I came very late to the Katy Perry Stan party, and it looks like I’ve already left the party. To be fair, I will still defend Katy’s right to talk sh-t over and over about Taylor Swift. Like, I want her to keep doing that. I want everything to be a vat of sniping and filth. Unfortunately, that’s not what we’re getting. It feels like Katy is going through some kind of personal crisis or in-real-time evolution before our eyes. The promotion for her album, Witness, has been fraught and full of TMI. It has not gone over well, with several major outlets running pieces on why Katy is “over” or why this promotion sucks or why she needs to shut up. I don’t think she should shut up, I think she just needs to get it together and work out what she actually wants to say? Anyway, she’s got a new interview with the New York Times. Some quotes:
She experienced “a full sexual liberation” after Trump’s election: “The reality is that I was retriggered on the election. I was retriggered by a big male that didn’t see women as equal. And that had been, unfortunately, a common theme in my upbringing.”
Attending group therapy with her parents: “I went to that dark place that I had been avoiding, and I dug out the mold. It was not fun, but I did that — I’m still doing that.”
The bad press she’s received is part of a “maddening game”: ”They want you to stand for something, but once you do, and if you don’t do it perfectly, they’re ready to take you right down. I didn’t kill [the old Katy Perry], because I love her, and she is exactly what I had to do then. And I’m not a con artist, I didn’t con people, like, that was just me. And this is me now. … It’s a departure, and it’s a necessary evolution that I have to take.”
On awards shows: ““All the awards shows are fake. And all the awards that I’ve won are fake. They’re constructs.”
How she feels these days: “I feel very empowered [and] extremely liberated, liberated from the conditioning of the way I used to think, spiritually liberated, politically liberated, sexually liberated, liberated from things that don’t serve me.”
Apologizing to Taylor Swift: “I know that sometimes it feels publicly like I’m dragging cement blocks, but like, the pyramids were made out of cement blocks — or not cement. But do you know what I’m trying to say? I’m gonna get there.”
“But do you know what I’m trying to say? I’m gonna get there.” No, I don’t know what she’s trying to say and no, I don’t believe she’s ever going to get there. She acts like she’s the first person to ever have a stage name or a stage persona. She acts like she’s the first person to have a beef with another artist. A few more questions: did she just learn the word “liberated” and did someone tell her the wrong definition? Because she sounds like she’s flying blind and making excuses rather than presenting herself as an empowered and liberated woman.
Aww, poor dumb thing sounds like she ate acid or mushrooms or smoked pot for the first time. Probably with Miley Cyrus.
Yes, that would explain her new look which resembles that of Miley’s a few years ago when she released her video song and video wrecking ball. I do not care for Katy’s new look. She looks better with black hair and sexy curvaceous body.
Like the sex dolls we all women should be. Just sex objects to be used and thrown away
She is obviously going through a hard time. She has had her heart broken several times in the last five years.
She is struggling to keep her career (and the whole machinery and the huge team that goes along with it) going as she is transitioning from teen idol to adult artist.
I wish her all the best.
Agree with everything u said. I’ll add that I like her new music too.
+1. She seems like nice enough person who’s at a bit of a disadvantage due to her fame and her upbringing.
Why do you automatically assume she was the one who was heart broken?
@QueenB maybe her talking in an interview about being suicidal after her divorce?
But she’s 32–a bit late to be feeling the growing pains from teen artist.
Not really. Not when you grow up in an oppressive home. Best advice Katy: go somewhere quiet alone and take care of yourself for as long as it takes. Don’t talk to anyone just keep a journal. I don’t even listen to her music and never have and am not a fan of hers per se, I just think people are kind of being d*cks to this woman and she clearly needs some space.
LOL how is that late? It’s never too late to grow, jeeee, people really like to hate on this woman!
Same.
We go through stages in life, and those around us influence how well we navigate those stages. I don’t know everything about Katy Perry but seems she’s going through something painful. Mentioning her parents seems a possible key to this. I sincerely hope she has good supports who genuinely care for her right now. Everyone deserves that. Taylor Swift undertaking that public bullying campaign against Katy for a perceived slight has not helped.
I agree also. I really like her new sound and it’s a regular on my ipod each day. I hope she tours Australia. At least she has opinions on issues and talks honestly – then gets taken down for it.
While I respect her activism, I have the feeling she is trying to go political or engaged with her music, but the execution is poor.
Yeah, I respect her intentions and I think they seem genuine, I just don’t think she’s smart or eloquent enough to convey and/or execute her message the way she wants.
Poor is a very nice way of putting it. She is one of the dumbest celebs I know and most of them are massively dumb.
She asked what colonialism meant in her live stream and I had to do a double-take. But then she explained she stopped formal education at grade 9 and then had to get her GED by herself later on or something.
