In the months leading up to this summer, it finally seemed to be a good time to be Katy Perry. After a few years of ducking the spotlight and shifting her focus to motherhood, she faced a rebound in public interest with a wave of late 2000s nostalgia sweeping social media. For the first time since the release of her poorly received, self-proclaimed "purposeful pop" album Witness in mid-2017, it appeared the world was finally ready for Perry to reclaim her spot at the pinnacle of pop stardom.