Hear ye! Hear ye! Let us bear witness and celebrate as Katy Perry has released her new album!

 

via GIPHY

 

The new album from Katy is called Witness and marks her fourth studio release; following One of the Boys (2008), Teenage Dream (2010) and Prism (2013).

 

 

Witness features the singles ‘Chained to the Rhythm’ featuring Skip Marley and ‘Bon Appetit’ featuring Migos.

 

 

 

It also features the newly released song, ‘Swish, Swish’ featuring Nicki Minaj (more on those two below).

 

 

Ahead of the album’s release, Katy hosted an exclusive live-streamed session on her YouTube page that featured Katy singing songs from the album, taking fan questions, as well as Katy giving fans a behind-the-scenes access to her new music.

Katy mentioned that she has plans to keep the live stream going until Monday. Check it out below.

 

 

Leading up to the album’s release, Katy had a billboard posted in New York’s Time Square, as well as an Instagram post.

 

https://twitter.com/ootboys/status/863615961622032384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kiss925.com%2F2017%2F05%2F14%2Freport-katy-perry-set-become-judge-american-idol%2F

 

https://www.instagram.com/p/BUFbVlZDybo/?taken-by=katyperry&hl=en

 

Katy actually teased the album (at least its title), at this year’s Met Gala as the red veil she wore had the word ‘WITNESS’ embroidered on it.

 

NEW YORK, NY - MAY 01: Katy Perry attends "Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between" Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)
NEW YORK, NY – MAY 01: Katy Perry attends “Rei Kawakubo/Comme des Garcons: Art Of The In-Between” Costume Institute Gala at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 1, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Karwai Tang/WireImage)

 

 

Prior to the album’s release, Katy spoke to Entertainment Weekly about how Witness would be different from her prior releases and would reflect the changes going on in the singer’s own life.

She said, “It’s really quite brave…Sonically, it’s fun and dance-y and dark and light. It’s all of these things. It definitely is a change.”

It had been four years since Katy released her last album (Prism) and in that time Katy left her 20s and entered her 30s, Witness represents a maturation of sorts for the singer as well,

“I left my 20s and I’ve gone to my 30s…I’ve embraced. I’ve surrendered. I’ve healed some of my issues with my family, with my relationships. Today I’m sober but I don’t know about tomorrow! One day at a time, right? [Laughs] It’s all kind of beautiful. I built up Katy Perry and she was so fun. And I still am Katy Perry and I love her so much but, at the core, I’m Katheryn Hudson and I think that’s being revealed as I embrace who I really am.”

While Witness is a reflection of a more mature Katy, don’t think for one second she wasn’t going to address Taylor Swift and her song, ‘Bad Blood’ (long rumoured to be about Katy).

Fans speculated that ‘Swish Swsh’ was a reference to Taylor and Katy revealed while on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon that the song was about bullying.

 

 

Katy would later go on to confirm the feud with Taylor during an appearance on Late Late Show Primetime Special where she said, “There’s a situation. Honestly, it’s really like she started it, and it’s time for her to finish it.”

She added, “I tried to talk to her about it and she wouldn’t speak to me…I do the right thing any time that it feels like a fumble. It was a full shutdown and then she writes a song about me, and I’m like, OK, cool, cool, cool, that’s how you want to deal with it? Karma! But what I want to say is that I’m ready for that BS to be done. Now, there is the law of cause and effect. You do something, there’s going to be a reaction, and trust me daddy, there’s going to be a reaction. It’s all about karma, right? I think personally that women together, not divided, and none of this petty bulls**t, women together will heal the world.”

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tvxzLK3rFs

 

Word of a feud between the two was first sparked after a 2014 Rolling Stone interview Taylor did where she was asked what ‘Bad Blood’ was about.

In the interview she revealed that it was about another female artist (rumoured to be Katy) who had the same dancers work on her tour, “She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour…She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me.” 

Speculation mounted after Nicki Minaj and Taylor had a brief Twitter disagreement over the 2015 MTV Video Music Award nominations and Katy sent some subtle shade,

 

https://twitter.com/taylorswift13/status/623616796277506048?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Few.com%2Fmusic%2F2017%2F05%2F08%2Fkaty-perry-new-album%2F

 

 

Katy of course hasn’t confirmed if (SONG TITLE HERE) but fans (and media) will continue to speculate nonetheless.

We won’t have to wait too long to hear Katy perform music from Witness as she’s to hit the road on her Witness: The Tour later this fall; the tour kicks off on September 7th in Colunbus, Ohio and will hit several Canadian cities such as Montreal (September 9th), Toronto (September 12th) and Vancouver (February 5th, 2018).

 

 

Katy Perry’s Witness: The Tour Dates

2017
9/7 – Columbus, OH @ Schottenstein Center
9/9 – Montréal, QE @ Bell Centre
9/12 – Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
9/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Wells Fargo Center
9/21 – Uncasville, CT @ Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza
9/25 – Washington, DC @ Verizon Center
9/29 – Boston, MA @ TD Garden
10/2 – New York, NY @ Madison Square Garden
10/3 – Uniondale, NY @ NYCB Live!: Home of the Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum
10/8 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center
10/11 – Brooklyn, NY @ Barclays Center
10/15 – Nashville, TN @ Bridgestone Arena
10/16 – Louisville, KY @ KFC Yum! Center
10/19 – Pittsburgh, PA @ PPG Paints Arena
10/22 – St. Louis, MO @ Scottrade Center
10/24 – Chicago, IL @ United Center
11/7 – Los Angeles, CA @ STAPLES Center
11/14 – San Jose, CA @ SAP Center at San Jose
11/24 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Vivint Smart Home Arena
11/26 – Denver, CO @ Pepsi Center
11/28 – Omaha, NE @ CenturyLink Center
11/29 – Tulsa, OK @ BOK Center
12/1 – St. Paul, MN @ Xcel Energy Center
12/2 – Des Moines, IA @ Wells Fargo Arena
12/4 – Milwaukee, WI @ BMO Harris Bradley Center
12/6 – Detroit, MI @ Little Caesars Arena
12/9 – Indianapolis, IN @ Bankers Life Fieldhouse
12/10 – Cleveland, OH @ Quicken Loans Arena
12/12 – Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena
12/15 – Tampa, FL @ Amalie Arena
12/17 – Orlando, FL @ Amway Center
12/20 – Miami, FL @ AmericanAirlines Arena
 
2018
1/5 – New Orleans, LA @ Smoothie King Center
1/7 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center
1/10 – San Antonio, TX @ AT&T Center
1/12 – Little Rock, AR @ Verizon Arena
1/14 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center
1/19 – Phoenix, AZ @ Gila River Arena
1/20 – Las Vegas, NV @ T-Mobile Arena
1/31 – Sacramento, CA @ Golden1 Center
2/2 – Portland, OR @ Moda Center at Rose Quarter
2/3 – Tacoma, WA @ Tacoma Dome
2/5 – Vancouver, BC @ Pepsi Live at Rogers Arena

Also, $1 from each ticket sold for the tour will be donated to the Boys & Girls Clubs of America; check out the full list of dates below.

 

Take a listen to Katy’s new album, Witness below and let us know what you think!

(FULL ALBUM HERE)

And, WATCH Katy LIVE inside a #BigBrother style house, talking all things WITNESS, as well as life in general! Cool!

 

(Credit: Entertainment Weekly, Entertainment Tonight Canada, Idolator, Rolling Stone)

Filed under: June 9 2017, katy perry, live, new CD, Witness