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Don’t kill me, Katy Perry fans, but I don’t think Katy is a live act. She’s fine – nay, harmless – when she’s on the radio, on some recorded and autotuned song. But get her in front of a live audience, and you see just how weak her voice is. I noticed it when I saw her perform on some MTV awards show last year, and I noticed it again this morning, when she performed on Today. Granted, she sang that horrible, annoying “California Gurls” song which I totally hate, but the song sounds even worse live:
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Now, I will give Katy some credit: she has a lot of confidence performing in front a live audience, and she knows how to make a spectacle. And she looks cute in her outfit – her figure is lovely. But my God, the screeching. YIKES. Of course, you are free to disagree – Katy seems to have gotten half-decent reviews for her Today performance. But I’m still holding at “yikes.”
Katy Perry on August 27, 2010. Credit: WENN.
Written by Kaiser
Posted in Katy Perry, Music
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67 Responses to “Katy Perry performs on ‘Today’: is she cut out for live performances?”
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I have lost a lot of dislike for Katy after she clarified her Lady Gaga comments in a recent magazine interview. Still the woman isn’t talented by any means. She sucks and I have no idea what kind of person likes her recent material.
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This song makes me want to harm myself.
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Cute girl, but you’re right Kaiser-that was GOD AWFUL!
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omg….its amazing how much she sucks!
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I LOVE HER!!!
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She is all spectacle. I know people say that about Gaga, but Gaga’s spectacle is more interesting and she has an awesome voice. I can’t stand Katy Perry. Other than a hot body (and not even an especially pretty face) I don’t see why people like her. I also really hate this damn song.
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I don’t want to like her (or think she’s got talent) because I don’t appreciate her Naughty preacher’s daughter, pseudo-feminist/playboy bunny-esque schtick . . . but I’ve heard her sing live on some t.v. show awhile back and was really impressed.
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Duh. After her live performance on Idol of “Waking up in Vegas”, my ears bled for a week. She’s just a cleaned up version of Britney Spears when it comes to having a voice.
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I have to give her credit for not being ashamed to sing live when she sounds like total crap. Anyone else with that sh*tty of a voice wouldn’t consider becoming a singer, but Katy just went for it. It’s a joke how poorly she sings live.
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I think Katy has a very sweet and alluring personality, but she certainly isn’t the most talented singer. She is more so a novelty act.
There are songs in which her voice does sound pure and has somewhat of a range, when she is doing her acoustic stuff, but her more mainstream pop songs she just can’t sing. Her voice just sounds very pitchy and you can tell she has a hard time singing a note for longer than a second.
I feel this way about a lot of singers, Taylor Swift, Miley, Madonna, and Britney Spears, none of them have great voices, they just happen to have a larger than life personality. Katy is no exception to the rule. True talent never seems to get you far these days.
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She sounded WAY better singing Teenage Dream on Letterman the other night. This morning was not great.
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i love her set.
just like i loved it the ‘FIRST’ time i saw it in fergie’s ‘fergaliscious’ video.
trés original.
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she was awful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Jesus. She sounds like someone trying to do drunken karaoke of the song– but it’s actually hers! Unbelievable.
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Thank you, thank you, thank YOU! FINALLY!
I couldn’t agree more and noticed around the same time (MTV Awards). She’s really not talented much at all, but knows how to maintain that “it factor” that makes people want to watch her for some reason. It will take her a ways, but at some point people need to call a spade a spade.
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I hate that song, and she sucked!
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Here’s someone who has made a career out of being tone deaf. At the end of the video, are the people cheering her on or screaming in terror?
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Yes, I’ve seen her live and she sucks her Letterman performance was only marginally better; it’s truly sad that they are so many better female singers out there – Alison Ireheta, Corinne Rae Bailey,etc. – that won’t skank themselves up and don’t have pr teams working overtime but are largely ignored; you are not a singer if you can’t sing live – just for shits, giggles, and nostalgia I went back and listened to some of Janis Joplin’s live stuff – yes, different time higher standards but amazing – a lot of today’s generation simply doesn’t realize what great live music they’ve missed for crap like KP.
