Smile (Katy Perry album)

Smile
Standard edition cover. Fan edition comes with a lenticular cover while five limited-edition alternate covers were available to pre-order.
Studio album by Katy Perry
Released	August 28, 2020 (2020-08-28)
Recorded	2018–2020
Studio	Various
Genre	Dance-pop pop
Length	36:36
Label	Capitol
Producer	Josh Abraham Elvira Anderfjärd Johan Carlsson The Daylights John DeBold Dreamlab Andrew Goldstein Oscar Görres Oscar Holter Ilya Ian Kirkpatrick The Monsters & Strangerz Oligee Charlie Puth Pierre-Luc Rioux Stargate Zedd
Katy Perry chronology
Witness (2017) Smile (2020)
Alternative cover
File:Katy Perry - Smile LP and Vinyl cover.png DTC exclusive vinyl cover
Singles from Smile
"Daisies" Released: May 15, 2020 "Smile" Released: July 10, 2020

Smile is the sixth studio album by American singer Katy Perry. It was released on August 28, 2020, by Capitol Records, three years after its predecessor Witness (2017). Perry worked with a multitude of producers on the album, including Josh Abraham, Carolina Liar, The Daylights, G Koop, Andrew Goldstein, Oligee, Oscar Görres, Oscar Holter, Ilya, Ian Kirkpatrick, The Monsters & Strangerz, Charlie Puth, Stargate and Zedd. She described Smile as her "journey towards the light, with stories of resilience, hope, and love". Musically a pop album, Smile is characterized by its themes of self-help and empowerment.

Two singles preceded the album: "Daisies", the lead single, was released on May 15, 2020, and peaked at number 40 on the Billboard Hot 100; its followup, "Smile", followed on July 10, 2020. Smile also includes Perry's 2019 standalone singles "Never Really Over" and "Harleys in Hawaii" in its tracklist. Upon release, Smile received mixed reviews from music critics, who were favorable towards Perry's maturing image, but criticized the lyrics and production. The album charted in the top-five in Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, the United Kingdom and the United States, top-ten in Ireland and Italy, and the top-20 in Finland, Germany, and the Netherlands.

Background and release

Smile was conceived following a period of Perry's depression, public criticism, breakup with then-boyfriend and current fiancé Orlando Bloom, and her pregnancy. In March 2018, Ian Kirkpatrick announced he had worked with Perry on new music. In an interview with The Fader, he stated: "We did a couple of days and she is amazing." He further stated that working with Perry was "someone I've wanted to work with my whole life, and she was literally the most normal, no-ego person."

In March 2020, Perry announced her intentions of releasing "a lot" of new music during the year's summer. In May, she announced "Daisies" as the album's lead single. The same month, Amazon Alexa announced the album's release date as August 14, 2020. In a June 2020 interview with Billboard, Perry discussed a new song, titled "Teary Eyes". She later confirmed the following month that "Never Really Over" will be on the album. The same month, the album's title was confirmed as Smile, after one of the songs on the album.

The album will also be released as a bone white vinyl, alongside with a picture disc one, a cassette, and a limited deluxe edition CD, with a lenticular cover, and titled "Fan edition", being the latter available for preorder so far on Perry's and Universal Music Czech Republic's official webstores. On August 2, 2020, a flash sale went up on her online store for five days. This sale featured five limited-edition alternate covers of the standard edition of the album that could only be pre-ordered during this sale. On July 27, 2020, she announced that the album release date had been pushed back to August 28 due to "unavoidable production delays".

Concept and artwork

Perry explained that Smile is about "finding the light at the end of the tunnel", and taking back your smile, and that the album comes from a place where she fell in after her career and relationship with Orlando Bloom hit a low point back in 2017. She discussed struggles with depression and suicidal thoughts, and stated that gratitude is what saved her life. Perry also defined the album as her "journey towards the light, with stories of resilience, hope, and love".

