In less than two weeks, Katy Perry will release her latest album, 143. The album era began in July with “Woman’s World” and continued with “Lifetimes” in August. Neither single has been received exactly how Perry seemed to hope they would as far as her comeback goes, so she’s breaking out a secret weapon — and not the one that has been the source of controversy in her album release. The Florida rapper Doechii will appear on the next 143 single, “I’m His, He’s Mine,” out Friday, Sept. 13.
Perry announced the single on social media with a sleek promotional photo of herself with Doechii set against a blue backdrop. A music video will accompany the record’s release.
“I’m Him, He’s Mine” marks Perry’s first team-up with a rapper on one of her own singles since she recruited Nicki Minaj for “Swish Swish” and Migos for “Bon Appétit” from 2017’s Witness. Neither reached the heights of her previous pop-rap collaborations, like “Dark Horse” with Juicy J and “California Gurls” with Snoop Dogg.
In late August, Doechii released the mixtape Alligator Bites Never Heal, a project marking a clear breakthrough in her career as an artist with a distinct vision. “Curating it, I went in with the intention of context. That was a big thing for me,” she recently told Rolling Stone. “Sometimes projects can feel long when there’s no context to what you’re talking about. There’s no story or no narration to build on. I felt like it was necessary for me to tell my story in detail and in many different ways, through many different beats. And it was important for us to go in chronological order of what has happened to me, how that has made me feel, how I overcame it, and where I am now.”
The release of 143, which will arrive on Sept. 20, has been clouded by controversy over Perry’s decision to reunite with the producer Dr. Luke to create the album. Luke previously worked with the singer on Teenage Dream and was a leader in the pop production space before his legal dispute with Kesha — who accused the producer of sexual, physical, and emotional abuse in 2014 — cast a dark cloud over his reputation.
Asked recently about the choice to bring Luke back into her creative fold, Perry responded: “When I speak about ‘Woman’s World,’ I speak about feeling so empowered now, as a mother, as a woman, giving birth, creating life, creating another set of organs. A brain! A heart! I created a whole ass heart! And I did it, and I’m still doing it. I’m still a matriarch and feeling really grounded in that, that’s where I’m speaking from. So I created all of this with several different collaborators, people that I’ve collaborated with from the past, from ‘Teenage Dream’ era. All of that.”
