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They don’t build statues of critics.” So read the phrase emblazoned on a pink crop top worn by Katy Perry, in a photo shared to a recent Instagram story. The aphorism was made famous when the same shirt was donned by Charli XCX before a 2022 album launch. And you could see how it would resonate with Perry, whose recent musical relaunch has been met with sneers and disparagement from the wider critical establishment. The implication was simple. In the vein of that old snippy adage that “those who can’t do, teach”, the idea is that criticism itself is merely the worthless recourse of those unable to make resonant and popular art themselves.
