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Katy Perry has been back in America for more stops on her Lifetimes Tour, after stirring up summer romance rumors by being seen out with former prime minister Justin Trudeau during the Canadian leg in July. And wouldn’t you know, the one night she was in NYC, my home turf, fell during the week I’m away at the Jersey Shore. Woe is me. Anyway, Katy played Madison Square Garden to a sold out crowd of 19,500. I guess a lot of people in her orbit (space flight pun!) were worried she couldn’t sell out that big a venue, because Katy started her show with an underdog victory speech. “Me at MSG? They said it couldn’t be done!” (I’m paraphrasing, but that’s the gist. Who knows, maybe she ordered the audience from Amazon.) Then Katy had some words to say about NYC, and I’ll let those words speak for themselves:
Katy Perry can’t help but celebrate her recent visit to New York City!
At the pop star’s sold-out Lifetimes show at Madison Square Garden in New York City on Monday, Aug. 11, she acknowledged that some people said she couldn’t perform for a sold-out crowd at the 19,500-seat arena.
As she greeted the crowd, she began, “They said, ‘No way! MSG, it couldn’t be done.’ And I was scared too,” she told the crowd before joking that she was scared about eating a “hot dog from the corner,” rather than performing a sold-out show.
“New York you’re special and you know it,” Perry, 40, said. “But you know what, New York? You’re a beautiful hot mess.”
Perry then detailed the things she’s seen since arriving in New York City.
“I rolled into New York, and it smelled like New York City,” she explained. “And you know what I’m talking about. It was late at night. We got in from Philly, and there were drunk people vomiting on the same corner as people making out. That was New York City! And I loved it.”
The singer noted how she “all of a sudden” was able to “finally” understand what the city is all about. “You know why? Because New York City represents life — the highs, the lows, the in-betweens, everything that is messy, everything that is beautiful, and it sure as hell is not perfect ‘cause perfection is an illusion,” she said.
“I understood it because I resonate with it so much, because one of my favorite words is authenticity, and you know what New York is? Authentic!”
The One of the Boys singer’s brief speech follows months of dealing with online criticism.
“I rolled into New York, and it smelled like New York City. And you know what I’m talking about.” Hi, New Yorker here, and no, I have no f–king clue what Katy is talking about! I mean, did she fly in, and if so, was it Newark, LaGuardia, or JFK? Cause those are three very different car rides into Manhattan that each come with their distinctive smells. But my nerdy/aromatic points aside, it’s the lyricism of her words that sing here. Truly, they could fit right into the city’s signature song by Kander & Ebb: “Start spreading the news, you’re hurling today/I want to see drunk people vomit, New York, New York!” No seriously, did Katy stop by Platitudes ‘R’ Us before the show? This was such a lazy, inane collection of Big City tropes. Not to mention the convenient fortuity of Katy “finally” realizing what New York City is all about… just as she flies (drives?) in for a concert. And oh yeah, her big realization is that NYC is like her favorite word, authenticity. Try a little harder, gurl. At least her flying insect prop thing seems to be back in working order, though I can’t vouch for any mishaps she may have experienced with one of our roaches.
Photos credit: Getty and Papculture/Backgrid
Very appealing – no wonder Justin was so attracted.
KP’s flying bug tour era is reeking of someone wishing it was early 2000-teens again, that she was still a 20-something and her songs were hits.
But it somehow is coming off as both try-hard and lazy/obvious? From the trip into space to the canned NYC banter it’s simultaneously too much and not enough. There doesn’t seem to be any fresh “there” there.
Maybe Port Authority? Maybe.
I used to travel semi-regularly to New York for work but never went to MSG so my only association with it is the Godzilla film (the 90’s one with Matthew Broderick – I LOVE that film). That’s all that comes to mind when I hear anyone mention that venue.
As for KP, are all her costumes about highlighting her crotch?
IDK. On one hand, I don’t wanna overreact because from her perspective, this is obviously just a harmless little bit that she’s doing. On the other hand, I’m REALLY sick of the way certain folks characterize cities. Urbanites have been subjected to “REAL Americans live in the heartland” BS for most of my life and it’s just fucking tired as hell. Cities are full of diverse and thriving communities–people that lift each other up and support each other in ways that are no different than small rural communities.
And maybe I’m just very sensitive about this particular topic at this particular moment in our country when we have a POTUS that is outright demonizing, threatening, and greatly mischaracterizing beautiful, low-crime cities–but it just feels ick to me.
ETA: Also, NYC and Boston ongoing feud aside, NYC is an AMAZING city. Every Bostonian knows that even if we can’t admit it 😉
So what she is really saying is the NYC smells bad but she loves that because it’s authentic? Left handed compliments by a has been.
She doesn’t know what she’s talking about. That kind of scene hasn’t happened in NYC since the 70’s. She probably stayed at the Crosby Street Hotel or Soho House or RH’s Guest House, because all the celebrities who want to look cool do…. and Soho and the Meatpacking District have not been ‘gritty’ for decades. Very posh neighborhoods now, so she saw nothing like what she described. And yes, like any city, you can sometimes smell hot garbage baking in the sun in summer. Why is that interesting?
Correction: If her Insta is showing her walking into the hotel where she really stayed, then she’s at The Carlyle at 35 East 76th Street, on the Upper East Side. Another one of the most expensive neighborhoods in Manhattan, and dead quiet at night, especially this time of year when everyone’s at their summer homes.