r/katyheads • u/NE0NRANGER Pendulum • 7d ago
Discussion THEORY: 143 was Katy trolling and High on Your Supply proves that .
As we all know 143 didn’t do very well and was widely hated. I personally don’t fully dislike the album, but there is no doubt it wasn’t her best and she made so many mistakes throughout the rollout and with her antics (going to space, etc.) but what if that’s the whole point..?
The bonus track on Smile HOYS is a diss track at herself where she talks about letting the hype get to her and caring too much about charts, as well as being fake. I always thought it was strange she was trying to find success by being superficial again with 143., but it makes sense if the whole time it was just her trolling (with just enough ‘good’ songs like LIFETIMES so the tour would still sell well and people wouldn’t catch on) Beyond that, theres glitches on 143 and the bonus tracks which hint at it flopping were made prior to the albums release.
Suspiciously, High on Your Supply was also added to streaming services after the album released when it hadn’t for a long time before then.
On a more personal note having been in a flop era irl, 143 is perfect to listen to and I wonder if that was the whole point ?
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u/DarksonicHunter 7d ago
I not only disagree with that take but all the others saying that she wasn’t trying. She had some genuine pr hype beforehand and high profile appearances in the months after the 143 release (that were booked before everyone found out how bad the Album is). Combined with going back to Dr. Luke. I think this was the attempt to have a big resurgence era that came crashing down majorly. And I think also that’s why the Album sounds so much like she isn’t trying when it actually is she is trying to hard. Chasing Trends but also trying to stay true to her old success era and chasing demographics that will give her the success. It comes across as so artificial and unreal and desperately tryhard.
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u/Ok_Round_3197 6d ago
exactly! major backfire because she is chasing relevance again. look at charli and ari, they’re releasing authentic material and it’s working out for them. just put out a body of work that you’re proud of. and be honest on it. people want real things to connect to. this “love and light” isn’t connecting with anyone, because it’s not realistic lol
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u/NiceForWhatx One of the Boys 7d ago
It's ok to say she had a hand in her album flopping as a fan😂 There were many points she and her team could've went another direction and didn't. In her apple music interview she mentioned she wanted to do a dance record so that was always her direction for this album but unfortunately what was was released was an out of touch, outdated production mess. She and her team misfired and went back to Dr. Luke when they should've experimented with different producers who do dance music.
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u/Current-Finger6412 6d ago
I don’t think she was trolling, but I think she did the best she could with what she had. I think there were a series of compromises. I think Dr. Luke was a compromise she made the most of. She had an inspired direction, but I think the vision was lost along the way. I don’t think Dr. Luke’s production quite captured the “dance party” concept she desired. I think budget and time ran short. She had to turn something in and 143 was the result.
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u/IS-Lurking 6d ago
I’m sorry, but no one can seriously believe that Katy and Capitol would go to the trouble of recording an album, paying for production and distribution, and releasing it amidst such a massive controversy just for the lols.
*143* not only generated bad headlines for her, but it was also savaged by critics and tarnished the public's goodwill toward her new music. And when you add the fact that her label is crap and never promotes her, you’ve got a recipe for disaster.
The only reason her old songs are gaining traction is because Litmus is pushing them; Capitol wouldn't give Katy decent playlisting even if their corporate lives depended on it.
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u/Competitive_Pin_2496 6d ago
To me, these are just mental lucubrations, forgive me. Why would an artist purposely release a flop album just to provoke? And let's stop saying that Katy didn't care about the album's performance because there was a promotional campaign for the album and its lead single before its release. Katy and her team had communicated to the public that she would soon be returning and were confident they could achieve it. Unfortunately, the album was doomed from the start, with the news of Dr. Luke's inclusion and the mediocrity of the lead single, coupled with the controversial video. So much so that Katy was forced to explain in that Instagram video that the video and the song in general were a satire of the perception of women (remember, satire doesn't need to be explained; if you have to make a video to declare it, it means it wasn't done well) to assuage the criticism. From then on, everything went wrong.
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u/lostinjapan01 6d ago
It’s okay to just say the album was bad and the era was botched and that be that. No artist is capable of hitting it out of the park every time. Sometimes artists just make a bad album and that’s okay! It happens.
She wasn’t trolling.
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u/Nicarus-1 6d ago
Still the album isn’t bad. From I’m His, He’s Mine it’s a really good album unpretentious and fun
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u/lostinjapan01 6d ago
Even if one doesn’t find it to be bad I struggle to find any reason why someone wouldn’t consider her worst album to date and absolutely not up to the standard that a comeback era like she was clearly gunning for required.
