Katy Perry: I made this bed and I'll sleep in it
Wednesday, 26 Nov 2008 15:55
Katy Perry: I made this bed and I'll sleep in it
Her debut album - released under real name Katy Hudson - was full of Christian gospel numbers.
She's been accused of being a homophobe thanks to song titles like I Kissed A Girl and Ur So Gay.
She's caused a British tabloid to label her 'No 1 Idiot' by once having the temerity to pose for a picture holding a knife - the Sun presumably believes radio-friendly pop-rock singers are the celebrities most likely to influence aspiring young criminals.
She's sung her biggest hit while straddling a giant cherry chapstick and dressed as an NFL player rising through a Merseyside stage in front of an audience of millions.
And she's gone from unknown 24-year-old to worldwide chart-topping pop sensation in a matter of months.
inthenews.co.uk's Lewis Bazley meets Katy Perry to talk fans, flattery and the future.
The new single Hot N Cold, like I Kissed A Girl before it, has charted well before release, thanks to downloads - is the internet a big part of your success?
It's probably one of the most important things in my life. Blogging is just my own way of giving another look at my perspectives and no one controls it… well, no one really controls anything in my life but of course I don't do the HTML for my website! The internet is essential in my existence though and I think I take advantage of it. I want to be put things onto a flash drive and make a bracelet out of it for my next tour. I want to make the new wave because taking those chances is exciting to me.
Check out the Hot N Cold video below:
The internet's also meant that even at a tiny show like your first UK performance at the Water Rats - everyone knew all the words before the album wasn't even released….
I think people have gotten into this mode where they want things
now and if they don't get it, they'll download it. When my friend in London has Dance Wiv Me by Dizzee Rascal and Calvin Harris and I can't get it in the f*****g States, I'm looking to download it. Everyone's playing it, and I want it, so give it to me now! (laughs) I love that art, I want that art, you know?
How important are critics to you? Rolling Stone slammed you and you laughed about it on your blog, I think you wrote that you'd made it as you'd been trashed by them?
To even get a mention in Rolling Stone is amazing. They're the ones wasting the paper and giving me the time and paying somebody to critique my album - that, essentially, is flattery! (laughs) All that gossip and all those reviews are flattery. Even if they're parodying me on SNL and making a big funny fuss about it, I look at it as flattery.
And of course fans' opinions are more important than critics - most critics were dying to be musicians themselves but never made it. Sometimes they're accurate, sometimes they're not but it's just an opinion. There's things I haven't liked because I've seen reviews but then I started to like and they're things people have praised and I've bought and thought: 'Actually, this isn't
that good, it's just the trend of the moment'.
Is it annoying to be asked the same old questions, like 'have you ever kissed a girl?' or 'Is Ur So Gay homophobic'?
It's not annoying but any good journalist would know that the answer's already out there, I've given it in my sleep 1,000 times. I'm happy to answer those questions because they're always the same answers. And you don't bite the hand that feeds you, that's why I'm here. I sang a song called I Kissed A Girl - I know what I got myself into! (laughs) I made this bed and I'll sleep in it and I'll sleep well! (laughs) It's pop music.
How did you react to the Sun printing the really old picture of you with the knife?
It's a tabloid. That's what their job is. It's an unfortunate situation and really it was just a misrepresentation of a coincidence that had no correlation to what's going on here. I did a long photoshoot with lots of props in my hands and they just chose that one. It wasn't anything I was ever hiding, it was on my MySpace page. I think if people really want to believe that stuff, but I think anybody that uses both sides of their brain will understand to take some of that stuff with a grain of salt.
Click here to read the rest of the inthenews.co.uk interview with Katy Perry