Katy Perry insists that her latest #1 single isn’t about Russell Brand

These are photos of Katy Perry attempting to go “incognito” yesterday as she struts (with guitar slung across her back) through Heathrow airport. She managed to hide the blue hair very well, but I tend to believe that anyone trying that hard not to be noticed … definitely wants to be noticed. Still, I’ll give Katy a break in this regard because Katy appears to be modestly dressed and truly aiming for a low-key transition to her connecting flight.

Beyond airport outings, Katy has reason to celebrate these days, for she has just achieved her seventh #1 hit on the Billboard charts. Which song? Oh, just “Part of Me,” i.e., the song she sang at this year’s Grammys taht was widely believed to be a performance designed to stick it to dodgy, errant Russell Brand. However, Katy has insisted to Yahoo! that her life is like “The Truman Show” and that the song is not about Russell at all but was actually written a few years ago. While that last detail is technically accurate, Katy did tweak the original lyrics onstage at the Grammys (and for the single’s official release) to include “You can keep the diamond ring. It don’t mean nothing anyway.” In other words, Katy can claim that she wasn’t calling out her estranged husband onstage, but we all know better. Further, it’s obvious that Katy was playing the sympathy card to sell her single, and it worked. In case you missed it, here’s a video clip of that performance again. I’m always amazed at Katy’s ability to willingly wear rubberized latex outfits without sweating up a storm:

Meanwhile, this week’s issue of Us Weekly has managed to secure Katy’s rider for the Grammys, and it’s the usual mix of fresh cut veggies, organic fruit, dry roasted edamame, vitamin watter, and Huggies baby wipes that one would expect from today’s breed of pop star. However, there are a few interesting items of note:

  • Arrangement of fresh flowers consisting of pink, white and purple hydrangeas, pink and white roses and peonies. OR if the above is not available, a selection of seasonal white flowers to include orchids.
    ABSOLUTELY NO CARNATIONS.
  • Driver policy

  • Driver must stay behind the steering wheel at all times.
  • The driver’s window must be down halfway at pickup and drop-off.
  • The driver will NOT start a conversation w/the client.
  • The driver is not security. The driver does not open doors. the artist’s security and entourage will do so.
  • Do NOT stare at the backseat through the rearview mirrors.

[From Us Weekly, print edition, March 12, 2012]

As autocratic as the driver policy seems, I believe that is essentially the ongoing standard for Katy’s on-ground transportation per her 2011 tour demands. However, what’s going on with the “no carnations” requirement? Does she believe (like Charlotte in Season 5 of “Sex and the City”) that carnations are merely filler flowers? At least she hasn’t outlawed hydrangeas like Madonna has done. Yet I will never understand the demand for a fresh flower arrangement that will simply go to waste after an hour or two of peripheral enjoyment. A demand like that borders into Goop territory, and I’m pretty sure that Katy hasn’t approached that level of pretentious annoyance yet.

Photos courtesy of WENN

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43 Responses to “Katy Perry insists that her latest #1 single isn’t about Russell Brand”

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  1. Lis says:

    I have to defend her on the demands list.

    She simply wants the driver to leave her alone. It’s not nice, but if you’re in the public eye, you need some privacy, especially if you’re paying the person.

    It looks like she simply wants the driver to be professional.

    As for the flowers, I think it’s like the “green M&Ms” demand that that band had a while back.

    It looks more like a test of the venue’s attention to detail than being a diva. If they can’t pay attention to relatively trivial details, then there will almost certainly be something wrong elsewhere.

    It’s basically a canary in the coalmine.

    • Kato says:

      I totally agree! I was thinking of that NPR story about the “green M&Ms” and how they used that as a way to measure the venue’s attention-to-detail. Looking at all they pyro she has at her show, I would want the venue to pay attention to every little iota on my list!

    • eileen says:

      I agree on the driver list. When we had drivers pick up athletes at the airport when I worked for a sports marketing company we had to have similar policies agreed upon as well. Its more about safety than bothering the star. If the driver is too busy looking at what the person in the back seat is doing, they aren’t paying attention to the road and its easy to be super curious and want to watch their every move in so close a space.

      The flowers? I don’t get it, but its common.

  2. clm says:

    carnations always remind me of funerals.

    • MorticiansDoItDeader says:

      Was about to post the same thing! I see my fair share of funeral floral arrangements and they ARE the go to funeral flower. They’re cheap and make the arrangement look more voluminous, but they’re ugly and don’t really have a scent. I don’t blame her for banning them at all! I could go the rest of my life without ever seeing a carnation again.

