Katy Perry is under investigation in Spain over her new music video for “Lifetimes”.
The pop star, 39, released the Balearic Islands-set video last Thursday (August 8), which sees her spending her day at the beach before heading to a club in Ibiza.
However, some beach sequences were filmed at the dunes of S’Espalmador on the nearby island of Formentera, which is a protected area of natural beauty.
In a statement, the Balearic Islands’s Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and the Natural Environment said that the production company responsible for the video had failed to request “authorization from the Regional Ministry to carry out the filming.”
“That is why preliminary investigation actions have been initiated,” it added.
However, it went on to clarify that they do not consider Perry’s actions a “crime against the environment” but rather an infringement as general photography and filming “can be authorized” in the area.
The Independent has approached Perry for comment.
“Lifetimes” is the second single from Perry’s upcoming seventh album 143, which is set to be released on September 20.
The first single, “Woman’s World,” was met with a mixed critical reaction. It debuted at No 63 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart, signalling a lukewarm start to the pop star’s highly anticipated comeback. In the UK, it opened at No 43.
Writing for The Independent, Adam White argued that Perry only has herself to blame for her troubled comeback.
“Katy Perry’s new single is a depressingly retrograde racket, a faux-feminist pastiche paying tribute to the ‘feminine divine’,” opined White.
“Titled ‘Woman’s World’, it would have been mortifying enough in its natural habitat of a Hillary-for-president fundraiser in 2016. But now, in 2024, it sounds little more than alarmingly antiquated.
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“With its Rosie the Riveter visuals and dreary lyrics about sisters, mothers and sexy confidence, the track also marks Perry’s return to music following two poorly received albums and several years manning the judge’s desk on American Idol, a show that rivals only Tony Blair and the mice in my kitchen cabinets in its refusal to go away.
“The internet, meanwhile, has decided that Perry should face the kind of digital flogging previously reserved this year for the beleaguered Jennifer Lopez and Justin Timberlake. Perry’s ethics, creativity, styling and choice of collaborators have all been put on trial at the Pop Culture Hague in recent weeks, with viral tweets and memes declaring her not only out of step with the times, but a punchline very much deserving of mockery and criticism.”