Songfacts®:

• If you've ever wondered what it might sound like when "Never Really Over" finally is over, Katy Perry's "Bandaids," released November 6, 2025, might be your answer. Written in the long emotional afterglow of her relationship with actor Orlando Bloom, the song finds Perry surveying the wreckage of a love that was bright, cinematic and, maybe a little doomed from the start.
• Perry and Bloom began dating back in 2016, a pairing that at first seemed like something out of a pop culture fever dream: Legolas meets California Gurl. They broke up, got back together (the period that inspired "Never Really Over"), got engaged on Valentine's Day 2019, and in 2020 welcomed their daughter Daisy Dove Bloom into the world. Then, in the summer of 2025 came the final curtain call. "Bandaids" is the sound of Perry trying to make sense of it all, equal parts wound and wisdom.
• The song pokes at the idea that we sometimes try to fix heartbreak with something small, temporary, and utterly inadequate.
  
  Telling myself you'll change, you don't
  Band-Aids over a broken heart
  
  Perry got used to him letting her down, lowered her expectations and made every justification, but she grew tired of being the only one doing the emotional heavy lifting.
• The bridge softens into something unexpectedly tender:
  
  The love that we made was worth it in the end
  
  In the music video, as Perry delivers that line, she spots a single white daisy, a nod to the daughter she and Bloom share.
• Perry co-wrote "Bandaids" with Kiddo Ibañez alongside producers Justin Tranter, Eren Cannata, Sean Cook and Russ Chell.
  
  Amanda Ibanez, also known as Kiddo A.I., is a singer, topliner, and multi-instrumentalist from Miami. Her resumé also includes several credits on K-Pop songs like Le Sserafim's "Crazy" and Jennie's "Like Jennie."
  
  Pop songwriter Justin Tranter's other credits include Justin Bieber's "Sorry," Selena Gomez' "Good For You" and Chappell Roan's "Good Luck, Babe!"
  
  Eren Cannata is a member of Tranter's Facet Publishing team. His collaborations with Tranter include Sofia Carson's "Come Back Home" and Tom Grennan's "It Can't Be Christmas."
  
  New Jersey guitarist and producer Russ Chell has also worked with Lil Nas X ("Rodeo") and Future ("Worst Day").
  
  Sean Cook has played an integral role in shaping Shaboozey's sound and recording process, including co-producing "A Bar Song (Tipsy)."
• The music video, co-directed by Perry and Christian Breslauer, takes heartbreak to absurd extremes. In a series of macabre slapstick scenes reminiscent of Final Destination, Perry narrowly avoids a number of gruesome fates: her hand shredded by a garbage disposal, her shoelaces devoured by an escalator, and a stray log colliding with her car. The final moment is pure Katy Perry theater: she lights a cigarette at a gas station as her earlier single, "Woman's World," plays in the background, triggering a massive explosion. If heartbreak can't kill her, irony certainly might.
• Perry debuted "Bandaids" live on November 7, 2025, in Lyon, France, during her Lifetimes Tour.
• Katy Perry admitted that releasing "Bandaids" didn't come easily. "I struggled for months with the idea of putting this song out," she wrote on Instagram. "Even after all these years, it can still be scary to be vulnerable. But I hope the lyrics reach someone going through what I've been through, and that they won't feel so alone, that they'll find the strength to keep going, like I have."