    • gg says:

      Carnations and daisys can stink like hell and they’re just filler flowers. That said, demanding flowers at all in a very temporary dressing room/suite seems ridiculous. I’d leave it at the name on the door.

      Also: THAT piece of crap is a number 1 song? People have zero taste in music. All I have to say.

    • MJ says:

      Yeah, carnations suck. This doesn’t seem too crazy.

    • Mouse says:

      My mom hates receiving carnations specifically because she says ‘they are funeral flowers they are for the dead’.

    • P says:

      These replies are non-sense, Carnations are flowers like any other. People made them cheap and funeral looking, so blame the people for your dislike.

  3. MB says:

    I don’t think the fresh flowers are a big deal at all. These performers are on the road for months (sometimes years) at a time and their ‘home’ is their hotel room and dressing room. They are entitled to as nice an environment as can reasonably be provided. Besides, carnations are fug.

  4. Sue says:

    Not a fan… Don’t get why she ever married in the first place. Did they ever spend any length of time together? Maybe she needed lyric inspiration? Also, don’t get her hair, it is def not pretty/attractive.

  5. Tapioca says:

    Seven number ones. SEVEN!! It makes you die a little inside, doesn’t it?

    • Jessica says:

      Tapioca – you are so right!! LOL Once you think about it, I kinda want to vomit a little.. lol

      • Ainsley says:

        She has a way of selling multiple versions of songs at super low prices and then adding them together to get #1’s. Her record label also buys craploads of radio airplay that most singers can’t get. It really sucks that people like her who are seriously lacking in talent are the people with major label support. Her #1’s are bogus.

    • gg says:

      Yes. It makes me want to cry. I know of so many super talented musicians that can actually sing that are absolutely skint, partly because of everybody downloading their small-fanbase albums and can’t pay their bills. Sad that this tripe is getting any attention.

    • MissyA says:

      Seriously!

    • sam says:

      I know right?! Ugh! and this latest song is actually really bad. I can kind of put up with some of the other songs, but it makes me so annoyed that she is earning these number ones when there are so many other great musicians out there past and present.

  6. Flan says:

    She’s way more successful than Brand.

    Rock on, woman!

  7. Dangerfox says:

    @Lis

    It was brown M&Ms with Van Halen

    http://www.npr.org/blogs/therecord/2012/02/14/146880432/the-truth-about-van-halen-and-those-brown-m-ms

    Trust me, I’m not defending the crazies and their insane demands. Who knows if some starlet is just anal about specific kinds of flowers, or if this demand is indeed one of those ways they get the venue to pay attention to specific details and safety. But you can probably assume if the rider is fairly straightforward, with one weird whacked out request, it’s probably in there to make sure everyone is doing their job correctly.

  8. That girl says:

    Is she still wearing her ring?

  9. fancyamazon says:

    The girl is ridiculous. The demands about the driver are justified, I guess, although they seem a bit over the top to me. But the “no carnations” thing is insulting to me as a florist (which I used to be). Carnations are the lowly workhorse of the flower world. They are not as nice to look at as roses or as exotic as orchids or bird-of -paradise or whatever. And many of the “top end’ florists refuse to use them because of people like this who think they are “beneath them”. These same people have no objection to a florist using goldenrod, which is known in the floral world as solidago, nor any other of a number of flowers which are commonly known s weeds.

    I guess what I am trying to say is that she is using the poor carnation to appear sophisticated, and it isn’t working for me. Especially since I can’t picture any flower shop that would be allowed to supply a rock star’s hotel room using more than one or two anyway.

    • layla says:

      Ok. You just may have made me feel bad for the carnation. -haha.

    • Stacy Dresden says:

      It’s funny how different types of flowers can have such strong surges in popularity or garner universal dislike. Everyone has their preferences, and I think that’s a good thing. Personally I love carnations. In my opinion, they have a lovely shape, slightly spicy-fresh fragrance to them, and come in a wide range of colors, from boldly patterned aubergine to creamy, delicate hues. I realize my opinion is in the minority. Whatever, more carnations for me!

      I believe there is no ‘unsophisticated’ flower – it’s all in the styling/arrangement.

