio album by American singer Katy Perry.^[1] It was released on September 20, 2024, by Capitol Records. The album title represents the phrase "I love you",^[a] and is also Perry's symbolic "angel number".^[b] As her first album since Smile (2020), 143 includes themes of self-love and empowerment, inspired by her motherhood.

In order to create a "dance party" album, she worked with previous collaborators Max Martin, Dr. Luke, and Stargate, while also approaching first-time collaborators Vaughn Oliver and Rocco Did It Again!. Dr. Luke's involvement in the album was widely criticized because of fellow singer Kesha's sexual assault allegations against him. 143 features guest appearances from German singer Kim Petras and American rappers JID, 21 Savage and Doechii.

Three singles preceded the album's release: "Woman's World" was released as the lead single on July 11, 2024. The song peaked at number 63 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 47 on the UK singles chart. It was followed by the single "Lifetimes" on August 8, and "I'm His, He's Mine" featuring Doechii on September 13. Commercially, the album debuted at number six on both the US Billboard 200 chart and the UK Albums Chart, while reaching the top ten in eight other countries. In support of the album, Perry is set to embark on the Lifetimes Tour in 2025.

143 received negative reviews from music critics, becoming the worst-reviewed album of Perry's career. They criticized the album as a product of Perry's creative stagnancy, and considered its songwriting subpar and the production outdated and insipid; several compared 143 to AI-generated music.

In August 2020, Katy Perry released her sixth studio album, Smile. It received mixed reviews from critics^[2] and was dubbed by journalists as a commercial disappointment.^[3] In August 2023, Perry confirmed in a Good Morning America interview that she was working on new material from a "place of love".^[4] The next February, she made an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and announced her exit from the American Idol judges' panel following the conclusion of the twenty-second season, wanting to "go out and feel that pulse to my own beat" and release new music after being "in the studio for a while".^[5] Two months later, Perry told Access Hollywood that she was working on a "very bright and joyful" album.^[6]

Rolling Stone reported in June 2024 that Perry had "reconnected" with producers who worked with her before, including Max Martin, Stargate, and Dr. Luke.^[7] During a livestream via her social media on July 10, 2024, Perry described 143 as a dance album: "This record is super high energy, it's super summer, it's very high BPM. We just had a family dance party to one of the songs, and it's just full of so much joy, so much love, so much light." Perry also stated that an acoustic follow-up album was in the works.^[8]

During an exclusive interview with Zane Lowe, she explained that the album title is her symbolic "angel" number: "A couple years ago, we were going through a little bit of a hard time medically in our family, and it was a little bit scary, and I started seeing 143 in many different ways, not just, like, on the phone. It was just like trippy, almost. And I looked it up, and it's code for 'I love you.' I really believe it was my angels, my guides, saying, 'I love you. We got you. We're going to protect you. You're exactly where you're meant to be. You're on the path".^[9][c]

143 is a pop,^[11][12] dance-pop,^[13][14] and Europop album,^[12] addressing themes around love, motherhood and feminism.^[15]

Perry revealed on July 10, 2024, that her seventh album is titled 143 and will be released on September 20, 2024, by Capitol Records, aligned with her headlining live performance at the Rock in Rio Festival, in Brazil.^[16] To further excite her fans, she went on a social media livestream that day and teased new songs from the album, including "Nirvana", "Gimme Gimme" featuring 21 Savage, and "I'm His, He's Mine" featuring Doechii, which samples "Gypsy Woman" by Crystal Waters.^[8] During her interview with Lowe, Perry shared snippets of two other 143 tracks: "Lifetimes" and "Gorgeous".^[17] The album was available as eight vinyl variants, four CD variants, a cassette tape, and multiple digital download variants with exclusive bonus tracks.^[18][19]

The lead single, "Woman's World", was released on July 11, 2024.^[20] The song and its music video were received negatively by critics and the audience. Several journalists attributed it to the "bad taste" of the album's marketing, which they found unhelpful to Perry's perceived commercial decline with Witness and Smile. Perry's collaboration with Dr. Luke, who has been accused of sexual harassment by American singer Kesha, was also widely criticized.^[21]

A second single, "Lifetimes", was released on August 8, 2024. Its music video, which revealed 143's track list, was accused of trespassing on ecologically protected dunes by the government of Balearic Islands, Spain.^{[22][23][24][25]}

Perry performed "I'm His, He's Mine" with Doechii and "Lifetimes" in a medley at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on September 11,^[26] with the song being released as a single two days later on September 13.^[27] On the album's release day, Perry performed "Woman's World", "Gimme Gimme", "Gorgeous", "I'm His, He's Mine" and "Lifetimes" at Rock in Rio. Perry performed "Gorgeous" and "Lifetimes" at the 2024 AFL Grand Final on September 28.^[28][29][30] The album's singles underperformed on the charts.^[12][31][32]

Perry conducted a one-off concert, Katy Perry: Night of a Lifetime, on December 11 at the Methodist Central Hall, Westminster in London. The special recorded and set to be aired on December 21 at ITV1.

