Some highlights from Katy Perry’s NME interview were released in the same 24-hour news cycle as Katy’s album drop. It was also the same cycle as Taylor Swift’s shady-ass decision to re-release all of her music on streaming services, because a petty gaslight bully has to do her thing, you know? So, it all happened at once: Katy talking directly about how Taylor tried to “assassinate her character” with little-girl Swiftloonies, Katy dropping her album, and Taylor being a gigantic snake emoji. What might have gotten lost is that Katy’s NME interview was actually a decent read. I like that she’s been consistently addressing the Swift stuff head-on, in a way Taylor never would. Taylor is too “coy,” too blonde, too “innocent” to come out and say “I hate Katy Perry.” So I like that Katy doesn’t do subtext. Katy also talks about what she learned about life and America while campaigning hard for Hillary Clinton, and much more. Some highlights:
How she left the spotlight for a few years: “I know exactly when it’s appropriate to get [in] the spotlight or turn the spotlight off. Every once in a while, I’m really good at turning off my magnet and when I’m about to release a record, like, let’s go. I’m here to serve.”
She read a lot of philosophy during her break: “I’ve got a massive crush on Socrates. I’m like, dude! The guy that asked too many questions. Me too! There’s a saying like, ‘the longer you live life, the better you get at living it, so stick with it.’ You’ve learned all the tricks of the trade and wisdom comes with age. For me, I guess I did a lot of mending, basically.”
How those nuns accused her of being a witch: “God bless those nuns because I really feel for them, but just because I dressed up like a witch once doesn’t make me a witch. I dressed up like a Cheeto. It doesn’t make me a Cheeto, you know what I’m saying?”
The conspiracy that she’s JonBenét Ramsey: “That one is definitely the craziest [thing I’ve read about myself]. Maybe it came from… I had a picture of me as a young girl in a glamour pose that looks a little pageant-y, but it’s wild.”
Campaigning for Hillary Clinton: “Oh, it worked. It worked,” she says, with deathly seriousness. Er. How? “[Hillary] woke the sleeping giant and there’s something bigger than her, than me, than any one person that is happening right now. Something brilliant is really happening, which is: people are waking up. People are waking up and we wouldn’t have… we would have continued in the same pattern, in the same way, in the same comfort, in the same utopia. We’re waking up, we’re all voicing our opinions, we’re all getting more educated, we know the names of [members of] Parliament and the names of [United States senators] more than we know the names of band members these days. That’s how it should be, because those people actually help change our lives, sometimes.”
When did she get “woke”? “Do you know, it’s so funny – don’t you feel like we’re in a race to become the most woke? Well, I did [willing enter the race], but somewhere along the way I realised that there is no destination, it’s just a journey. Do you know what I’m saying? Can someone tell me where the starting line and the finish line of all the wokeness is?”
She’s not perfect: “I guess I’m just… I’m very OK with not being perfect. I never try and come off as though I’ve got all the answers. I’m a constant work-in-progress. I’ve come so far mentally, spiritually, physically, musically and I have so far to go. I always tell myself there is no there there – and that’s totally fine.”
Many people seem to believe that fandoms have to be zero-sum game, as in you have to be stanning for Taylor or stanning for Katy and nothing in between. While Katy has issues (John Mayer, Asian appropriation, that Britney sh-t), can the Swift stans honestly say that their girl doesn’t have profound issues too? So it’s not even about which one is more or less problematic at this point. It’s more about who seems more honest, more real, more willing to be themselves. Katy is a mess, but she owns that and I genuinely believe she learns from her mistakes. Taylor makes mistakes too, only she’s got the Innocent Child Act down to the point where she never has to own up to anything.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
I’m so over this “woke” phase.
“we know the names of [members of] Parliament and the names of [United States senators] more than we know the names of band members these days. ”
I absolutely disagree. Many people know many more names than they did a few years ago, but the pop culture machine is still strong and still working. Dear pop singer, don’t try to convince your followers they are more ‘woke’ than they really are, or that their eyes are pointed in the right direction to keep watch on the people who make significant changes to laws that affect our lives while you’re on a GIANT PUBLICITY TOUR FOR YOUR NEW POP MUSIC ALBUM and all those eyes are on you.
but like she says, nobody is perfect.
Katy have a SEAT. Hillary didn’t awaken anyone but complacent white people. The rest of us have been “woke” because it’s necessary to navigate this racist backward country without dying.
So so true.
Thank you.
I can’t help but roll my eyes every time a Susan Sarandon, Lena Dunham, Katy Perry kinda chick mentions how people are “awake now.”
I’m over it, and over this nonsense in general.
In what other instance does someone brag about being late as hell to a party?
