Katy Perry returns with Watch It Burn, a sharp, emotionally direct pop release that picks up where last year’s bandaids left off.
Produced by Justin Tranter, Jason Gill, Eren Cannata, and Daniel Crean, and co-written by Perry alongside Tranter, Cannata, Crean, Gill, Amanda “Kiddo” Ibanez, and Skyler Stonestreet, the track pushes her vocal power into a darker, more confrontational space.
At its core, Watch It Burn is about the moment silence finally breaks. Perry moves away from people-pleasing and polished “love and light” language, turning suppressed anger into full-scale release. No soft-focus healing arc here — just the part where the emotional receipts catch fire.
The Christian Breslauer-directed video premiered alongside the single, continuing the visual thread first teased in bandaids. Together, the two tracks form a clean emotional sequence: wound, then release.
The rollout also leans into fan demand, with Watch It Burn already one of Perry’s most chased unreleased songs after appearing as an Easter egg in the bandaids video.
Katy Perry brings the new era to the UK next week with two festival dates: Depot Live at Cardiff Castle on June 30 and Blenheim Palace Festival on July 1, before further European shows this summer.
Watch It Burn Lyrics:
For years
You fed me only crumbs
You paid me only dust
Said I was too hard to love
Oh oh oh
For years
I tried to rise above
Was only light and love
But now I’m shut the fuck up
Oh oh oh
You know I gave and I gave
Now I’m giving up
There’s nothing more you can take, no
Don’t wanna cause a scene
But give me the gasoline
Tonight’s the night
I light a match
Throw it hard behind my back
Gonna try to forgive and forget
Light a cigarette
And watch it burn
With the past
I’ma breathe in the ash
Gonna try to forgive and forget
Light a cigarette
And watch it burn
Thank you
For showing me the pain
This was not a mistake
The mistake would be to stay
You know I gave and I gave
Now I’m giving up
There’s nothing more you can take, no
Don’t wanna cause a scene
But give me the gasoline
Tonight’s the night
I light a match
Throw it hard behind my back
Gonna try to forgive and forget
Light a cigarette
And watch it burn
With the past
I’ma breathe in the ash
Gonna try to forgive and forget
Light a cigarette
And watch it burn
I’m gonna get what I deserve
I’m sorry I know that it hurts
Finally I put myself first
And watch it burn
I’m gonna get what I deserve
I’m sorry I know that it hurts
Finally I put myself first
And watch it burn
Gonna try to forgive and forget
Light a cigarette
And watch it burn
I’m gonna get what I deserve
I’m sorry I know that it hurts
Finally I put myself first
And watch it burn
I’m gonna get what I deserve
I’m sorry I know that it hurts
Finally I put myself first
And watch it burn