Woman's World (Katy Perry song)

"Woman's World" is a song by the American singer Katy Perry. It was released by Capitol Records alongside an accompanying music video on July 11, 2024, as the lead single from her upcoming seventh studio album, 143 (2024). A celebratory, bubblegum and dance pop song, "Woman's World" is about the influence of women in the world. The song has charted worldwide, reaching the top 70 in Belgium, Ireland, Israel, Japan, and the United Kingdom.

Perry co-wrote "Woman's World" with Chloe Angelides, Dr. Luke, Aaron Joseph, Vaughn Oliver, and Rocco Did It Again!, the last four of whom produced the song as well. She felt inclined to conceive a song about the "feminine divine" after observing that the most successful songs of her career, such as "Firework" (2010) and "Roar" (2013), were "empowering" and inspirational in their messaging. However, the song's announcement was met with mixed reactions from social media users, who criticized the involvement of Dr. Luke in the song, highlighting sexual harassment allegations on him by fellow singer Kesha.

Upon release, "Woman's World" received generally negative reviews from music critics. The music video, which featured Perry dressed as Rosie the Riveter, also received complaints and was dubbed a weak attempt at a feminist message. She defended the video as slapstick and satirical in intent.

Release and promotion


Perry posted a fifteen-second teaser of her lip-syncing the song on various social media platforms on June 17, 2024. The artist also revealed the cover artwork featuring herself in a metallic "alien-like" pants designed by Victor Clavelly with a white bikini top, photographed by Jack Brigdland. She also announced that the song would be released on July 11 and made it available for pre-order and pre-save via her website and various streaming services. "Woman's World" served as the lead single from 143, Perry's upcoming seventh studio album. An extended play of the same name containing the song and five remixes followed on July 15.

On June 25, Perry arrived at the Hôtel Ritz Paris in a black limo for Paris Fashion Week while wearing a red Balenciaga custom dress featuring two trains. According to Vogue, the outfit's second train is approximately one hundred yards long, showcasing the song's lyrics in white lettering. The artist later partnered with Japanese electronics company Denon for a wireless earbuds commercial with a teaser of the song.

Dr. Luke's involvement in the song's production received some criticism; Kesha previously accused him of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse. Justin Curto, writing for Vulture, questioned: "Uh, are we lucky to be living in this woman's world?" Rania Aniftos of Billboard noted negative reactions to Dr. Luke's involvement in the song on social media.

Composition and lyrics
Perry co-wrote the song with Chloe Angelides and producers Aaron Joseph, Dr. Luke, Rocco Did It Again!, and Vaughn Oliver. They opted for vaguely descriptive and metaphorical lyrics centered around female acclaim and power. Perry explained the meaning of the song in an Apple Music 1 interview: "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. 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."

Critical reception
"Woman's World" received generally negative reviews from critics and publications. Em Casalena of American Songwriter wondered if artificial intelligence (AI) was used in the songwriting process upon hearing the teaser and wrote that "it seems like she's simply taking a step back into an old formula of bubblegum pop that has worked out for her in the past. Less complex lyrics, a steady beat, etc." Consequence critic Mary Siroky agreed, claiming the lyrics felt AI-generated and hollow. She opined that, ignoring the "pitch-black irony of creating a women empowerment song" with Dr. Luke, "the song is just plain bad—and the music video is worse." Alexa Camp of Slant Magazine criticized the lyrics as "stacked with toothless, pseudo-inspirational declarations". According to Justin Curto of Vulture, the song "is stuck in vague feminist empowerment, which may have worked in 2014 but falls short in 2024."

William Hughes of The A.V. Club described the song as "a pretty straight putt, blasting platitudes over some pretty basic synth riffs". Laura Snapes of The Guardian gave "Woman's World" one star out of five, lambasting it as "garbage" which "made me feel stupider every sorry time I listened to it." Shaad D'Souza of Pitchfork called the track "unfathomably tepid" and "too dispiriting to even approach camp", while deeming Dr. Luke's involvement in a song with an ostensibly feminist message hypocritical. Alim Kheraj of Dazed felt "Woman's World" was reductive, "creatively bankrupt", and "as empowering as an advert for Vagisil," surmising that the song's "sole objective was a sync on RuPaul's Drag Race and generating comments of 'you ate' from white gays living in West Hollywood." Cat Zhang of The Cut characterized the song and its social media rollout as a bid for "lowest-common-denominator gay fandom".

Among less negative reviews, Erica Gonzalez of Elle opined that the song "explodes with dance-pop energy". The New York Times critic Jon Pareles characterized "Woman's World" as a "synthesizer-pumped, positive-vibes affirmation of the obvious" with a "euphoric" sound.

Music video
The music video was directed by Charlotte Rutherford and released alongside the song. It features Perry singing the lyrics while dressed as a skimpy Rosie the Riveter using power tools and drinking whiskey before being crushed by a falling anvil. There is a quick, rapid montage of internet memes. After awakening in a white knit bikini and bionic legs, she goes off to explore new scenery, stopping once to fuel herself by putting a gas pump into her buttocks. Perry then joins media celebrity Trisha Paytas in a monster truck, and they ride it until crushing a car. Perry exits the truck to walk through a nearby house and smashes through a glass door in the back. She sees a young woman using a female gender symbol-shaped light for a TikTok dance, and takes it for herself. After being asked repeatedly "Who are you?" (in chat speak, "WHO R U?", on the lawn), she screams "I'm Katy Perry!" while flying away on a helicopter. The music video received generally unfavorable reviews from journalists. Pareles felt that the song's "overblown video clip" did not live up to the audio.

On July 13, Perry uploaded behind-the-scenes footage of the making of the video to social media with a caption reading "YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! EVEN SATIRE!" In the footage, she stated that her intention was for the video to be satirical, "very slapstick and very on the nose". Perry's explanation did not convince music critics, who believed that the quick release of the behind-the-scenes footage showed that she had been anticipating an unfavorable response to the video.

She released a censored version of the video titled "Modesty Edit" for the Indonesian, Malaysian and Somali markets, removing the scene of a gay couple kissing.

Track listing
7-inch vinyl and CD
 * 1) "Woman's World" – 2:43
 * 2) "Woman's World" (instrumental) – 2:43

Digital download and streaming – EP
 * 1) "Woman's World" – 2:43
 * 2) "Woman's World" (BRB Woman version) – 2:43
 * 3) "Woman's World" (Doing the Most Woman version) – 3:51
 * 4) "Woman's World" (Transcendental Woman version) – 3:18
 * 5) "Woman's World" (Super Woman version) – 2:17
 * 6) "Woman's World" (Naked Woman version) – 2:43