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	37/100[33]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[34]
Clash	5/10[35]
The Daily Telegraph	[36]
Exclaim!	3/10[37]
The Guardian	[12]
The Independent	[38]
The Line of Best Fit	2/10[39]
NME	[40]
Pitchfork	4.5/10[41]
Rolling Stone	[42]

143 received negative reviews from music critics, who dubbed it Perry's worst work.^[d] At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 37, based on 18 reviews, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".^[33] It marked the lowest-rated album of Perry's career and the lowest-rated album of the 2020s decade on the website.^[47]

Several reviews considered 143 an unimpressive and insubstantial record from Perry. Alexis Petridis of The Guardian dubbed 143 a mediocre pop album "some way short of total catastrophe."^[12] The New Yorker critic Amanda Petrusich, Financial Times's Ludovic Hunter-Tilney, and PopMatters' Peter Piatkowski said that Perry has lost the frivolity and "cartoonish eccentricity" that used to make her songs "dexterous and funny".^[14][48][49] Clash's Robin Murray,^[35] Slant's Tom Williams,^[50] The Times's Ed Potton,^[51] and NME's Nick Levine felt 143 was a dull, unsatisfying listen with very little highlights.^[52] Tanatat Khuttapan of The Line of Best Fit dubbed 143 an album of "mindless club fillers",^[53] while The Daily Telegraph's Helen Brown referred to it as an inept "disastrous" album.^[36] Slate's Carl Wilson,^[54] Business Insider India's Callie Ahlgrim,^[55] and The Arts Desk's Guy Oddy said the album has no redeeming songs after its three singles.^[56]

Critics took issue with what they considered as an outdated music production. Petridis,^[12] Murray,^[35] Radio New Zealand's Jared Richards,^[32] and Los Angeles Times' Mikael Wood felt that Perry's music does not fit in a pop scene defined by the fresh sounds of Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan.^[11] Dubbing the album "genuinely bad", Wilson regarded Perry as "an invasive species pushing into environments where she doesn't belong, namely the 2020s."^[54] To The Independent's Roisin O'Conner, 143 is out of touch, held back by "commercial aspirations to have any real fun".^[57] Chris Kelly of The Washington Post, Maura Johnston of Rolling Stone, and Hunter-Tilney agreed that 143 is a failed attempt in rekindling Perry's prime, resulting in perfunctory pop music that is "as dated as a Vine".^[58][14][59]

Multiple critics compared the album's quality and content to those of artificial intelligence (AI) generated music,^{[60][3][61][15]} with some suspecting AI could have been involved in the making.^[36][62] Others felt that 143 confirms Perry's perceived loss of creativity after having been a prominent pop star of the 2010s; Fred Thomas of AllMusic opined, "143 rings the death knell for Perry".^{[63][64][65][49][57]} 143 was declared a generic and derivative album in reviews from Thomas,^[64] Juzwiak,^[41] Sowman-Lund,^[62] Victoria Wasylak of Paste,^[13] John Murphy of musicOMH,^[66] Mark Kennedy of Associated Press, and Wren Graves of Consequence. They found the songs to be boring, "uninspired", "forgettable" and "lifeless", describing the songwriting as hollow and formulaic.^[67][15] Exclaim! critic Sydney Brasil wrote, "It's confusing why Perry continues to make such soulless music when she has enough resources to quietly quit and be remembered dearly".^[37] Variety writer Steven J. Horowitz described 143 as a "flat" album of lyrical clichés and "limp" music production, marking a new creative low for Perry. Horowitz argued that Perry's decision to reflect on her older catalog to create new music was a bad creative decision.^[3]

