bandaids Lyrics – Katy Perry

Katy Perry is done pretending the hurt’s just surface-level with bandaids, the raw lead single off her still-untitled seventh album, teased into the world on November 4, 2025, via Capitol Records, and it lands like finally pulling off a scab that’s been itching too long, that mix of relief and fresh pain you can’t look away from.

Perry’s always had a flair for turning personal wreckage into pop that sticks, and bandaids feels like her sharpening that blade after the glittery highs of 143. She dropped the reveal straight on her socials, no frills, just the track art and a link to this countdown on her YouTube channel—hours ticking down with that cracked-heart graphic from her last album slowly splintering apart, like a visual gut punch syncing with the lyrics. The sound’s got her classic build: starts intimate on acoustic strums, her voice cracking just right on those promises she tried to keep, then swells into a full-band chorus with synth swells and harmonies that hit like a therapy breakthrough.

It’s all about the quiet letdowns—the “you were there but you weren’t” vibes, lowering expectations until you’re just bleeding slow, slapping on those temporary fixes that never hold. No big co-writes teased, but you can hear her hand in every line, pulling from the emotional dust of recent years without chasing radio sugar.

This one’s flying solo as the opener for whatever she’s calling album seven, a project that’s shaping up as her most stripped-back yet, clocking maybe 12 tracks of that matured pop she’s been honing since Witness. Expect a runtime around 40 minutes, blending these confessional cuts with a couple upbeat rebounds to balance the weight—no tracklist out, but the countdown hints at more heartbreak-to-hope arcs, tying back to the resilience she owned on 143’s closers.

Perry’s in this potent spot at 41, fresh off 143’s chart-topping whirl that proved she could still command the sphere while getting real about joy’s flip side. Motherhood and a bit more distance from the machine have her writing like she’s talking straight to you, less fireworks and more flint strikes that light up the dark. It’s her saying the good times were real, even if the splinters linger.

X and TikTok went wild post-reveal, folks stitching the countdown cracks over their own breakup reels and #Bandaids trending with covers that capture that flatline plea. If 143 was the glow-up, this single’s the honest shadow that makes it all ring truer.

Dive into the bandaids lyrics below and unpack its raw narrative. Don’t miss other upcoming seventh album tracks for more of Katy Perry’s resilient fire.