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she’s stuck in beauty pageant mode…
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Not a fan of her music, but I love her “spunk” or whatever you wanna call it. Plus, she is very beautiful.
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Saw it and loved it! And I love the song too.
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I don’t like any of these performers. But this is how I rate them best to worst….1. Lady Gaga, who at least can play an instrument. 2. Katy Perry, who at least seems approachable. 3. Kesha, who I believe was told she smells like shrimp in a diaper?
No offense to people who seem to like this kind of music, there were a lot of people in wigs at this who seemed to be having fun. Good for them. *barf*
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It’s fitting that those lollipops are around her because she SUCKS!!!
Kill that song or kill me! I can’t take it!
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I was watching the Today show this morning and I had to turn it when this came on; I was really embarrassed for her.
I think it goes without saying that she is not a talented singer; being a good performer and having a beautiful voice are not the same thing.
She knows what gets attention and she knows how to put on a interesting enough live show. But she certainly is not a great singer, and I would question the hearing of one who thinks otherwise.
She is not the first person to achieve success in music without exceptional musical talent, and she won’t be the last.
But to give credit where it’s due, at least she doesn’t lip sync. She might not be great, but she’s honest enough.
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Yeah. Not good. I hate the tutu she keeps wearing everywhere as well.
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I cosign what HotPockets said. Katy’s a decent songwriter and she’s a relentless self promoter. I think she’s working hard and making the most out of a narrow window with her limited skills. If you look at some of the biggest pop stars out there right now, the Taylor Swifts and the Britneys, they can’t sing live. They make me appreciate Beyonce, Gaga, and Pink even more. Fergie too, she can sing.
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I didn’t bother to listen since I can’t stand California Girls. I have no clue why it’s such a huge hit. In general I like Katy but she is hit or miss live. Unfortunately a lot of artists are these days.
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Blech. I’ve also never seen a pop star before who couldn’t dance…at all. Check out any of her videos/performances…it’s pathetic. She makes Christina Aguilera look like Baryshnikov.
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Wow, she is awful. I remembering reading a story, probably here, about how she sang at some party and even made a crack about how she couldn’t got paid for singing. Terrible.
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I saw her live in Montreal and she was lovely! perhaps the sound was better because she was in a smaller venue as opposed to a large outdoor area
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Good thing she’s pretty and has that amazing rack.
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Katy Perry’s lyrics on The Today Show were totally inappropriate for the kids at home in the morning. I was appalled.
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Love her.
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Holy nerf balls… that was pretty bad. It’s a little sad that you can still hear how weak her voice is even through the pre-recorded vocals that accompanied her.
Just compare that segment (eek!) to Gaga’s epic performance at last years VMAs… unreal.
And I have to say, what a waste of a Snoop Dogg cameo…. this song really has to have one of the WORST Snoop raps, and I love Snoop. He’s my dawg, Dogg. So while I am an unapologetic lover of Mr Snoop D-O-double-G, I’m embarrassed that he was on this track. Boo!
One of CB’s earlier posts about Katy hanging out with Snoop Dogg also said she didn’t even smoke with him! WTF!?!?!? How can you kick it with motherfucking SNOOP DOGG and NOT SMOKE A BLUNT?!?!?
My mind is blown. I hate her forever just because of that.
… if it had been me, I would have been rolling some blizzos up as fast as we could smoke them. Tragedy!
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Honestly, I don’t think ANYONE could sing California Girls well period, because the song is just overall awful. That first note was horrible but I really like her voice and I think if she got some better writers she’d be soooo much more famous and respected…and if she writes her own stuff, she needs to stop (NOW) and hire some writers.
also….is it bad that i kind of want to be a california girls dancer? they look so cute and sassy and silly hehe
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Ugh, this song is an epically awful mashup of lyrics stolen from every song written about California in the last 50 years and hooks lifted from about half a dozen disco/funk songs I remember from when I was very young. THIS is the breakout hit of the summer? I’m depressed now.
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Katie Perry = suburbistan office chick music. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
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Katy is awesome and she comes across like she is having alot of fun with her career. Why are there soooo many haters in America? This country comes across so damn angry all the time. There’s plenty of room in the industry for both Katy Perry and Lady GaGa.