On a positive note, Billboard author Rania Aniftos regarded 143 as a "characteristically Katy Perry" album that her fans are "sure to enjoy".^[68] Some reviewers, such as Horowitz, Petridis, and Khuttapan, declared "Wonder" as the best track of the album, complimenting the display of sincere emotion.^[12][3][53] Rich Juzwiak of Pitchfork considered 143 a confident "flop" album after the "back-to-back flops" of Witness (2017) and Smile, and felt that releasing albums that are so-bad-it's-good could be a part of Perry's appeal.^[41] The Spinoff's Stewart Sowman-Lund agreed, naming Prism (2013) as Perry's last success.^[62] Hunter-Tilney remarked that "a so-bad-it's-good reassessment" is 143's last resort and pondered if the album could be "reborn as a kitsch classic for its sheer badness".^[14]

The album's critical reception was a topic of media coverage. Nick Levine of the BBC opined that the album's reception "may also have been hampered by a toxic combination of misogyny and ageism that tends to affect female artists over 35."^[69] Ahlgrim argued that one might believe the criticism "is overblown or prejudicial, a cliché result of herd mentality" but said that is not the case with 143 and that "the adverse reaction [...] is very much earned, if even a little generous."^[60]

143 debuted at number six on the US Billboard 200 chart, marking Perry's seventh top-ten album.^[70] It opened with 48,000 album equivalent units, of which 37,500 were sales, 10,000 were streaming-equivalent units (translated from 13.11 million on-demand streams), and 500 track-equivalent units.^[19] It marked the singer's second-lowest first-week sales debut on the Billboard 200, surpassing only One of the Boys (2008), which sold 47,000 copies in its opening week,^[71][72] and departed from the charts after a total of two weeks, making it Perry's shortest running album to date. Some journalists noted that Perry's perceived commercial decline continued with 143.^[3][12] As of December 2024, the album has sold 100,000 units.

The album fared better in Europe, surpassing the first-week performance of Perry's previous release, Smile (2020), in multiple countries. It debuted at number six on the UK Albums Chart with 9,250 album equivalent units, her best first-week sales in the country since Witness (2017), and became her sixth top-ten album.^[73][74] In Spain, the album entered the chart at number three, becoming her highest-charting album in the country since Witness (2017).^[75] Similarly, the album debuted at number six in Italy, beating the number ten peak of Smile (2020).^[76] The album also reached number six and number five on the Belgian Flanders and Wallonia charts, respectively, becoming her fifth consecutive top-ten album in both regions.^[77]

In Australia, 143 reached number two on the ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart, and remained on the chart for a second week at number twenty.^[78] The album also reached the top-ten in New Zealand and Scotland.^[79][80]

Notes

• "I'm His, He's Mine" contains samples from "Gypsy Woman", written by Neal Conway and Crystal Waters.
• "Crush" contains elements from "My Heart Goes Boom (La Di Da Da)", written by Barbara Alcindor, Thorsten Dreyer, and Karsten Dreyer.
• The bonus tracks on 143: I Love You IRL were recorded from Perry's performance at Rock in Rio in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on September 20, 2024.

Musicians

• Katy Perry – vocals
• Łukasz Gottwald – background vocals (tracks 1, 2)
• Chloe Angelides – background vocals (tracks 1, 3, 6, 8, 9)
• 21 Savage – vocals (track 2)
• Kim Petras – vocals (track 3)
• Doechii – vocals (track 4)
• JID – vocals (track 9)
• KBeazy – background vocals (track 9)
• Leah Gjerde Drabløs – background vocals (track 11)
• Tius Luka Sundberg – background vocals (track 11)
• Knut-Ingolf Brenna – guitars (track 11)
• Cirkut – programming, synthesizers (track 11)
• Stargate – programming, synthesizers (track 11)
• Kent Sundberg – choir programming (track 11)
• Cato Sundberg – synthesizer programming (track 11)
• Thomas Andersson Drabløs – additional synthesizers (track 11)

Technical

• Dale Becker – mastering
• Serban Ghenea – mixing
• Kalani Thompson – engineering, vocal production (tracks 1–10)
• Tyler Sheppard – engineering (tracks 1–10)
• Clint Gibbs – engineering, audio consultation (tracks 1–10)
• Stargate – engineering, vocal editing (track 11)
• Cirkut – engineering, vocal editing (track 11)
• John Hanes – immersive mix engineering
• Ryan Ogren – vocal production (tracks 1–10)
• Katie Harvey – mastering assistance
• Noah McCorkle – mastering assistance
• Bryce Bordone – mixing assistance
• Grant Horton – engineering assistance (tracks 1–10)
• Rachel Findlen – engineering assistance (tracks 1–10)
• Ashlee Gibbs – production coordination
• Cynthia De La O – production coordination

Visuals

• Jack Bridgland – photography, creative direction
• OTM – creative direction
• Tal Midyan – creative direction
• Chris Albo – creative direction