theory: katy perry's new LP will be universally slated because a) it's mediocre, but also b) there is a bit of a trend to push back slightly against unthinking "poptimism" which has tended to laud all pop, no matter how crap, out of fear of seeming snobbish, for the last decade? or so.

people are wanting to show that they *can* critique pop and that it doesn't all have to be Brilliant, and and right at that moment where there's an appetite to show that, Katy Perry releases a mediocre record. They're going to savage it.