Katy Perry embarks on a new era of music with a raw and candid track that exposes her most vulnerable side yet. "Bandaids," released on November 6, marks the singer's first new song since the summer news of her split from Orlando Bloom and the end of their engagement. The music video opens with Katy washing dishes and dropping what appears to be an engagement ring down the sink. As she reaches down to retrieve it, she sings, "Hand to God I promise 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."
Katy's honesty doesn't end there. She goes on to hint at the reasons behind their breakup, singing, "Got so used to you letting me down / No use tryna send flowers now." The video shows Katy undergoing multiple painful experiences, including her hand getting injured by the sink's garbage disposal and falling out of a tree. But she also acknowledges that pain wasn't the only feeling she had during the relationship.
"On the bright side, we had good times / Never faked our pictures," she sings. "We were perfect 'til we weren't / Now we've got too many splinters." As the track continues, she shares other shortcomings that led to the breakup, adding, "It's not that complicated / To ask me how my day is / I'm flatlining trying to save this / Bleeding out, bleeding out, bleeding out slow."
Despite the worst parts of the relationship, Katy—who shares daughter Daisy Dove, 5, with Orlando—sings that she has no regrets. "If I had to do it all over again / I would still do it all over again," she sings in the video. And as a train is about to crash into her, she looks over and sees a daisy, giving her the strength to dodge the freight. She adds, "The love that we made was worth it in the end."
Earlier in the week, Katy announced the surprise single with a close-up picture of herself staring at the camera with scratches across her face and wearing a white T-shirt and necklace with her full name Katheryn. Before "Bandaids," Katy had not released new music since her September 2024 album 143, which is shorthand for the phrase "I love you." On the first anniversary of the album, the "I Kissed A Girl" singer reflected on "the incredible impact this last year has had" on her, as well as her mindset behind making new music.
"Records are snapshots of an artist trying to tell their story of where they are now or have been," she wrote on Instagram alongside another angle of her "Bandaids" cover photo. "And hope someone will hear themselves in some of the messages." The "Firework" singer also referenced the "rollercoaster" she has been through over the years. "History is important," Katy continued. "We learn from history, we are reminded of how to and what not to do when we look back. We celebrate the wins and reflect on the losses. All of it is valuable." To her fans, she added, "Let's hope we get to evolve together for years to come and at the end of it all be proud and at peace with how we tried our best in this imperfect world."
