Katy Perry has released a new single, ‘Bandaids’ – check out its grisly Final Destination-inspired music video below.
Released today (November 7), the track marks her first since the critically-panned 2024 album ‘143‘. ‘Bandaids’, released with little to no prior teases, comes in the middle of the singer’s world tour.
The track’s accompanying music video sees Perry in various settings that draw inspiration from the Final Destination franchise, albeit with her own twists. These include getting her hand ripped to shreds by a garbage disposal system, getting her shoelaces caught in an escalator, being struck by a stray log while driving and more.
Watch the grisly music video for ‘Bandaids’ below.
‘Bandaids’ sees Perry sing about having tried her best in a failed relationship – most likely inspired her recent split from longtime beau Orlando Bloom in July. Over the course of the track, she makes her case, singing about how she did the best she could to keep the relationship alive.
She sings in the opening verse: “Hand to God, I promised, I tried / There’s no stone left unturned / It’s not what you did, it’s what you didn’t / You were there, but you weren’t.”
Elsewhere during the track, she looks back on the relationship with a softer lens: “On the bright side, we had good times / Nеver faked our pictures / Wе were perfect ’til we weren’t… If I had to do it all over again / I would still do it all over again / The love that we made was worth it in the end.”
The two of them have been romantically involved since 2016, and first split back in 2017, before getting back together shortly afterwards. They got engaged in February 2019, and now share a four-year-old daughter together called Daisy.
A joint statement was shared with US media outlets, with representatives for both Perry and Bloom saying that the two have “been shifting their relationship over the past many months to focus on co-parenting” (via BBC). It added that “they will continue to be seen together as a family, as their shared priority is – and always will be – raising their daughter with love, stability and mutual respect.”
Two years before their split, Perry and Bloom found themselves embroiled in a legal battle with an elderly veteran over the California home they made an offer on in 2020.
2024 and 2025 have been relatively tough years for the ‘Teenage Dreams’ singer, who garnered criticism for working with disgraced producer Dr Luke for her comeback album ‘143’ and its lead single ‘Woman’s World’.
The album itself wasn’t well received by critics, with NME scoring it two out of five stars: “Pop fans have a fondness for resurrecting “flop” albums that were given short shrift when they first came out: Mariah Carey’s ill-fated soundtrack album ‘Glitter’ and Christina Aguilera’s sonic hodgepodge ‘Bionic’ have both become cult classics of sorts. But even this fate seems unlikely for ‘143’, a serviceable but slightly dull collection on which Perry struggles to relocate her old sense of fun.”
In April, she once again sparked controversy when she travelled to space to reveal the ‘Lifetimes’ tour setlist. Social media branded the flight as “wealth tourism”, and the trip garnered some criticism from the likes of Emily Ratajkowski, who said she was “disgusted” by the flight, along with food chain Wendy’s.