Katy Perry Is Dressin’ Up for “Birthday” Video, For Better or For Worse

It’s hard out there for pop stars making videos this week. On Tuesday, a sneak peek of a Katy Perry’s “Birthday” video drew criticism for its stereotypical portrayal of a bar mitzvah DJ, and today Avril Lavigne is fighting off accusations that her wacky “Hello Kitty” video was totally racist.

On the Perry front: the full video for “Birthday” premiered today, and it does little to quell concerns. As expected, it features a supposedly incognito Perry crashing birthday parties as five different costumed characters (Halloween pro tip: Jewish people aren’t costumes), and together they leave behind a trail of chaos, crying children, car accidents and… animal poop. As with any Perry video, there’s a lot going on, but the faux-hidden camera hijinks here distract from the fact that “Birthday” is actually one of the better tracks on Prism, her disappointing follow-up to the confectionary perfection of 2010’s Teenage Dream.