Never Really Over


"Never Really Over" is a song recorded by American singer Katy Perry, on her upcoming sixth studio album, Smile. It was released as a single on May 31, 2019, by Capitol Records. The song is an electropop track that heavily samples "Love You Like That" by Norwegian singer Dagny. It peaked within the top 10 in countries including Australia, Canada, Hungary, Mexico and Scotland, as well as the top 20 in countries including Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, the United Kingdom and the United States. At the APRA Music Awards of 2020, "Never Really Over" was nominated for Most Performed Pop Work of the Year.

Promotion and release

On May 27, 2019, Universal Music Group first hinted towards a new project when a few selected fans were invited to a "Katy Perry Fan Event" that took place two days later. Perry announced the song and revealed the official artwork on her Instagram on May 28. Its cover shows her with blonde hair and wearing an orange dress. The song was made available for pre-save on Spotify upon announcement. Good Morning America teased the song and the music video on May 30, 2019 before its release the following day.
On November 29, 2019, a Black Friday Record Store Day limited edition 12" orange vinyl was released, pairing the song with Perry's next single "Small Talk".

Composition

"Never Really Over" is an electropop song that contains a house beat. Perry co-wrote the song with Dagny, Michelle Buzz, Jason Gill, Gino Barletta, Hayley Warner, and its producers Leah Haywood and Daniel James of Dreamlab as well as Zedd, who collaborated in 365. The track is inspired by Dagny's 2017 song "Love You Like That" and runs for 3 minutes and 44 seconds.
It is performed in the key of A major with a tempo of 100 beats per minute.

Critical reception

Jillian Mapes of Pitchfork called it "a promising way forward" for Perry and her best single since 2013's "Walking on Air", appreciating the lyrics for not being "horrendously cheesy ". Mapes wrote that Perry made "bad decisions sound enticing" and hailed it as her "most impressively tongue-tied chorus to date". Chris Willman of Variety shared a similar view, saying the repetition in the chorus "somehow works to the song's tongue-twisting advantage". The A.V. Clubs Gwen Ihant wrote that the track "puts Perry right back in earworm territory" and called it an "impressive showcase" of her vocals with an "addictive hook songwriters dream of".
In The Independent, Roisin O'Connor regarded the song as a "truly gratifying return" for Perry after "a period of misfires", noting that it has "hooks galore and harks back her Teenage Dream days of uplifting, bright pop music." Ilana Kaplan of Rolling Stone favored "the return of her hypnotic vocals" and felt the song "puts Perry back where she belongs: on Sugar Mountain." In his review for Clash, Robin Murray deemed it a "pop jewel". On the other hand, Mikael Wood of the Los Angeles Times compared the song's "willfully imprecise" lyrics and "carefully reverbed" vocals to "Me!" by Taylor Swift, concluding that despite its charms, "Perry is probably no better protected." In The New York Times, Jon Caramanica described it as "Norwegianish Spotifycore" and a "bubble-pop" Swift song.

Commercial performance

"Never Really Over" debuted at number 15 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with 31,000 downloads and 15.8 million streams, giving Perry her 19th top 20 song in the country. "Never Really Over" also became her highest debut on the chart since "Chained to the Rhythm" in 2017 as well as her fifth highest entrance there overall. On August 7, 2019, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments exceeding 500,000 units in the United States.
In the United Kingdom, the song opened at number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Perry's 19th top 20 entry in the nation and has since reached number 12. It opened at number four in Scotland and number 47 in Germany. Elsewhere, "Never Really Over" debuted at number seven on Australia's ARIA Singles Chart and at number 19 in New Zealand.

Music video

A music video, directed by Philippa Price, was released along with the single on May 31, 2019. On May 29, 2019, Perry shared a teaser for the music video with the caption "Let it go..." It amassed more than 17.7 million views within its first day of release. It currently has more than 100 million views. The music video was shot at King Gillette Ranch in Malibu, California.

Reception

Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine praised the style and cinematography of the music video. He called it "a playful and imaginative portrayal of love's intoxicating spell and the lengths some of us will go to exorcise ourselves of it."
The video has been noted for its cultural references to hippie era and artistic similarities to New Age symbolism. Suzy Byrne of Yahoo! noted the video's spiritual themes and called Perry a "New Age goddess". She praised the concept and remarked that it was a "well-choreographed video".

Live performances

On July 15, 2019, Perry uploaded the first live performance of the song in a bathroom on her official Instagram account. On August 20, 2019, she also performed the song at Amazon's Post-Prime Day Concert in Seattle, Washington. On November 16, 2019, Perry performed the song at the OnePlus Music Festival in Mumbai, India. In addition, "Never Really Over" was part of Perry's setlists in the three shows she performed in the Jingle Ball Tour 2019. On December 13, 2019, Perry performed the song in a concert in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Two days later, she performed the song in another concert in Doha, Qatar. On March 11, 2020, Perry performed the song in a concert in Bright, Australia.
The first televised performance of the song occurred during Good Morning Americas 2020 Concert Series on May 22, 2020.

Track listing

  1. "Never Really Over" – 3:43
  1. "Never Really Over" – 3:07
  1. "Never Really Over" – 3:08
  1. "Never Really Over" – 6:11
  1. "Never Really Over" – 3:44
  2. "Small Talk" – 2:41

    Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history