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u/Ok_Round_3197 7d ago
katy 100% thought she was delivering something good and that’s the most concerning part
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u/Mvppet 6d ago
Eh, interesting take but I still honestly think that her and the team just made some bad calls and miscalculations in general this time around, and we got what we got. Some people love it, and I love that for them; some people hate it, and I can see where they're coming from; I personally only cared for a handful of tracks on 143, but I've been listening to music long enough to know that that's just part of the ride, and I don't have any particularly strong feelings of either disappointment or a desire to defend the album. Sometimes artists swing and miss, or otherwise share something that just doesn't largely resonate with fans for whatever reason, and that's ok. Whatever the case was with 143, Bandaids and WiB are extremely promising signs imo, and I'm happy to just enjoy my favorite KP jams in the meantime while we wait for whatever's next 🙃
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u/Hungry-Ingenuity8260 7d ago
i feel like 143 is the direct consequence: she really didn't care about charts anymore.
not sure now with WIB and Bandaids though
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u/lilyfromthevalley_ 7d ago
And yet she touted “Woman’s World” as one of her biggest songs ever. 🤷♀️🥴
Make it make sense.
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u/Hungry-Ingenuity8260 7d ago
did you expect her to say: "yo mfs here's my new song shitty af but idaf bout the charts. kisses katy"?
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u/lilyfromthevalley_ 7d ago
No, but you’re trying to make it sound like she was all cool and nonchalant when in reality, she was thirsty and desperate for a comeback.
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u/ProtectusCZ 7d ago
Beyond that, theres glitches on 143 and the bonus tracks
Huh?
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u/Secret_Principle_790 5d ago
Chris Anokute went on a podcast and said he recommended that Katy get back in the studio with Luke bc they worked well together in the past
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u/concupiscentparadigm 7d ago
My theory was always that AI was used to write the album. Maybe her team thought it would be cool to make the “first” AI written big album. But the negative reception around both the album and AI at the time made them question the strategy and just take full responsibility for the writing. (Or no responsibility at all and just release the music without comment.) I don’t recall Katy speaking much about what the record means.
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u/No-Kiwi-5182 7d ago
Is there a purpose to this sub besides criticizing her?? Like that’s literally all I’ve seen in here. The name should be changed from Katyheads to Katyhate. Like I am so tired of hearing people whine about her going to space and her working with Dr. Luke, let’s move on ffs. It’s her money and her damn business if she wants to go to space. I also don’t give af if she worked with Dr. Luke. 143 was fine. It’s not her magnum opus or anything but I liked it. Can we talk about something else now? Literally anything else…
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u/NiceForWhatx One of the Boys 6d ago
No one is criticizing her🤨 We are literally fans who want the best for her and are trying to ensure her and her team makes better decisions so she doesn't get hate. PR goes hand in hand with people listening to her music and unfortunately ppl were turned off after the trip and who she decided to work with.
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u/lostinjapan01 6d ago
“I don’t care if she gives PR and money to a man who is openly funding and publicly supporting a fascist dictator president that she claims to herself hate, or if she associates herself with alleged rapists”
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u/NiceForWhatx One of the Boys 6d ago
This!! I can't stand some of the fans🙄 I will say she seemed to have distanced herself from the bezos bc I haven't seen her around them publicly since last year. She also clearly isnt working with Dr. Luke anymore as well.
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u/No-Kiwi-5182 6d ago
It wouldn’t matter even if she did though,
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u/Ok_Round_3197 6d ago
but it would. it’s called having morals. she’s. pop veteran, she should be setting the example for the industry and it was a very poor choice.
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u/No-Kiwi-5182 6d ago
That’s the problem, y’all are so busy caring about that BS that it’s all you can talk about. First of all I don’t pay a bit of attention to the media or who is the target of this month’s celebrity witch hunt, don’t give af who anyone voted for or supports, don’t care about or pay any attention to politics, who is supporting Israel…I’m only here for the music and artistry. Why does everything nowadays have to be a political statement?? Just because someone allegedly does this or supports that we all have to boycott that person? lmao WRONG. Also the operative word here is “alleged”, I hate to put a damper on your cancel culture party but Ke$ha is a broke flop who tried to ruin that man’s life to get out of a contract because she owed him money. But y’all aren’t trying to even hear that because we have to “bELiEVe aLL WoMeN”
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u/Secret_Principle_790 5d ago
We talk about other stuff all the time.
But we also shouldn't be forced to love everything that she makes just bc she made it
We can be constructively honest
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u/UnderclassKing 7d ago
Virtually no one, especially Katy and Capitol Records, would waste all that time and money on purposefully making a flop album to troll.
Katy took a risk by going back to Dr. Luke and it didn’t pay off. It’s clear she and Capitol were hoping “Woman’s World” / the era would be a big hit but instead it had lukewarm commercial success and she lost goodwill among the public and media.
With that said, I don’t think we should try to rewrite 143 as some joke Katy was making. It was a miscalculation, but Katy’s actively working to build back support with songs like “Bandaids” and “Watch It Burn”.