The album's artwork features Perry as "a glum clown with a red nose and a blue and white checkered suit above the title, Smile". It was unveiled via a Twitter game that involved her fans/followers tweeting about the album to "tweet to pop virtual balloons in order to uncover" the album cover. In August, Perry unveiled a limited edition collection of vinyl picture discs and alternative CD packaging for the album. Five alternative covers/vinyl picture disc were available for pre-order for a period of five days.

Singles

"Daisies" was released on May 15, 2020 as the album's lead single. It debuted at number 40 on the US Billboard Hot 100. The title track was released as the second single on July 10, 2020, along with the album pre-order.

Throughout 2019 and 2020, Perry released four solo songs, originally intended to be non-album singles. "Never Really Over", released on May 31, 2019, was announced to be on Smile by Perry in June 2020. "Harleys in Hawaii", released on October 16, 2019, was revealed to be on the standard track list upon the release of the album pre-order. "Small Talk", released August 9, 2019, and "Never Worn White", released March 5, 2020, did not make the standard track list, but ended up as bonus tracks on the "Fan edition" and "Japan edition" of the album.

Promotional single

Perry released "What Makes a Woman" as a promotional single ahead of the album on August 20, 2020. She also released an acoustic version exclusively on her Vevo page. In June 2020, she revealed "What Makes a Woman" is dedicated to her unborn daughter, stating: "That is a hope I have for my future child, is that she doesn't have any limits on any of her dreams, or what she wants to be, or who she thinks she is."

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	5.3/10
Metacritic	58/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
The A.V. Club	B–
Clash	2/10
The Daily Telegraph
Entertainment Weekly	B–
The Independent
The Irish Times
NME
Pitchfork	5.7/10
The Sydney Morning Herald

Smile has received a mixed response from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from publications, the album received a weighted average score of 58, based on 17 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Lindsay Zolandz of The New York Times thought that Smile tries to add brightness to the dark, with a lightness that was absent in its predecessor, Witness (2017). Mark Kennedy of Chicago Tribune deemed the album a course-correction that sets Perry back into pure pop, and labeled most of the album "bit of a bummer" due its apologetic tone. The i newspaper's Joe Muggs complimented the restrained production and Perry's maturation as a pop star, but dismissed the lyrical content as "bit too much self-help book redemption". Writing for The Daily Telegraph, Kate Solomon noted that Smile feels very "so earnest that it strays into cringe-worthy territory", but displays the strongest traits of Perry's music: "fizzy bops" and huge hooks.

USA Today writer Patrick Ryan opined that Smile exudes newfound joy, with some of the most carefree songs of the singer's career. However, he criticized the self-empowerment lyrics as clichéd, adding that Perry gives listeners a déjà vu rather than seeking a new musical direction. Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly described the album's sound as too familiar, unaltered from Perry's older discography. Craig Jenkins of Vulture found Smile to be lyrically weak, but overall an improvement over Witness, and named the singles as its best tracks. Alexa Camp from Slant Magazine wrote that Perry avoids experimentation by opting to stay "in her lane". Kish Lal of The Sydney Morning Herald branded Smile as falling flat despite the honesty in subjects dealt. Louise Bruton of The Irish Times asserted that the album possesses perfect melodies, but cited the subpar lyrics as a drawback.

In unfavorable reviews, Pitchfork writer Dani Blum dubbed Smile as cliché-ridden pop with confusing platitudes, that is also inapt for the COVID-19 pandemic. The A. V. Club's Alex McLevy opined that Perry is "struggling to be taken seriously", as Smile holds back her ability to evolve, instead of the intended showcase of the singer's "real" side. Stereogum's Chris DeVille wrote the record was dull and unadventurous, and did not believe the lyricism was memorable, while Helen Brown of The Independent called the album forgettable, and found the singer resorting to basics. Hannah Mylrea of NME wrote that the album comprises lackluster imitations and fillers, devoid of the catchy hooks and couplets of Perry's older records. Writing for Clash, Joe Rivers felt Smile lacked substance, and called the production outdated.