I appreciate what she was doing though especially with her table discussion on the erasure of Natives and legacy of settler colonialism and slavery on America. The fact that she is at least trying to get informed about incarceration rates and the children who go without parents because of it as well as immigration issues are admirable. Learning is the start now let’s see what she does with it.
If she really took the time to get educated she’d be a force. I surmise she has a forte for political and social movements and also for developing independent artists. I could see her career advancing, albeit, slightly more behind the scenes.
Her music is bad, period. She tries to sound smart but it doesn’t work, period.
Agreed. I tried to listen to her interview on “Pod Save The People” and it was……not great.
The thing is, I have a feeling her activism is just another way to promote her work. And while many have done so, their activism has been meaningful or at least their promotional profit better camouflaged. Like, that song about dancing to wrong beat or whatever? It’s nowhere near Jackson’s Earth, or What about us or Miss Sarajevo amd she acts like it’s at least on the same level. Everything is just so shallow with her.
And although she adressed her cultural apropriation (and that geisha thing was something people would crucify Swift for, tbh) she still hasn’t apologised for it, just said that her feelings were hurt by people crticising her. So typicial for a priviliged white celebrity.
This^^^^^^
Sorry, not buying what she’s selling.
so on black twitter universe…. and on ig…
they said Katy Perry’s haircut is the haircut you get RIGHT WHEN youre about to culturally appropriate black culture. I hollered at this because —- miley, pink, etc etc…yeah we’re looking at yal.
Pink too?
Yes, Pink. She went through that whole phase with R&B and it got her places and then when she was done with black music she made sure to let everyone know
look up “There You Go.” That’s when she blew up on the radio
nope nope nope. pink never wanted to make rnb. it is as well known industry fact that she was pushed in that direction by babyface, LA reid, and her other earlier producers. please let’s not accuse a good ally of appropriation.
I love how it’s now “appropriation” making music of a certain genre. Ever heard of management, labels and producers? As if new musicians could just decide for themselves! Give me a break, you’re sounding ridiculous!
This chick has always seemed dumber than a box or rocks.
She is really starting to come off as being too off rather than someone just sharing that she has had issues (as most of us experience strange family dysfunction).
Her new music is mostly good so she needs to chill a bit. She’s making Taylor seem reasonable and not helping herself w press.
i’m very, very tired of her. even the swift beef, i’m over it and i’ve been over it for a long time. she seems to know that her star is fading and she’s trying to pull everything out of her hat that she possibly can.
she should have just made better music instead.
Co-sign.
Wow. I saw the pic and my brain processed the headline as “Miley Cyrus: ‘I was retriggered by a big male that didn’t see women as equal’
It’s crazy how the brain works sometimes.
She was a raging, rude, snarky bitch for years and now she’s having some moment of clarity? Puke. She’s a dips*it. Her music stinks and I don’t find her to be nice or sincere, ever. Boo hoo, go lick your wounds elsewhere.
I’ve always had the feeling that she’s that loud, obnoxious main girl star in high school, the ultimate party girl and bully of all others, the one that repeats and repeats how dumb Anna is for studying and playing flute, while clinging to the main jock. That girl that stays in the nightmares of all those others who didn’t abide by her rules, standards and univerae in her clique (and beyond).
This phase, now, seems eqvivalent to 20years later when you see that same popular girl-bully and realize her jock husband left her after cheating left and right since the start, and since her looks are fading she’s realizing she’s totally shallow and hollow and actually doesn’t have to offer anything to the world.
Michelle Williams said it so much better than me in her famous speech about cheerleaders in Dawson’s creek. 😉
GIRL SHUUUUUIUT UUUUUUUPPPP! Don’t nobody got time for your Guff and your Crappy Music!… Im only too happy people finally recovered their listening ears from the trash can where they had tossed em and finally started seeing the Jig with this Corny ass girl
Whewwww lawd I’m all Katy Perry’d out 😩 I’ve had enough!
Me too!!It’s exhausting and I think she is doing all this talking for publicity for her album.
Ha! Yes, this sums up my thoughts exactly. Make it stop!
Yessss we’ve had our fill 😩😩 enough!
It’s no “retriggering”; it’s triggering. Triggering is meant in the context of people who experience(d) traumatic events – abuse survivors, soldiers, people who have been sexually assaulted, shooting vctims as well as those with devastating health issues, etc.
People with PTSD experience flashbacks, secondary trauma, dissociation, inability to sleep. It deepens depression, amplifies mood disorders and other mental health issues. It can cause relapses in terms of self injury, eating disorders, suicidality, etc.
This term has become as ubiquitous as literally. Devoid of context i( trivializes a very serious condition. It’s been becoming a joke – memes, sings, YouTube videos. Those of us with PTSD can’t even use the term anymore without derision.
Maybe Katy has had an experience; I don’t know. But her antics echo Miley’s provocative period. Katy’s current revelations seem more performerative than an organic or genuine. I could be wrong. YMMV (your mileage may vary).
