Don’t listen to the negative hype; Katy Perry has returned to form after a disappointing year that saw her switch identities like a mechanic switches tires. Esquire gives the new “Swish Swish” video a very negative review and claims that Perry is doing a great job of becoming history’s most unfunny pop star.

“‘Swish Swish’ leaves you exhausted, annoyed, confused, and a good seven years older than you were six minutes ago. It’s a shame, too, because when Katy Perry stops trying to be your hilarious best friend, she’s capable of great pop music.”

Spin isn’t happy either. Author Jordan Sargent says the video is weird, nonsensical, and it thoroughly rejects the song itself. Perhaps Sargent and others are missing the point. Katy Perry does weird and nonsensical better than anyone on the planet, and the video produces great vibes after Perry’s previous videos this year, where she takes herself way too seriously.

There’s not much of a plot to the video. There is a basketball game between the Tigers and the Sheep. Katy Perry plays “Koby Perry,” who the announcers say is someone who keeps falling flat on her face. The rest of the video produces poor (but purposely so) slapstick comedy. We see Katy flying up into space, playing with drag queen cheerleaders, getting injected with Koby Bryant’s sweat, and a beautiful Nicki Minaj, who films from a different studio, but still adds to the video’s humor.

Sure, some may say that Perry is “appropriating” drag queens for a match between two heterosexuals, but come on — she is no Charlottesville KKK member. And the cuts in the video are all over the place, making some joke that it was directed by a 12-year-old. And Perry’s overdone facial expressions could be annoying to some, but they recall the ridiculous Katy Perry we used to love.

Katy Perry’s new video has received a wildly mixed response on Twitter.

ok this swish swish music video by Katy Perry is straight up awful — Grigsby (@aspIoded) August 26, 2017

The Swish Swish music video is the reason I love @katyperry. Completely unafraid to be a goofball. Her sense of humor is golden. ???? — ashley ???? (@ashley_elayne) August 27, 2017

Perhaps the biggest reason why the “Swish Swish” video deserves an enthusiastic thumbs up is because it does what a music video is supposed to do — lure you into the song. “Swish Swish” didn’t make much of an impact on the radio or charts when released earlier this year, but the video, even though it barely has nothing to do with the song, will make you sing the song lyrics in your sleep. It’s already climbing back up the iTunes chart, and “Swish Swish” could make an even larger impact when Perry performs it at the VMAs Sunday evening.

It seems that we put pop stars in a no-win situation these days, especially when they’re really successful. We slam them for being too serious and scorn them when they make fun of themselves. No matter what anybody who is jumping on the “I Hate Katy Perry” bandwagon says, “Swish Swish” will end up being a classic in Perry’s excellent collection of music videos.

[Featured Image by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]