Commercial performance

In the United States, Smile debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 chart, earning 50,000 album-equivalent units (including 35,000 sales), and marked Perry's fifth top-10 album. It also accumulated a total of 19 million on-demand US streams from all its tracks, in the week ending September 12, 2020. In the United Kingdom, Smile opened at number five on the UK Albums Chart with 8,579 units earned.

In Ireland, the album entered at number nine on the Irish Albums Chart, marking Perry's fifth consecutive top-10 album in the country. Smile debuted at number two on Australia's ARIA Albums Chart, blocked from the top spot by Metallica's live album, S&M2. In New Zealand, the album opened at number four on the NZ Top 40 Albums Chart, while on Japan's Oricon Albums chart, it arrived at number 39.

Track listing

Smile

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Never Really Over"	Katy Perry Dagny Sandvik Michelle Buzz Jason Gill Gino Barletta Hayley Warner Anton Zaslavski Leah Cooney Daniel James	Zedd Dreamlab	3:43
2.	"Cry About It Later"	Perry Alexandra Yatchenko Jonnali Parmenius Oscar Holter	Holter Peter Karlsson[b]	3:09
3.	"Teary Eyes"	Perry Michael Pollack Madison Love Jacob Kasher Hindlin Andrew Goldstein	Goldstein[a] Oscar Görres	3:02
4.	"Daisies"	Perry Jonathan Bellion Pollack Hindlin Jordan K. Johnson Stefan Johnson	The Monsters & Strangerz[a] Gian Stone[b]	2:54
5.	"Resilient"	Perry Ferras Alqaisi Mikkel S. Eriksen Tor Erik Hermansen	Stargate	3:07
6.	"Not the End of the World"	Perry Pollack Love Hindlin Goldstein	Goldstein[a] Görres	2:58
7.	"Smile"	Perry Brittany "Starrah" Hazzard Alqaisi Oliver "Oligee" Goldstein Josh Abraham Anthony Criss Benny Golson Kier Gist Vincent Brown	Abraham Oligee G Koop[c]	2:46
8.	"Champagne Problems"	Perry Hindlin John Ryan Johan Carlsson Ian Kirkpatrick	Carlsson Ryan Karlsson[b]	3:16
9.	"Tucked"	Perry Alqaisi Hindlin Ryan Carlsson	Carlsson Ryan Karlsson[b]	3:07
10.	"Harleys in Hawaii"	Perry Charlie Puth Hindlin Carlsson	Puth Carlsson Karlsson[b]	3:05
11.	"Only Love"	Perry Sophie Cooke Andrew Jackson	John DeBold[a] Svend Lerche[b]	3:18
12.	"What Makes a Woman"	Perry Sarah Hudson Hindlin Ryan Carlsson	Carlsson[a] Elvira Anderfjärd[c] Karlsson[b]	2:11
Total length:				36:36

Smile – Vinyl

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
7.	"Smile" (featuring Diddy)	Perry Hazzard Alqaisi Goldstein Abraham Criss Golson Gist Brown Sean Combs Cordae Dunston	Abraham Oligee G Koop[c]	3:00
Total length:				36:50

Fan edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Small Talk"	Perry Carlsson Puth Hindlin	Carlsson Puth Karlsson[b]	2:41
14.	"Never Worn White"	Perry Carlsson Ryan Hindlin	Carlsson Karlsson[b]	3:45
15.	"Daisies" (acoustic)	Perry Bellion Hindlin Pollack J. Johnson S. Johnson	Pierre-Luc Rioux Stone[b]	3:05
16.	"Daisies" (Oliver Heldens remix)	Perry Bellion Hindlin Pollack J. Johnson S. Johnson	The Monsters & Strangerz[a] Stone[b] Oliver Heldens[d]	3:35
Total length:				49:42