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Up to this point, I was on the fence about her boobs but in those pictures, I think they’re totally fake.
I finally received my Rolling Stone with her on the cover. I didn’t think I could hate her more but reading her interview, I’m overcome with the desire to punch her. She just can’t stop contradicting herself. She goes back and forth from coyly saying, “oh, I’m a good girl,” to jokingly lifting her skirt to show her natural hair colour. Idiot.
At this point too, I’m certain her relationship with Russel Brand is a sham. They’re probably the best either can get to increase their image in their respective countries.
I kind of want to see the video but as it stands right now, I’m pretty sure I haven’t heard that song and I’d kind of like to keep that going.
Ugh, I clicked it. It sucked more than I thought. And not awesome suckiness like that Danielle Straub video, that was epically awesome.
The only thing good about Britney, JLo and her are the fact that their voices aren’t good so you can sing along at home and your neighbours won’t complain.
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katy cannot sing live. there’s times, rarely, where her voice sounds decent, but is that really the standard now? shameful.
@LBees – let’s be friends! i co sign on EVERYTHING you said. i saw a snoop dogg concert a couple years ago and he’s incredible,but his cameo rap on this song is something he should be VERY embarassed about. but if i met the guy, there would be blunts-a-plenty.
@ soullover – she has some of the best song/hit writers who basically write every track, i’m sure katy shakes her boobs and gets song writing credit. i doubt any level of song writers could help her unless she gets a singing coach and works for a long long time. i started taking singing lessons at 4 1/2 and stopped at 18, having a good voice comes at the cost of investing the time and work to have it.
she wrote her own stuff on her first christian album…ever heard of it? didn’t think so…
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I am truly mystified at her successs. Sure, she’s hot. I even think she’s got a cute, spunky personality. But, last time I checked, she had the number one album on iTunes and a couple songs in the top ten. I mean, how did that happen?
I can certainly understand why she has a market (hint: her amazing rack), but that LARGE a market? Is this the best pop music can do right now? A third rate Britney who has a voice like a catholic schooled Joe Camel, dressed up as a poor man’s Christina Aguilera? Really?
I don’t object to her having some kind of a career. She’s fine enough to look at, and *some* of her music is listenable enough. I enjoyed that “ur so gay” song on her first album anyway. But, I do object to her being this inexplicably popular.
The fact that it took her whip cream can boobs in the California Gurls video to turn her from C list novelty act to this huge pop star is everything that’s wrong with pop culture today. That video was one of the most pathetic grabs for attention I’ve seen in a long time, and look how she’s rewarded! If the song had left her in the “novelty act” category, it wouldn’t bother me so much. But, no. It got her in respected magazines and headlining nationally televised morning concerts.
Was anyone else disturbed at all the young girls in the audience wearing those ridiculous wigs? I feel like all of them were watching this thinking “maybe one day, if I prance around in daisy dukes with a bikini on top, and shoot whip cream out of my boobs, I’ll be as beautfiul and talented as Katy Perry.” ugh, am I just getting old? Or does it suck more and more to grow up female every year? I hope I never have a daughter!
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Dang, she is tizzone dizzeaf.
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I started to watch the video…..then was going to turn it off….yuck……then I saw the bears – so colorful!! Kept watching……..just for the bears. They upstaged her. She was just phonin’ it in.
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I caught the end of her letterman performance and notice that most of the good singing was done by her backup singers….
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The best part of all this was the audience. The little girls with their blue wigs were cute and that grandma rockin’ out was great. But it says something when your audience is Tweens and grandmas.
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She sounds like she is out of breath.
I loved seeing the Grandma dancing along.
I was a little embarrassed for her when she tried to get the audience to sing along but you couldn’t hear anything until the cameras were right in their faces.
And yea, she sucks live. This song drives me crazy, it was okay the first hundred times I heard it. And she is a horrible dancer.
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I was expecting REALLY bad….not as bad as you made it out to be. I think Britney Spears is horrible live…I was expecting that quality. I’m pleasantly surprised.
