It must be fun to be Katy Perry. Judging by the official video for “Smile,” which she released on Facebook Watch on Aug. 13, life is like a day at the circus for the pregnant 35-year-old singer. At the start of the visual, Katy – conveniently dressed in a harlequin-style, black-and-white outfit and carrying what looks to be a cream pie – discovers a new SMILE video game on her laptop. With a controller in hand, Katy enters a circus-themed world, one that has her flying through the air like a trapeze artist, making friends with the Wolf Boy, battling a ringmaster (that looks sorta like Orlando Bloom) before facing the final boss. She also does all this while rocking a pair of clown-inspired “lewks” that also show off the baby growing in her belly. There’s even a dance break that allows Katy to shake her bump along to the track.
Towards the end of the video, there’s a very moment that seemingly references Katy’s pregnancy. Katy’s video game avatar – after beating the final boss – is reunited with a smaller, female version of herself. It’s not a stretch to interpret this as representing Katy’s soon-to-be-born daughter – which is incredibly sweet! Speaking of sweet things, like “Chekhov’s Gun,” she ends the video with her face covered in pie. Because, how are you going to have Katy dressed up as a clown without getting smacked in the face with banana cream?
Katy first released “Smile,” the title track to her upcoming album, on July 10. Four days later, she released a performance video. In the visual, she is – like in the official video – dressed like a clown, performing against a CGI background. While dressed in a set of blue polka-dotted overalls and an orange jumper, Katy literally clowns around while miniature versions of herself bring a “smile” to fans’ faces through a variety of clown-themed images.
This might be the last time that Katy’s baby bump makes an appearance in a music video unless she’s filmed a few more scenes for future singles. Funny enough, Katy announced her pregnancy in a music video. It was with “Never Worn White,” a song she released in March, that Katy confirmed that she and Orlando, 43, were expecting. She posed with her bare belly, showing off that she was quite pregnant. The bump would return in the follow-up, “Daises.” While dressed like a spring maiden, Katy would frolic through the flowers with the bun in her oven on full display.
Judging by the looks of things, Katy is due any day now. Ahead of the “Smile” video’s release, she spoke with the Los Angeles Times about her upcoming childbirth. “The pain will pass,” she said, admitting that she’s not afraid of going into labor. “It’s temporary. Five years ago, I would be like, ‘Get this out of me. ‘But I traced back the reasons I felt insecure about it from my own upbringing. And then I reprogrammed them. Our brain is really malleable. You can reshape it any time you want.”
