Katy Perry is doing her best to survive a disastrous album rollout that has included widespread criticism over her choice to work with an accused rapist, two poorly performing singles, and Perry forcibly wedging her way into Kamala Harris’s campaign excitement. And now she’s in trouble for her music video. No, not the one where she filled her butt cheek with a tank of diesel fuel — this new one, which came out on August 8, has ticked off the government of coastal Spain because it shows her dancing on some ecologically important sand dunes.
In the video for “Lifetimes,” Perry’s new single, she is having the craziest European beach vacation of her life — dancing in caves, sleeping in bouncy houses, DJ-ing while throwing pizza into the crowd (her signature move), and getting ice cream from a closed sandwich shop called Jamon Y Queso. Honestly, album sales aside, I’m so jealous I could scream. Anyway, between all this partying, she scampers over to some beach dunes for a little carefree dance sesh. Perhaps a little too carefree, though, because now that the video is out, the Environmental Department of the Balearic Islands — the archipelago off eastern Spain where she filmed it — is investigating her production crew for possible environmental damage.
In a press release, the environmental department wrote that Perry filmed the video on the dunes of S’Espalmador, a pristinely preserved dune system in Formentera that is, per the area’s website, of “great ecological value.” TMZ pointed out that if you can see past the video’s happy-go-lucky camerawork and aggressive fake film burn, you might notice that the dunes are roped off, though to Perry and her location scout’s credit, they look roped off in a very casual, “maybe avoid these if you can” way. In fact, filming is apparently allowed on the dunes, but there is a formal request process that, per the Balearic government, Perry’s team did not follow — the press release claims they didn’t even apply for authorization.
A label spokesperson from Perry’s team disputed this in an email to the Cut, writing, “The local video production company assured us that all necessary permits for the video were secured. We have since learned that one permit was in process, although we were given verbal authority to go ahead.” They added, “We adhered to all regulations associated with filming in this area and have the utmost respect for this location and the officials tasked with protecting it.”
The Majorca Daily Bulletin is reporting that “preliminary proceedings have been opened” re: what to do about Perry’s big dune offense. It’s not clear what action they’ll take, but I assume a hefty fine will do the trick. Or they could just ban Ibiza’s nightclubs from playing “Lifetimes”?
This post has been updated.