Target edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Message from Katy"			3:31
14.	"High On Your Supply"	Perry Ilya Salmanzadeh Alqaisi Savan Kotecha	Ilya[a] Karlsson[b]	4:00
Total length:				44:07

Japanese edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Message from Katy"			3:31
14.	"High On Your Supply"	Perry Salmanzadeh Alqaisi Kotecha	Ilya[a] Karlsson[b]	4:00
15.	"Small Talk"	Perry Carlsson Puth Hindlin	Carlsson Puth Karlsson[b]	2:41
16.	"Never Worn White"	Perry Carlsson Ryan Hindlin	Carlsson Karlsson[b]	3:45
17.	"Daisies" (acoustic)	Perry Bellion Hindlin Pollack J. Johnson S. Johnson	Pierre-Luc Rioux Stone[b]	3:05
18.	"Daisies" (Oliver Heldens remix)	Perry Bellion Hindlin Pollack J. Johnson S. Johnson	The Monsters & Strangerz[a] Stone[b] Oliver Heldens[d]	3:35
Total length:				57:22

Notes and samples

• ^{^[a]} – main and vocal production
• ^{^[b]} – vocal production
• ^{^[c]} – additional production
• ^{^[d]} – production for the remixed version
• "Never Really Over" contains interpolations from "Love You Like That", written by Dagny Sandvik, Jason Gill, Michelle Buzz.
• "Smile" contains samples from "Jamboree", written by Anthony Criss, Vincent Brown, Kier Gist. Some of the vinyl pressings of the album feature an alternative version of the title track featuring Diddy.

Personnel

Adapted from the album liner notes.

Studios

Recording locations

• Studios 301 (Sydney, Australia) – recording (track 1)
• Westlake Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California) – recording, assistant engineering (track 1)
• Unsub Studios (Los Angeles, California) – recording (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 10)
• MXM Studios (Los Angeles, California) – recording (tracks 2, 8-10, 12, 14(Japan bonus)) & (Stockholm, Sweden) – recording (tracks 2, 10)
• House Mouse Studios (Stockholm, Sweden) – recording (tracks 2, 3, 6, 12)
• Secret Garden Studios (Santa Barbara, California) – recording (tracks 2, 8)
• Orange Grove Studio (Hollywood, California) – recording (tracks 3, 6)
• The Stellar House (Venice, Los Angeles, California) – recording (track 5)
• Pulse Studios (Los Angeles, California) – recording (track 7)
• Windmark Studios (Los Angeles, California) – recording (track 7)
• BLND Studio (Sweden) – recording (track 8), horns recording & editing (track 9)
• Heavy Duty Studios (Burbank, California) – recording (track 11)
• Glendale Boulevard Swamp Studios (Los Angeles, California) – recording (track 11)
• Quarantine 805 (Santa Barbara, California) – recording (track 11)
• A-House (Stockholm, Sweden) – recording (track 14 (Japan bonus))

Mixing and mastering locations

• Zedd 1 Studio (Los Angeles, CA) – mixing (track 1)
• MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, Virginia) – mixing (tracks 2-6, 8-12, 14, 16, 17 (Japan bonus))
• Larrabee Studios (North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California) – mixing (track 7)
• The Ninja Beat Club (United States) – mixing (track 15 (Japan bonus))
• Oliver Heldens Studio (Netherlands) – mastering (track 18 (Japan bonus))
• The Mastering Palace (New York)