      • Rav says:

        I agree with you about carnations. For some reason my family always put carnations on my mum’s grave but they were always the more popular colours of white or red. One year I bought some beautiful pale pink and pale lemon ones and when the lady asked what they were for I didn’t want to say for a grave, so I said for my bedroom. To this day though, the colour of those particular carnations, stays in my mind for being some of the most beautiful flowers I have seen

  10. Beatrix says:

    I agree – the flower arrangement requirement is such a wasteful thing to ask for from a venue that will only host you for a couple of hours. I don’t know if anyone above has mentioned, but a lot of these detailed requests are just put in there to ensure that the venue has read the entire rider, thus ensuring that the more necessary things will have also been taken care of if the ‘carnations’ are absent. Few people, such as JenniferLo, actually border into narcissistic requests – the above isn’t that bad.

  11. Nev says:

    she DID outlaw carnations.
    how did that song become number one?

  12. Bad Fairy says:

    It may be wasteful but she can afford it and it makes the local florist happy.

  13. irishserra says:

    I just can’t get into her music. I don’t grasp the appeal.

    Does anyone else ever look at her and think if Jane Fonda? I have no idea why, but a handful of times I’ve seen her photo and immediately thought she looked like Jane Fonda.

  14. gg says:

    See, I’m not the only one.
    Howdy to asli. 🙂

  15. grazi says:

    How does she keeping releasing cr*p songs, and they keep being number 1??
    what is wrong with people??

  16. ramona says:

    I used to be the girl who had to fill artists’ backstage riders, and I find her flower requests very tame, actually. Honestly, the crap I used to have to hunt down would blow your mind. That being said, I did get to take home a lot of leftover things that were a lot nicer than I could actually afford, so…

    And yes – I did get to keep the flower arrangements, so they did get enjoyed for the duration of their short lifetimes. 🙂

  17. Hanna says:

    I don’t give a rats ass for this bitch. and the requirements lmao. AND the lyrics for “Part of me” is rediculous. What happened to real artists?

  18. Jover says:

    SIgn on with everyone above; if what you say is true Ainsley, then isn’t this just another form of PAYOLA – which I thought was illegal. WHere are the investigative journalists looking into how a crap corporate creation is raking in the bucks while real artists are barely known? This trick (and she is insulting that guitar; as if she’s a musician), doesn’t make music, she makes noise for profit. The music industry is a joke,why is it treated with respect?

  19. Holden says:

    She doesn’t want the driver to be able to see into the backseat while she’s blasting rails off the leather seats.

  20. layla says:

    I don’t like carnations either… so if I was in a position to nix them from all floral arrangements, I would! -haha-

    I’m more shocked at the SEVEN #1 singles. Yikes. Where has all the talent gone….

  21. Kim says:

    Celebs with long or ridiculously demanding riders should be shot! How much of an egomaniac can you be??

    Why does she need flowers for a room she will be in for an hour? sickening! Id love a celebrities rider to be: donate $10k to cure cancer.

  22. yournewfriend says:

    I used to work for a concert promoter and would also review the artist’s riders and have to get them the goods. They are quite funny and her’s isn’t that bad at all. thesmokinggun.com has a ton listed from musicians and comedians, etc. There goes your afternoon….

  23. kimberly says:

    I hate it when artists stretch an album through out years and years I swear I was still in high school when california girls came out . . . it’s like move the f–k on now. Katy Perry’s performance at the grammy’s was a while ago, and isn’t worth talking about.

    I don’t see her next drop hitting as big as this last one. She did what the american public needed during a time when beyonce was pregnant and the other popular ladies weren’t really doing much. I mean I’ve been waiting for Gwen to get her ass in gear with no doubt since we’ve heard a CD drop for the past 2 years!!!

  24. anytime says:

    listening to her attempting to sing in her off-key, froggy voice is true torment. don’t worry katy you got back at him by simply singing. that is more than adequate punishment for the poor guy.

  25. hayden says:

    I really think that Katy will not be happy until she makes Russell pay for dumping her even though she obviously did something horrid to make him file for divorce. She’s a vindictive hypocrite and will only be happy when something terrible happens to him. But so far all her efforts at trying to paint him as the bad guy have just shown why he had to get away from her and her friends. He looks so much healthier since they split. I see nothing but dark, draining energy emanating from her. She’s a like a black hole. I hope she doesn’t keep continuing to scare off good energy that Russell attracts.

  26. racing says:

    Sweet learned something newtoday now I’m satisfied for now. Best!

  27. economy says:

    Dear TomI have just found your letter and I think I own your Dad’s Cooper. I bought it from Scott Liptac of Minnasota back in 1984. I have been racing it ever since. I am under the impression that he did very well in the car during those few years. I have fitted an Alfa engine as that is what it ran in 1965 in Europe. Perhaps you could pass this on to your dad. I would be interested in his race history.YoursJim McConville