The Singles Jukebox

Watching Ronnie Corbett gameshow repeats on Challenge > watching rugby in the pub with his school friends…

[Video][Website]
[4.38]

Katherine St Asaph: Small song.
[2]

Thomas Inskeep: Even when attempting to make a point in a song titled “Small Talk,” inserting lyrics that actually say “blah blah blah blah” isn’t often a good idea. Perry can do bombastic, and might’ve been better off doing so here, because this just sounds limp, almost like she’s stopped caring — or even trying. Which is saying quite a bit.
[2]

Michael Hong: “I just can’t believe we went from strangers to lovers to strangers in a lifetime.” It’s a particularly beautiful line in a track full of awkward moments, like nothing in outside of those spaces ever mattered, like life began the moment you became lovers and everything afterwards is just an uncomfortable nuisance. It completely justifies the discomforting seconds across the chorus and the “blah blahs” of the post-chorus, which perfectly capture the rush of anxiety and embarrassment seeing someone post-breakup. The discomfort is also perfectly mirrored by the production, which jumps from minimalistic beats to an almost claustrophobic instrumental within the pre-chorus. Of course, that line can’t do everything, and it doesn’t excuse some of the more awkward signature Katy Perry lyrical choices, like her comparison of a relationship to sliced bread. 
[7]

Joshua Lu: I’m not going to dwell on the obvious lyrical stinkers here; that line about sliced bread and those “blah blah blah blah” monstrosities require no explanation. No, the actual worst line in “Small Talk” is in the second verse, where Katy Perry says that she’s “got a new somebody” and thus completely ruins the song in a matter of seconds. What’s the point of making a song about going from strangers to lovers to strangers if you don’t secretly want to return to lovers again? When Katy reveals she’s actually moved on, it instantly strips the song of that subtext and reduces it to just literal whining about awkward small talk. Which just begs the question: who cares?
[4]

Wayne Weizhen Zhang: Isn’t it wild? I kinda like this sooooong. But everybody at the Billboard forgot her music ex-ists. And isn’t it awwwkkkward: she’s still tryna be some-boooodddy? And honestly, it’ll probably be a while til her career just plain ends. OH! KA-TY! PE-RRY! She went from bangers to bummers to bangers in this lifetime. STILL! MISS! TEEN-AGE DREAM! Used to love her or hate her, now like her… Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah. Blah blah blah blah. (Small talk.) 
[6]

Kylo Nocom: Whoever’s poking and prodding at those synthesizers ought to be a bit more adventurous. Katy has written subdued, airy pop with ease on Prism and Witness; why does this sound like such an inconvenience for her to be making? Awkwardness doesn’t translate well to the pop format, or at least not when Katy wants to make it sound as dull as she does here.
[4]

Alfred Soto: By turning down her vocal propulsion, Perry makes it easier to hear the details: the “blah-blah-blah”s, the acoustic guitar, the synth part. Yet even the casualness has a thick layer of affect. I suppose to my ears she can do nothing right.
[6]

Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Hey sorry can’t finish this blurb — just noticed that this has the rhythm guitar from “Girls Like You” and I won’t revisit that.
[4]