Vocals

• Katy Perry – vocals (all tracks), background vocals (track 2)
• Leah Haywood – background vocals (track 1)
• Hayley Warner – background vocals (track 1)
• Gino Barletta – background vocals (track 1)
• Sasha Sloan – background vocals (track 2)
• Noonie Bao – background vocals (track 2)
• Jacob Kasher Hindlin – background vocals (track 3)
• Michael Pollack – background vocals (tracks 3, 6)
• Madison Love – background vocals (tracks 3, 6)
• Andrew Goldstein – background vocals (tracks 3, 6)
• Jon Bellion – background vocals (track 4)
• Kamaria Anita Ousley – background vocals (track 7)
• Charlie Puth – background vocals (tracks 10, 15 (Japan bonus))
• Johan Carlsson – background vocals (track 10)
• Sophie "Frances" Cooke – background vocals (track 11)
• Sachi DiSerafino – gang vocals (track 11)
• Lila Drew – gang vocals (track 11)
• Karissa Reynafarje – gang vocals (track 11)
• John DeBold – gang vocals (track 11)
• Elvira Anderfjärd – background vocals (track 12)
• Ilya Salmanzadeh – background vocals (track 14 (Japan bonus))
• Savan Kotecha – background vocals (track 14 (Japan bonus))

Instrumentation

• Oscar Holter – drums, bass, keyboards (track 2)
• Rickard Göransson – guitars (track 2)
• Andrew Goldstein – guitars, drums, bass, percussion (track 3), keyboards (tracks 3, 6)
• Oscar Görres – drums, bass, percussion (track 3), keyboards (tracks 3, 6)
• Michael Pollack – synth (track 3), guitars (track 4), piano (track 6)
• Pierre Luc Rioux – guitars (tracks 4, 17 (Japan bonus))
• Mikkel S. Eriksen – all instruments (track 5)
• Tor Hermansen – all instruments (track 5)
• Lincoln Adler – sax (track 7)
• Dave Richards – trumpet (track 7)
• Johan Carlsson – keyboards (tracks 8, 9), strings arrangement (track 8), Fender Rhodes (track 10), guitars (tracks 10, 15 (Japan bonus)) acoustic guitar, shaker, electric guitar (track 12), synthesizers (tracks 12, 15 (Japan bonus)), talking, drum programming (track 15 (Japan bonus)), piano (track 16 (Japan bonus))
• Mattias Johansson – violin (tracks 8, 16 (Japan bonus))
• David Bukovinszky – cello (tracks 8, 16 (Japan bonus))
• Mattias Bylund – string synthesizer (track 8), horns arrangement, synthesizer horns (track 9), strings, strings arrangement (track 16 (Japan bonus))
• Nils-Petter Ankarblom – string synthesizer, strings arrangement (track 8), horns arrangement (track 9)
• Magnus Johansson – trumpets (track 9)
• Janne Bjerger – trumpets (track 9)
• Wojtek Goral - alto saxophone (track 9)
• Tomas Jonsson – tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone (track 9)
• Peter Noos Johansson - trombone, tuba (track 9)
• Charlie Puth - synthesizers (tracks 10, 15 (Japan bonus)), drum programming (track 15 (Japan bonus))
• Brad Oberhofer - Rhodes, organ, piano (track 11)
• John DeBold – drum programming, guitar, synth, synth programming, string programming, arrangement, vocal chops (track 11)
• Elvira Anderfjärd – electric guitar, organ, bass, drums (track 12)
• John Ryan – electric guitar (track 12)
• ILYA – arrangement, keys, bass, drums, percussion (track 14 (Japan bonus))
• Ferras – keys (track 14 (Japan bonus))

Production

• Katy Perry – executive production
• Zedd – production (track 1)
• Dreamlab – production (track 1)
• Oscar Holter – production (track 2)
• Peter Karlsson – vocal production (tracks 2, 8-10, 12, 14-16 (Japan bonus))
• Andrew Goldstein – production, vocal production (track 3, 6)
• Oscar Görres – production (tracks 3, 6)
• The Monsters & Strangerz – production, vocal production (track 4)
• Gian Stone – vocal production (tracks 4, 17 (Japan bonus))
• Stargate – production (track 5)
• Tim Blacksmith – executive production (track 5)
• Danny D – executive production (track 5)
• Josh Abraham – production (track 7)
• Oligee – production (track 7)
• G Koop – additional production (track 7)
• Johan Carlsson – production (track 8-10, 12, 15, 16 (Japan bonus)), vocal production (tracks 8, 12)
• John Ryan – production (tracks 8, 9)
• Charlie Puth – production (tracks 10, 15 (Japan bonus))
• John DeBold – production, vocal production (track 11)
• Svend Lerche – vocal production (track 11)
• Sophie "Frances" Cooke – additional production (track 11)
• Elvira Anderfjärd – co-production (track 12)
• ILYA – production, vocal production (track 14 (Japan bonus))