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You know what the best part of the video was? THE YELLOW DANCING GUMMY BEAR!!! Oh how I crave gummy bears…
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Most artists now are not cut out 4 live bc they’re not even singing its all autotuned, but they get cocky and think they can sing and forget about what got them that top 10 song, and want 2 sing live w/ no assistance *smdh*
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I am not a Katy Perry follower, but I think she certainly passed the “live” test. I’ve seen Avril Lavigne, Taylor Swift, and Madonna,to name a few, do lots worse live. That song was cring-worthy though.
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me thinks you girls are jealous because she is so extremely attractive
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@ Dave
Me thinks you listen to her “singing” with other body parts than your ears.
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Everything about Katy Perry is manufactured and vapid. She can’t sing, can’t dance… she’s just eye candy, and even that’s only with “outrageous” outfits and ten pounds of makeup shellacked on her face. She’s Lady Gaga without any of the talent.
And I can’t take seriously any woman who sleeps with Russell Brand.
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Sorry but I love her .. and for her to sing live is saying something .. she’s honest!! Now lets see Britney Spears do this?? Everyone sounds different live, there’s no “computer” generated voices and help .. its good to see honest entertainers again!!! Lets hope this is the end of the Britney talentless types!!
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She sounded okay when being drowned out by her backup singers, so why did she do parts of her numbers solo? Damn, that was a bad, off-key voice.
Apparently she didn’t know about the Lisa Marie Presley debacle.
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wow. were we all watching the same video??? after reading everyone’s comments i was totally prepared to see, like, some sort of godawful massacre on stage….. it really wasn’t that bad. i mean, it wasn’t anything incredibly amazing or phenomenal, but it wasn’t this horrifically terrible singing even either.
i agree with the commentor that said that this country always comes across as so angry or full of hate. the amount of hate in the comment sections sometimes just seems a little….hmmm…crazy? i dont know…
…and just to let you all know, no, i am not some Katy Perry fan. i actually CANNOT STAND that friggin song and was totally repulsed when i first saw the video on MTV. i couldn’t believe it. of all the videos that she could have done for that song that video made absolutely NO sense. she should have saved that video idea for a different song. but whether i like the song or the video or think she’s talented or whatever, i’m certainly not going to begrudge her her success, she seems like she’s incredibly professional and hardworking, like she’s actually out there EARNING her money, not just sitting back and being bitchy towards her fans and not making appearances or cancelling shows or whatever. there’s lots of stars that are like that, and to them, sure, i get it. but she doesn’t really seem THAT bad, does she??
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Wow. So this is Katy Perry. I’ve heard better commercial jingles.
Dreck like this makes me so grateful for college radio. The fact that people are debating the merits of her vs. Gaga, Kesha, etc (don’t know all their names and certainly don’t care) tells me it really is a music wasteland out there on the commercial stations.
@Sumodo1- The lyrics were inappropriate for anyone with more than half a brain, not just young ones.
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I agree w/ KC…the dancing gummy bears were the best part!
Now I’m imagining stuffing my mouth with a handful of gummy bears.
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That was terrible… and she has the guts to go on the XFactor in the UK and judge people who want to be singers. I think she’s pretty and looks cool, but can’t sing!
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Well she really cant sing.. shes no gaga!
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I thought her performance was fine, just didnt like the set design. What is it with the gummy bears?
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I heard her sing live a year or two ago, and it was horrible then. You could tell that she was really struggling to reach some of the notes that frankly weren’t that high.
I think that any time your live performance is worse than a bunch of people doing it drunk on singstar, it’s time to hang up the microphones and just go to the soft pr0n career your tatas were made for.
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It really bugs me that people like Katy Perry have a singing career… she is not a singer, singers are supposed to start from singing in clubs and having a great voice. She should just do porn or Playboy, she’d be great at that. But don’t pretend she’s a singer.
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If I see one more post about how ‘lovely’ her figure is I’m going to shoot myself. SHE HAS THE FLATEST ASS EVER. Shaped like the letter P. SMMFH STOP THE MADNESS!!!!!
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@bw: Avril Lavigne is great live and has a way better voice than Katy Perry. Even Taylor Swift, who is really bad live, has more talent than Katy.
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annoying voice!..that´s the problem
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