Katy Perry hasn’t spoken about ending her six-year engagement to Orlando Bloom yet, but she is ready to sing about it. About four and a half months after their breakup went public, Perry has released her new single “bandaids,” which chronicles the dissolution of a relationship with a partner who is uninterested putting any effort into saving things. The accompanying music video makes it clear Perry is singing about Bloom by incorporating a powerful reference to their daughter, Daisy.
News of Perry and Bloom’s breakup was first reported back in June, with claims that distance was the cause as the two were often apart during Perry’s Lifetimes Tour. Though they seem to remain on good terms as co-parents to their five-year-old daughter Daisy, “bandaids” lifts the lid on the private struggles Perry was experiencing as she and Bloom drifted apart.
“It’s not what you did, it’s what you didn’t / You were there, but you weren’t,” Perry sings. In the chorus, Perry details how hard she fought to try to make things work: “Tried all the medications / Lowered my expectations / Made every justification.”
Although Perry says she was “flatlining trying to save” the relationship, she admits that she can look back on the times when things were “perfect.” Most importantly, she has no regrets about the romance because it brought her daughter Daisy into the world.
“If I had to do it all over again / I would still do it all over again / The love that we made was worth it in the end,” Perry sings in the bridge.
During these lines in the “bandaids” music video, Perry is about to resign herself to the recent hate train she’s experienced (a literal train emblazoned with “2025”). But once she spots a daisy sprouting amidst the rubble, Perry gains the strength to jump out of the way.
The daisy appears in the video as Perry sings, “The love that we made was worth it in the end.” So, even though things may have ended painfully, it sounds like Perry can still find the beauty in these last several years through her daughter.
