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Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom’s relationship experienced strain amid the singer’s latest endeavor.
An insider tells PEOPLE, “Katy was deeply frustrated following the lackluster [reception] of her new album,” 143, which came out in September. “It made her very stressed. Orlando was understanding, but it did cause some tension.”
A second source adds, “This was supposed to be Katy’s big comeback. She was excited. It’s been devastating to watch it fall flat. She’s disappointed in the tour reviews. Ticket sales are fine, but nowhere near sold out. It’s put stress on their relationship.”
Reps for Perry and Bloom did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
Perry’s vision for her latest album was creating “a bold, exuberant, celebratory dance-pop album with the symbolic 143 numerical expression of love as a throughline message,” she said in a statement at the time. The album title 143 refers to the retro shorthand of “I love you” via pager communication.
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The “Teenage Dream” singer spoke to PEOPLE in February about the negative criticism she received for 143. “You shouldn’t read it when it’s good. You shouldn’t read it when it’s bad,” she said.
Perry, 40, added, “My therapist said something that really changed my life. What anybody thinks about you is none of your business. It’s what you think about yourself.”
She also said she created the album from “a real shift in my life when I became a mother, and I really tapped into that feminine divine energy. The messages on it are celebratory. They’re about love.”
Perry previously experienced situational depression following the criticism stemming from her 2018 album Witness.
“I have had bouts of situational depression, and my heart was broken last year because, unknowingly, I put so much validity in the reaction of the public, and the public didn’t react in the way I had expected to … which broke my heart,” she said in a February 2018 interview with Vogue Australia.
In conjunction with her new album, Perry set off on her Lifetimes Tour in April, less than a month after participating in Jeff Bezos’ all-female Blue Origin flight, which received criticism over its cost and its alleged impact on the environment.
Perry seemingly addressed the criticism during the opening night of the Lifetimes Tour, asking the crowd in Mexico City: “Has anyone ever called your dreams crazy?”
Up next on Perry’s tour are shows in Australia through June. Perry then heads to North America making stops throughout the U.S. and Canada through August before heading to South America and Europe.
Among the U.S. cities the “E.T.” singer will stop in are Denver, San Francisco, Newark, Baltimore, Atlanta, Nashville and Miami.
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Perry and Bloom, 48, have been together for almost a decade. They got engaged in February 2019 and welcomed their daughter Daisy Dove in August 2020.
Most recently, Bloom and Daisy were both present for the Blue Origin flight.