Alex is always the VOICE of reason
I’m hoping she senses that it’s time to go into hiding again.
Girl please. Sit down. Taylor never said if Bad Blood was about Katy nor confirmed it. Doesn’t matter if people thought it was about her. Perry started this feud in her head three years too late and now she looks dumb. Trying to promote a flop album not a lot of people are buying.
Oh please Swiftie, of course Taylor started it. Katy is stupid and annoying for keeping it going. Taylor is definitely the one who started it and continues it as well.
By not talking about Katy in 3 years? I guess even by keeping quiet she’s doing something evil?
I want you to show me where Taylor said anything about Katy Perry three years ago. Where did she say or confirmed that Bad Blood was about her. I’ll wait.
She didn’t say the name, but she confirmed that Bad Blood was about Katy Perry and called her an enemy:
“For years, I was never sure if we were friends or not. She would come up to me at awards shows and say something and walk away, and I would think, ‘Are we friends, or did she just give me the harshest insult of my life? She did something so horrible. I was like, ‘Oh, we’re just straight-up enemies.’ And it wasn’t even about a guy! It had to do with business. She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour. She tried to hire a bunch of people out from under me. And I’m surprisingly non-confrontational – you would not believe how much I hate conflict. So now I have to avoid her. It’s awkward, and I don’t like it.”
Okay so let me get this straight. Taylor said that she felt attacked and wrote a song about how Katy tried to sabotage her tour which Katy confirmed that she did try to do by telling the dancers to put in a 30 days notice when that is something you don’t do when you go on tour as dancers on Carpool Karaoke and Katy is playing the victim???? Got it.
By putting all her stuff on streaming websites the day Katy’s album dropped e.g.? That’s called a petty move by even the most mainstream media like Washington Post and The Telegraph. She’s smart not to talk directly, but her friends like Ruby Rose and Selena Gomez couldn’t wait to jump on Katy any moment that she did something and put Taylor back in the picture and remind everyone of the feud.
I think it is petty as well. But I also think if Katy had put up her music up to stream on the day Taylor released something a lot of people would be cheering her on. I don’t think bad behavior should be rewarded on either end – especially this long after the initial incident.
Totally agree with that.
See that is the problem with people like you, who think just because a friend of someone says something they are automatically talking for that person. You know damn well you can’t always stop your friends from saying something in standing up for you. As for her putting her music back on streaming that is very easy. It tells Katy I am not the one you want to mess with.
Are you even listening to yourself? You say that Taylor told Katy that she shouldn’t mess with her and you think that this is not continuing their petty feud? They are both petty and childish and thirsty for attention. That’s what their behaviour says.
The grown up thing would be from either of them to tell that they are over it. They are sorry and then move on. As long as they don’t do either of it both are petty.
Don’t put words in my mouth. I never said that there wasn’t a feud. What I said is plain and simple Taylor is not someone who Katy wants to mess with. Hence the reason why Katy is grovveling and saying she is sorry. But of course I’m sure to you it makes her seem like the more grown up of the two when it was Katy that started this feud. Recap Taylor said she felt attack by Katy and wrote bad Blood about the dancers. Katy on Carpool Karaoke confirmed she did try to sabotage the tour by telling the dancers to put in a 30 days notice. Something not done in the industry. Now Katy is playing the victim in all this.
Are you in the industry? Katy said she hired the dancers that worked with her before. That’s not trying to sabotage someone. If they wanted the dancers would have stayed with Taylor, but they said themselves that they prefered working with Katy.
In every job you have people who will snatch the job you want or get the promotion you work for. Do you call them your enemies and start a feud? Then you start to write ugly messages on toilet walls? If yes that makes you a petty childish person and the one to start drama. Katy is equally petty for continuing like that and paying back, but they are both wrong in this. Taylor is not the victim here, as Katy isn’t either.
Yes I was in the industry before. When you hire a dancer its for the entire tour. We have no idea if those dancers were principal dancers and had the main stage or center stage or if they were back up and were somewhere on stage left or stage right or whatever. You need to go back and watch what Katy said. She said the dancers asked her if they could work for Taylor she said yes but make sure you put in a 30 days notice so you can come work for me when I am ready to go back on tour. That is call sabotage. You don’t pull that. If you are the kind of person who will start a new job and then 30 days later say well I’m leaving because so and so wants me thats you. It leaves your employer in a lurch. No you are wrong Katy is playing the victim and has stretched this out way longer than Taylor ever did.
Is she still talking??
And least Taylor has some talent and really is a good writer and doesn’t need to sing songs about getting eaten out.
Yeah, she just sings songs about chewing everyone out for profit instead. And slut shames women who dare to date boys she’s also dated. The moral high road for sure.
