'Something doesn't seem right.' A theory about Katy Perry's tour and the relentless backlash.

"Katy Perry is the most mocked woman in the world right now." This observation was made by Jessie Stephens on Mamamia's Out Loud podcast.

She's not exaggerating. The 40-year-old pop star has been facing a snowball of criticism ever since the release of her comeback single Woman's World. Intended as a feminist anthem, the record was produced by Dr Luke, who was accused of drugging and raping pop star Kesha.

Then came the space stunt.

Watch: Tina Arena performs with Katy Perry at the 2024 AFL Grand Final. Post continues below.

In April 2025, Perry and five other women, including television journalist Gayle King, and NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, climbed aboard Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin spacecraft, for a trip that lasted 10 minutes and 21 seconds.

Perry copped criticism for singing What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong while on board, kissing the ground when she returned and saying she felt "super connected to love".

"She did a quick dash to space, singing to the crew, which was positioned as some kind of feminist accomplishment, when really it was a big ad for Jeff Bezos, who is pillaging the environment and maybe offering a lift to the rich people who want to exit Earth ASAP," Jessie explained on the podcast.

But it's the singer's Lifetimes tour that is truly copped the brunt of the criticism.

The tour kicked off with its first shows in Mexico in late April, with the US leg commencing May 7. Clips of the production have been going viral — but not for good reason.

The show is being panned on social media for looking cheap and disjointed.

Jessie described what people are seeing online: "clips of her not singing and looking out of breath... sometimes she just kind of stops singing and walks across the stage seemingly not knowing her choreography or performing unusual choreography, looking fatigued."

Critics have also accused Perry of copying elements from other artists,

"There's a trend going around of showing things like P!nk's acrobatics or something she's allegedly stolen from Taylor Swift. She has a board that she spins for a surprise song, which is apparently something Sabrina Carpenter did," Jessie explained.

Katy Perry performing at her Lifetimes tour. Image: Getty

So, why does Katy Perry's tour feel so disjointed?

Speaking to fellow Out Loud hosts Mia Freedman and Holly Wainwright, Jessie shared a theory she had found online that might explain why Katy Perry's tour is facing so much scrutiny.

"There is a theory that, for this concert, she knew she was doing the Blue Origin thing and that her going to space was actually going to be the theme," Jessie said, referring to a TikTok video shared by Catherine Hates.

"There's these weird things that don't quite make sense; there's a moon that appears, and there are things hinting at [a space theme]. So, at the last minute, did she almost have to rejig the entire concert to go 'you will be laughed off stage if you do this'. Did they turn the aliens into robots? And now it's this really incoherent mess where she's had to relearn a lot of steps?"

Speaking in the original TikTok video, Catherine suggested the team didn't have the capacity to change everything at the last minute, and that's why there are still "space remnants" in the production.

"A lot of it is kind of high-budget stuff, so they had to leave in the moon hanging in the sky, and some of the spacey references. But, they're like, get rid of the aliens and swap in robots," Catherine speculated.

"So it comes across as really disjointed, and it is, not because she didn't practice for the tour, because she scrapped all the astronaut parts of the tour, but you still see the little space remnants."

The hosts agreed the theory made sense, while also suggesting that the backlash Perry is facing is rooted in ageism.

"One criticism I've seen of Katy Perry, and this keeps coming up a lot, is the 'mum moves,'" Jessie pointed out. "There's ageism, I think, inherent in this, which is that you are old, you're over the hill, you're daggy."

"Think about Mick Jagger who has been running around pretending to be twenty-two into his eighties right?" Holly added. "He's been mocked for that for about thirty years now, since he was about fifty. But there's a respect there, right?

"I wonder, as our female icons are getting older, are we going to be more brutal with them about age than we ever have been with any of the male icons? I suspect, yes."

Listen to the full episode below. Post continues afterwards.

What has Katy Perry said about the backlash?

After initially keeping quiet about the ridicule, Perry broke her silence in a late April Instagram post, writing: "When the 'online' world tries to make me a human Piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, 'cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed."

She also told her Instagram followers that she "was dealing with illness while performing in Mexico City and also struggling with the high altitude."

"Please know I am OK," Perry reassured fans. "I have done a lot of work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me."

Feature Image: Getty.