Is ‘Woman’s World’ Katy Perry’s Worst Song?

Katy Perry‘s “Woman’s World” has been thoroughly trashed online. Some even see it as the California Gurl‘s worst single. Is that true? And what makes it so much different from other female empowerment songs?

Katy Perry’s ‘Woman’s World’ takes an old approach that doesn’t seem to be working

Perry’s discography has some dud singles. “Ur So Gay,” “Swish Swish,” “Bon Appétit,” and “Rise” are all bad songs. At the very least, they have some musical flavor. “Woman’s World,” on the other hand, has a generic dance-pop beat that wouldn’t impress even the most die-hard clubbers. It feels like a lazy cop-out at a time when Perry needs to be writing some of her best work to get back in the spotlight.

Many feminist songs are breakup songs that double as empowerment anthems. In tracks like Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive,” Kelly Clarkson’s “Since U Been Gone,” and Ariana Grande’s “Break Free,” the dumped boyfriend can be seen as a stand-in for patriarchy. “Woman’s World” takes a more old-school, Helen Reddy approach by being a straightforward celebration of womanhood. That’s not a bad idea, but the lyrics seem like pandering.

Perry sings “Sexy, confident / So intelligent / She is heaven-sent / So soft, so strong / She’s a winner / Champion / Superhuman / No. 1 / She’s a sister / She’s a mother.” Wow, apparently the woman in this song is completely perfect in every way and has no problems or struggles or desires! Unless she wrote this song about a New Age mother goddess, it feels a little insincere. Perry then goes on to proclaim that women rule the world a la Beyoncé. Maybe some will find that sentiment aspirational, but it ignores numerous horrid, misogynistic realities. Worst of all, women don’t seem to find “Woman’s World” very uplifting, which is why it’s Perry’s worst single so far.

What Katy Perry was thinking when she wrote the song

During a 2024 interview with Apple Music, Perry said “Woman’s World” was designed to be empowering. “I think that people, when they think of me, they think of ‘Roar,’ they think of ‘Firework,’ sometimes they think of ‘I Kissed a Girl,’ but I think mostly they think of these kind of empowering songs,” she said. “Songs with a message, songs that are captions on T-shirts and stuff like that or things that help people get through.
 
“And I love that,” she added. “I love hearing the stories and really, I write these songs from a place where I need to get through something. But so I wanted to continue with that and also, this is the first contribution I have given since becoming a mother and since feeling really connected to my feminine divine.”

‘Woman’s World’ is a bona fide flop

So far, “Woman’s World” has made a pitiful impact on the charts. It reached No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100. Of course, it hasn’t been out very long, but that’s a pathetic debut for a singer who has nine No. 1 singles under her belt. In 2012, her song “Part of Me” debuted at the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100. These days, she can’t even get a much-hyped song to hit the top 40 in its first week!

“Woman’s World” might be Perry’s worst song and the public seems to be aware of that.