The music industry has women more talented than both Taylor Swift and Katy Perry who have songs about sex though.
hey ladies–enough.
we have been awake a long time.
sincerely,
everyone else except these late sleepers
“So it’s not even about which one is more or less problematic at this point. It’s more about who seems more honest, more real, more willing to be themselves.”
Honestly, I think they’re a tie there as well. Do we REALLY think Katy is being completely genuine all the time? She’s selling a version of herself just as much as anyone else – she’s saying the things she thinks people want to hear. Katy Perry the product doesn’t necessarily equal Katheryn Hudson the person.
I think she’s grown – but I also don’t think it’s a case of Taylor being completely stagnant growth-wise. Katy seems to have taken an interest in some great things – but I don’t really think she fully understands what she’s promoting – or the way that she really is jumping onto a bandwagon as if it’s something brand new, when others have been putting the legwork in for decades. I think her enthusiasm is great – honestly, I do. But I feel like she’s in love with the fanfare of it all more than she is actually understanding the struggle that others have had to go through. I’m not saying that it’s intentional, either.
She’s had an incredibly privileged career, with some moments of ‘punching down’ as well – so good and bad. And despite her new outlook – some of the punching down has been pretty recent. I’m not expecting her to be perfect – nobody is. But when you’ve adopted a movement, and are marketing yourself with that in mind – you really need to be more aware of the missteps you’re taking, and try to figure out why they’re an issue. I’m not sure she’s at that point though – it seems to be sort of a big shrug-off in a lot of ways.
Katy doesn’t come off as incredibly genuine. I’ve never been a big fan of hers- I always got just as much of a mean-girl vibe from Katy as I have from Taylor. I don’t think either of them deserve praise when they’re acting shady. I don’t think Katy should have been jumping on the snake emoji bandwagon, and egging on people that are feuding with Taylor. I think if it’d been a direct, one time response to the situation I’d be able to excuse it a lot more – but she’s drug it out for years now, and I don’t think that’s something to celebrate. She deserved to get mad, and respond – but at some point you have to stop allowing the person who’s bothered you to keep up space in your brain – if only for your own sanity.
Nah. Katy may be problematic in many ways. She may even be ignorant. But she has owned up to these thing publicly instead of hiding them. She has stated herself how uneducated she feels due to her cultish upbringing and how she feels it puts her at a disadvantage. I honestly don’t get the vibe that she’s a rocket scientist, but I do get the feeling that there is a sincerity there and that she really does try. Perhaps not as perfectly as a regular person, but I don’t believe that it’s entirely for show either.
That’s sort of how I see her too.
I was neutral about Katy Perry at first- her music is meh, she was just a boring overrated pop star with cool fashion- but she was mostly inoffensive and as you said she started showing an interest in and support for important causes that increased my respect for her despite – but then some information came out about her trying to call a group of black artists she was working with ‘my n**gas’. She was about 30 at the time. It’s not that she has no potential for growth, but that issue was something she should have known better about, (cough cough, Maher) and she didn’t handle it at all. She never addressed it, apologized, or showed any understanding of why it’s not ok for her as a white person to try to co-opt any version of that word as a term of endearment.
Taylor Swift personally irritates me though. She’s a feminist when she’s the subject of misogyny and/or any criticism, but says nothing about the Nazis within her fanbase using her to support their racist ideals and is afraid to alienate Trump supporters within her fanbase (or is so petty that she didn’t want to be associated with the political candidate Katy Perry supported). The way she handles any conflict or criticism from other celebrities is to have her squad rush to her defense in ridiculous ways, and in her little Kimye feud she was fine with someone on her team using a racist trope to defend her by positioning her as an ‘innocent blonde’ white girl. Even before all of these things went down within the past year I was already set to not like her though, because of years of noticing a pattern of sexism (and in one case, with some racism thrown in) with a lot of her fans.
She did an interview with DeRay McKessan on his ‘Pod Save the People’ podcast this week where she addresses cultural appropriation. He presses her on appropriation and her Snapchat video. It’s a great interview and I think she came off really well.
Yes! DeRay is phenomenal. He has the unique ability to be gracious while pressing people to think deeper. Some of her comments were a bit cringe-worthy but he kept going and in the end I think I he made an impact.
I give zero f*cks for either of Katy or Taylor, but I have to say in this instance it kinda looks like a big old Katy thirstathon… like the thing was three years ago and it’s suddenly getting brought up in a new angle in every single effing interview she does. If she’s so “woke” and her mind is so expanded and politics and awareness and whatnot, why is she bringing this gossip up every time? & I’m a bit surprised at this site using every fresh sound bite to get behind Katy. Every fresh sentence from Katy reknforces that she’s a self absorbed thirsty twit.