Just smile

 

Released just days ago, on August 28th, this new Smile album was preceded by only a couple of tracks, including the album’s namesake back in July. Quite obviously intended to inject a little lightness in an otherwise largely tense climate (see: Coronavirus, politics, the climate…), Perry’s latest outing is a resolutely soft, sweet, some might say saccharine piece of work. Let’s review…

Opening on a series of textbook 3-minute pop songs, the album indeed introduces an almost archetypal pop star persona with songs like album opener “Never really over” or “Teary eyes”. Then, the LP picks up steam, offering more sophisticated compositions with “Daisies” and “Not the end of the world” (our personal favorite). The latter part of the track listing, however, reverts to rather obvious feel-good tracks, including the fairly straightforward “Champagne problems” — or “Harleys in Hawaii”. All in all, Smile is a perfectly listenable album, albeit quite predictable at that, and overall none too subtle…

Reception of the release has not been absolutely stellar so far, with a commercial launch somewhat sub-par coming from such a first rate artist. It is not entirely a surprise, though: the desire to produce an upbeat work in a context that is quite clearly less so, while very honorable (and perhaps necessary), did not necessarily translate into pop music that is objectively pick-me up material, because it feels too obvious in its approach, occasionally even too asinine as a consequence. In a world where Perry’s top contender Taylor Swift goes almost unplugged and very much minimalistic with her recent Folklore, these somewhat overproduced pop tracks come out a little too superficial for a year that has felt anything but that.

In other words, give the album a listen if you’re already feeling upbeat and happy about yourself…