Technical

• Ryan Shanahan – engineering, additional mixing (track 1)
• Brian Cruz – assistant engineering (track 1)
• Zedd – mixing, programming (track 1)
• Daniel James – programming (track 1)
• Leah Haywood – programming (track 1)
• Sam Holland – engineering (tracks 2, 8-10, 12, 14-16 (Japan bonus))
• Cory Bice - engineering (tracks 2, 8-10, 12, 14, 16 (Japan bonus))
• Jeremy Lertola - engineering (tracks 2, 8-10, 12, 14, 16 (Japan bonus)), assistant recording engineering (track 15 (Japan bonus))
• Serban Ghenea – mixing (tracks 2-6, 8-12, 14, 16, 17 (Japan bonus))
• John Hanes – engineered for mix (tracks 2-6, 8-12, 14 (Japan bonus)), mix engineering (tracks 16, 17 (Japan bonus))
• Oscar Holter – programming (track 2)
• Rachael Findlen – engineering (tracks 3, 4, 6, 8, 10, 15, 17 (Japan bonus))
• Andrew Goldstein – vocals recording, programming (tracks 3, 6)
• Oscar Görres – programming (tracks 3, 6)
• The Monsters & Strangerz – vocals recording (track 4)
• Mikkel S. Eriksen – engineering, all programming (track 5)
• Thomas Warren – engineering (track 5)
• Tor Hermansen – all programming (track 5)
• Louie Gomez – engineering (track 7)
• Blake Harden – engineering (track 7)
• CJ Mixed It – engineering (track 7)
• Darth "Denver" Moon – engineering (track 7)
• Manny Marroquin – mixing (track 7)
• Chris Galland – engineered for mix (track 7)
• Robin Florent – assistant engineering (track 7)
• Scott Desmarais – assistant engineering (track 7)
• Johan Carlsson – programming (tracks 8-10, 12, 16 (Japan bonus))
• Mattias Bylund – strings recording & editing (track 8), horns recording & editing (track 9)
• Charlie Puth – programming (track 10)
• John DeBold – engineering (track 11)
• Elvira Anderfjärd – programming (track 12)
• ILYA – programming (track 14 (Japan bonus))
• Phil Tan – mixing (track 15 (Japan bonus))
• Bill Zimmerman – engineering (track 15 (Japan bonus))
• Peter Karlsson – vocal editing (track 15 (Japan bonus))
• Dave Kutch – mastering engineering (track 15 (Japan bonus)), mastering (tracks 16, 17 (Japan bonus))
• Rami – programming (track 16 (Japan bonus))
• Oliver Heldens – mastering (track 18 (Japan bonus))

Charts

Chart performance for Smile

Chart (2020)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	2
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	7
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	5
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)	35
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)	13
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)	18
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	14
Irish Albums (OCC)	9
Italian Albums (FIMI)	10
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)	32
Japanese Albums (Oricon)	39
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	4
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)	25
Scottish Albums (OCC)	3
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)	58
UK Albums (OCC)	5
US Billboard 200	5

Release history

Release dates and formats for Smile

Region	Date	Format	Version	Label	Ref.
Various	August 28, 2020	Cassette CD digital download streaming vinyl	Standard	Capitol
		CD	Fan edition
United States			Target edition
Japan			Japanese edition	Universal Music Japan