Elias Leight of '' Rolling Stone '' named it " goofy " . Dave Holmes of '' Esquire '' noted that " like all great pop music videos , ' 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 . " Jordan Sargent of '' Spin '' wrote that the video was " bad " , though added " it does at least feel like Katy Perry in all her messy glory . Still , there 's a gulf between Perry 's slapstick character and the fang-toothed , confrontational song that 's impossible to bridge . As such , Perry barely even performs the song during the video . Instead , it 's as if ' Swish Swish ' is the music playing softly behind a comedy sketch that you 're not really meant to pay attention to . " Perry performed " Swish Swish " solo on the '' Saturday Night Live '' season finale on May 20 , 2017 . The performance quickly went viral , with much of the attention coming towards dancer Russell Horning , dubbed the " Backpack Kid " , whose arm-swinging dance move ( " the Floss " ) became widely imitated . Perry also performed the song during her set on BBC Radio 1 's Big Weekend on May 27 , 2017 , the Glastonbury Festival 2017 on June 24 , 2017 , as well as on '' The Voice '' finale on July 2 , 2017 , featuring male dancers in high heels . On June 26 , Minaj performed a verse of the song at the first-ever NBA Awards . Perry also performed the song live with Minaj for the first time at the 2017 MTV Video Music Awards . As stated by '' Billboard '' Joe Lynch , Perry started the performance " standing atop an enormous half-basketball on stage . " As Lynch wrote , " her backup dancers sport ed nets-for-veils on their faces " , while later " the half-basketball rotated around to reveal Nicki Minaj hidden inside . " Near the end of the performance , Perry flew " above the crowd and landing atop a basketball hoop just in time to end the show on a literal slam dunk while basketball balloons dropped over the crowd . " The song is also performed on Perry 's Witness : The Tour . Halfway through the performance , Perry invites a member from the audience onstage for a basketball shooting contest
NBA Awards
2017 NBA Awards
Swish Swish