On last weekend’s Saturday Night Live, musical guest Katy Perry gave viewers a glimpse of her current Las Vegas residency Play which, among other frills, features phallic dancing mushrooms and a giant toilet.
The Pee Wee’s Playhouse-inspired show, which began in December at the Resorts World Theatre, is an auspicious move for the pop singer whose star has slightly dimmed in the past four years. Her latest record Smile debuted at No. 7 on the Billboard 200—certainly not a failure but a significant downturn for an artist who dominated the charts in the late 2000s and 2010s. Her commitment to brash bubblegum pop on that album and its predecessor Witness didn’t fare well against the more downbeat, R&B-influenced tunes crowding the radio. Likewise, it felt pointed when the singer chose to perform what should’ve been her triumphant return to the top, Smile’s single “Never Really Over,” on SNL to promote her Vegas show, given that the ever-expanding musical hub has granted Perry a chance at renewal.
The “Teenage Dream” singer is one several relatively young musicians bringing their talents to Sin City. Lady Gaga, who emerged at the same time as Perry, fulfilled her “lifelong dream” of “be[ing] a Vegas girl” in 2018, with Enigma featuring her pop hits and Jazz & Piano, a set of jazz standards and stripped-down renditions of her own songs. Some notable new additions to this year’s lineup are R&B duo Silk Sonic, consisting of Bruno Mars and Anderson Paak (although Mars is a Vegas veteran). Their 13-show residency at Park MGM’s Dolby Live! starts at the end of the month. Adele’s show at Caesars Palace was slated to begin in January but has been put on hold following complications from COVID and other technical issues. And Michael Buble will headline six shows in April and May.
It also feels notable that “the biggest night in music,” aka the Grammys, is being held in Las Vegas for the first time ever at the MGM Grand Garden Arena this spring.
The tourist city’s musical revival has been in the works for a while now. In addition to pop, country, jazz and R&B acts setting up shop along the Strip, the city has also been a stomping ground for the biggest EDM artists in the world via club residencies and festivals like the Electric Daisy Carnival. The hotly anticipated aging emo fest When We Were Young is set to launch at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds in the fall. Just this week, Rolling Stone magazine purchased Vegas’ Life Is Beautiful music festival. The iHeartRadio Music Festival has been lighting up Vegas since 2011, and for what it’s worth, the Billboard Music Awards has been held in Las Vegas from 1996 to 2019, just recently relocating to Los Angeles. But it wouldn’t be surprising, at this point, if it moved back.
When it comes to the traditional concert residency though, Celine Dion’s wildly popular Vegas act A New Day, running from 2003-2019, is largely credited with breathing new life into what was once considered a template for washed-up crooners and rock ‘n’ rollers in the ‘70s and ‘80s.
In 2018, Justin Timberlake described the stereotypical image of the Las Vegas residency when he controversially compared them to “planning your retirement.” Ironically, his peers from the ’90s and early aughts have played a substantial role in defying this notion over the past decade. Namely, Britney Spears, Jennifer Lopez, Christina Aguilera, Mariah Carey, Gwen Stefani, Carrie Underwood and Usher have experienced increased visibility and renewed appreciation thanks to their months-long contributions in the entertainment capital. At this point, it’s merely a matter of time before the “SexyBack” singer, whose reputation has been riddled with controversy of late, seeks redemption within the crescent walls of Planet Hollywood’s theater.
Like most activities in Vegas’ nightlife, residencies are largely designed to give audiences instant gratification by playing their favorite tunes as opposed to testing out new material. But the format is equally about artists receiving the same amount of love and acclamation in return.
In a similar vein, these modern residencies have given musicians with a certain amount of longevity and credibility a chance to pay tribute to themselves amid an increasingly narrow number of opportunities to do so on a large scale. For instance, the Super Bowl halftime show has become the biggest full-circle moment a major artist can have, particularly in the past two decades. Following Colin Kaepernick’s NFL protests and new direction under Roc Nation, however, the selection process has never been more competitive, confusing, and controversial. Televised awards shows for music are also a place where we see artists perform medleys of their work, usually in tandem with receiving a lifetime achievement award. But these ceremonies have become less relevant, less extravagant, and feature fewer bona fide stars amid attempts to court Gen Z. On the other hand, the social media event VERZUZ has become the ultimate space for hip hop and R&B acts to salute their own catalogues during the pandemic.
Additionally, Vegas residencies have become space for artists to recuperate. Following a period of stasis in her film and music career, Jennifer Lopez showcased her dancing ability and high level of showmanship in her All I Have residency from 2016 to 2018, right before her celebrity would peak again. Similarly, Gwen Stefani’s music career has been in a weird state of limbo following her third solo record in 2016 and a middling Christmas album. But her Just A Girl show, which wrapped up last year, gave her a musical outlet when she wasn’t on The Voice or performing a duet with husband Blake Shelton. Even after the very public failure of her latest single “Slow Clap,” she was able to rebound at Planet Hollywood with another successful round of shows.
An advertisement in Las Vegas for Katy Perry's residency
Ethan Miller/GettySo what does it mean that acts like Adele and Silk Sonic, who are still dominating the musical landscape, are opting for Vegas auditoriums over arenas and stadiums to perform brand new music? And will this lead to a new wave of artists in their thirties and forties forgoing traditional tours for the Strip? Obviously, it wouldn’t be the first time a contemporary pop artist has chosen this route. And we don’t know if this will be their only tour stop. Beyonce, for example, enjoyed a few brief residencies during her I Am.. Sasha Fierce and 4 eras before inevitably traversing the globe. For all three acts, it feels in line with their traditionalist leanings as artists, concentrating more on delivering vocals and an intimate listening experience.
For Adele, who’s long expressed her resentment toward the fast-paced, oversaturated music market, her residency reads like a tactic to differentiate herself from the current slate of pop singers and melodic rappers who’ve achieved her level of dominance in a much quicker span thanks to algorithms and hit-making platforms like TikTok. Much like Drake withdrawing his nominations from this year’s crowded Grammys, it feels like a refusal to compete with a new, unfamiliar batch of musicians in at least one area of business. It’s easy to envision artists like Kacey Musgraves, who looked extremely out of place at last year’s very Gen-Z VMAs, or Lana Del Rey, who courts older millennial listeners, eventually wanting to make these distinctions.
For the last pre-streaming class of musicians, Vegas largely seems to provide a sense of stability and permanence in a fast-changing landscape. In the case of Perry, whose campy showmanship has earned Play rave reviews and has the internet nostalgic for her quirky artistic vision, it seems to be paying off.
