Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and the art of the modern pop comeback

The narrative of the comeback is one of the most well-worn tropes in all of pop music. 

When done right, a major pop comeback can reinvigorate a career that may have been stagnating, but it's also a tightrope to walk. If a comeback is seen to stumble, there's the risk of further stagnation, and the rushing-in of a pop artist suddenly transitioning into 'legacy act' territory.

All of this is to say, two of the biggest pop stars of their generation - Lady Gaga and Katy Perry - have recently released their first music in years, both hoping (dare we say, expecting) the releases to remind the general public why, 10 years ago, they were impenitrable, unstoppable  pop forces.

Both have a lot to gain, and equally a lot to lose. For Gaga, she's taken her foot off the gas in terms of her music career since the release of 2020's lockdown dance record Chromatica; a much-vetted return to the dancefloor that was sorely needed in a time of social distancing. Rain On Me, her triumphant disco duet with Ariana Grande, became her sixth UK Number 1 single, and was one of the most beloved releases in a strange, terrifying year. 

For Katy, this is more a comeback from a comeback. Following 2017's 'purposeful pop' record Witness (in many ways Katy's ARTPOP!), 2020's Smile was something of a course correction for the original California Gurl, but stumbled out of the blocks. Only one of its singles, the pensive Daisies, broke into the Top 40 here, reaching Number 37.

MORE: Is Katy Perry ready to be a Big Pop Girl again?

And now, within mere weeks of each other, both Gaga and Katy have taken very different approaches to a modern-day comeback. This - and their impact on the Official Chart - is worth mentioning and dissecting, as they both reveal what the British public value in a comeback story. 

As she's the most recent out of the gate, let's start with your friend and ours, Stefani Germanotta. For much of this year, anticipation has been building towards her seventh album, LG7, and signs over the last few weeks have been promising. Most assumed that new Gaga music would have to come before Joker: Foile à Deux begins its press cycle (the heavily-hyped sequel to 2019's Joker, in which Gaga plays Harley Quinn, will obviously be aiming for the same Oscar glory as the first film, meaning she could be on promo duties from October through to March) and we got a few hints of a brand-new electronic sound, through snippets from her time in Paris and a small trailer at the end of the Chromatica Ball film.

Instead last week, without prior announcement, Gaga issued a brand-new duet with Bruno Mars. For a woman who has always gone against the grain of modern pop expectations, Die With A Smile is delightfully contrary, a pastiche of old-school '70s funk and soul, with Gaga and Bruno (who co-wrote and produced the song together) trading verses of lovelorn passion. 

Sonically, it's about as far away from Chromatica as you can get, but Lady Gaga has never once played by the rules. Every album has sounded different to the last, although you can definitely make a through-line from Joanne to A Star Is Born to here. Ultimately, Die With A Smile feels like an evolution of Bruno's own work, particularly with Anderson .Paak as Silk Sonic, more so than Gaga's. 

A decade ago, if there was one pop star you could bet on to deliver the goods, it would have been Katy Perry. To call her a commercial force wouldn't quite do her justice. She was a titan. Katy's upcoming album 143 (it means 'I love you') is a clear attempt to pivot her back to her Imperial Phase. At the end of big comeback video Woman's World, Katy balances off a helicopter and screams into the ether 'I'm Katy Perry!' as if she's reminding both you - and herself - of what she's capable of.

And Katy Perry is capable of so much. Teenage Dream and its raft of hit, killer singles are held up as the pop gold standard for a reason. Many music critics would happily deem Teenage Dream's title track one of the most influential of the 21st century so far. It seemed that Katy had the wind behind her as she prepared to debut 143's lead single. It seemed exciting! We were so pumped we actually wrote about it!

Woman's World - the much-hyped lead single from 143 - was heavily-anticipated upon its arrival, yet did not debut inside the UK Top 40 (it debuted and peaked at Number 47, the first lead track from any of Katy's LPs to miss the Top 40). Some even argued its slapstick, proto-futuristic video seemed ill-fit to the song's feminist message.

For all its posturing, Woman's World could, quite ironically, slide right into Witness's tracklist; given its slapping club beats and earnest messaging. When some of this year's most successful pop breakouts - from Sabrina Carpenter to Chappell Roan - are clearly using Katy (and Teenage Dream especially) as references for their look and sound, it seemed a shame that Woman's World couldn't quite recapture that same majesty that made Katy Perry the biggest star in the world in 2010.

And that's not to say she needs to release Eurodance to achieve this - she doesn't! Many of Teenage Dream's best songs experiment with genre fluidly, from the title track's synth-guitar buzz, to the orchestral dramatic buzz of E.T. and the melodramatic ballad The One That Got Away. One of Teenage Dream's selling points is that it turned pop into Katy's own personal sandbox, an approach we would have loved to see applied to 143 in 2024, especially since pop music itself has grown so much in the years since Teenage Dream.

As for this week, all signs point to a great reception to Die With A Smile come its chart debut. At the time of writing, you can expect Die With A Smile to debut inside the UK Top 10 - be sure to check Official Charts tomorrow from 5:45pm to see where it ultimately charts. 

So, what's in a comeback? Lady Gaga and Katy Perry are not - and have never - attempted to have the same career. They've both made amazing, genre-defining pop music that's never been in conversation with each other. But their approach to a pop comeback in 2024 is telling as to what music fans actually value from artists today. 

Could Charli xcx's BRAT rollout have shown us that pop's obsession with relatability is slowly ending? Are Sabrina and Chappell's personality-filled hit records helping bring back a maximalist sheen that's been sorely missing since both Gaga and Katy's heyday?

For Gaga, it's worth mentioning Die With A Smile is not a solo release; she's teamed up with one of the most consistent hitmakers of his generation, with a song that may sound like a safe bet, but plays directly into her biggest strengths. But the public's view of Lady Gaga now is simply not just the Ra Ra Girl, she's expanded her celebrity with different sounds and a flourishing acting career, which helps her to not be so confined by expectations as to the tone and sound of her music. 

That being said, Die With A Smile does set the stage for Gaga to do something truly weird with LG7...but that's a conversation for another day. 

Everyone loves a comeback story. The one good thing about Gaga and Katy's situation is that they are both never not going to be extraordinarily famous. They're set for life, and could have just chosen to sit back, relax and live off their residuals for the rest of their lives. But they haven't! Nearly 20 years into their respective career, they're still willing to put it all out there and commit to the bit. They are true, dye-in-the-wool pop stars, a breed that's slowly becoming extinct. But they're still keeping it alive.

That, above everything else, is something to celebrate.

Die With A Smile is out now via Interscope. 143 drops September 20 via Capitol.