My idiotic middle school students use “I’m triggered” in every other sentence of their ridiculous lives (well off, no serious trauma, mostly white and middle class).
I can’t.
She grew up in an abusive, oppressive cult that denied her an education. Radical Pentecostal Christianity leaves people deeply traumatized. Father John Misty is her age and still trying to recover. I think she’s using that term correctly.
Agreed. The PTSD especially for smart, creative girls who survive these situations cannot be underestimated.
Every KP headline I see these days is making me sing Housequake.
“Shut up! Already
Damn”
In a matter of days she made Taylor freakin Swift look grown up and reasonable. Taylor Swift ffs. I mean really, really
I grew up in a group like hers – a separatist form of Christian fundamentalism – and I too, struggle under the triggering of Trump’s dominant maleness. Also, a lot of kids who come from those extremely sheltered, dogmatic backgrounds start to finally ‘break free’ in their thirties: it takes a long time to build an intentional identity when you don’t have a ‘pre-cult’ identity to return to. Which makes a lot of sense why, at the time, Katy was super willing to take on a new ‘identity,’ even if it was just a stage thing lots of musicians do. I am a similar age to her, and yes, figuring out who you are very belatedly does come across as wildly unhinged and confusing to more well-adjusted people who weren’t told certain extreme myths about the world in their formative years. Hence her therapy with her parents, too, something I wish I could do with mine but that will never happen. Anyway, I personally wish her luck. “Liberated” doesn’t always have to look nice and organized or formulaic, there can be a ‘big ol’ mess’ prior to a ‘reconstruction: that’s what she’s saying in the pyramid comment, no?
Thanks for sharing your experience. I’m sorry you’ve been through similar.
Yes I think Katy is speaking to type of life situation as you’ve shared above. I only know a bit about her but did recall her parents were extreme in religious beliefs. Katy hasn’t come out and explained this as you have but I also don’t think she can. How do you recover from form of abuse in your family while trying to heal from it without simultaneously throwing them under the bus of public hate? Impossible to do. Hard to save yourself in that situation I would imagine.
KP has access to SO many resources for both personal therapy and learning about POCs and their struggles in this country. However, it feels like everything shes been doing is half ass or for show. If she truly wants to show she’s serious, take some time off. Go into deep UNTELEVISED therapy, use her resources to not only learn about the POC experience but also help. Listen and volunteer her time & resources but do all of it quietly and not on social media and not right when you drop an album because thats when it feels false. She is using “wokeness” to sell albums, plain and simple.
Also, the fact that she wants to be approached kindly and calmly when she appropriates cultures tells me everything i need to know about her intentions. For the first offense, maybe. But shes on offense number 10
She said in that one therapy session on YouTube that she’s been in therapy for 5 years.
Nah, she’s not interested in that. She’s interested in talking about it, but not actually doing it. She’s exhausting in her try-hardness
ugh. she’s such a hypocrite. she doesn’t care about awards shows? PFFFFFFFFT!
I used to really like Katy, but she has grown increasingly annoying to me. You may be here for her dragging Swift, but I am so over it. Yes Taylor wrote a song about a petty thing years ago (which to be honest, every other celeb does too). Yes she was hypocritical saying she was all about feminism while releasing a song about tearing another women down. But in the very least she doesnt constantly bring up Katy by name. Not too mention that like Katy has said about like 5 times now or so that she’s “over” the feud and wants to let it go and “god bless on her journey” and all that crap and then cant resist talking about it a week later again. If you actually are ready to let it go, then actually let it go. And don’t get me started with all the cringey live streams. Your album was a flop. Learn from the mistakes and put out a killer one next time.
“She experienced ‘a full sexual liberation’ after Trump’s election: ‘The reality is that I was retriggered on the election. I was retriggered by a big male that didn’t see women as equal. And that had been, unfortunately, a common theme in my upbringing.”
I don’t get why his election has got anything to do with her “full sexual liberation”.
LOL…don’t bother trying to understand it. Like much of what she says, that made ZERO sense.
She is friends with DeRay McKesson and was recently on his podcast Pod Save The People. I normally can’t wait for his pod to come out but I haven’t worked up the courage to listen to this episode yet because I can’t stand KP.
I do wonder if DeRay asked her about her problematic comments about race in the past. Guess I’ll have to listen to get an answer to that, but I don’t look forward to it.
I truly miss the Katy Perry of last year. Being quiet, hanging out with her boyfriend at the time and her family and visiting hospitals in Christmas. This Katy Perry is exhausting, it seems as many pointed out as she is becoming Miley Cirus after the breakup, she even channels the same haircut.
If she needs a break from the fame, she should take it and seek some help, this is too public and too painful to watch.
Years ago I couldn’t wait for her boobs and dumb songs to go away, but now I feel bad for her.
I hope she has people who can help her, and won’t allow her to have a break-down in front of the cameras.
Ah, she’s empowered and liberated. Thank god
I can’t stand her. Karma at work!