Celebrity Interviews
MusicSpectator.com offers up the following celebrity interviews for your enjoyment.
No Apologies, No Excuses
An interview with Katy Perry
By Craig Marquardo
So here I was in front of the Crystal Ballroom where Katy Perry's tour bus was parked. I was expecting there to be a line, even a crowd...but not at two in the afternoon, a good five hours before the show started. In their defense, the people were pretty calm, tame and so odd. A group of 20-something girls were sitting cross-legged on a 45-degree sidewalk playing Hungy Hungry Hippos.
After that, the interview I had done with Katy a few days earlier all started to make sense. Her appeal is wide and far, gay and straight, old and young. She has a 60's hippychick look, talks like a teenage girl still just excited to be here, and drives the boys (and girls) nuts.
After gay-themed hits, hordes of controversy via petty feuds with Lily Allen and celebrity break-ups, she is now bearing down and giving a clear-headed attack of her career. With a new tour underway, she was very eager to share her opinions...on everything.
MS: 'I Kissed A Girl' has become your signature song, so to speak. You have long talked about the humor of it, but how did it come to you in the first place?
KATY PERRY: I have always heard about artists having a notepad on the side of their bed or, you know, something they can record if they were to have dreams of lyrics or an idea for a song in the middle of the night, and I thought it was all bullocks and that never really happened. But I woke up one morning and I was starting my day and I had this song literally pop into my head, the chorus of it, "I kissed a girl and I liked it, the taste of her cherry chapstick, I kissed a girl just to try it out, my boyfriend don’t mind it". So I had all that kind of pop into my head and I thought, what a peculiar little idea. I knew it spawned from some curiosity that I had growing up. But no one was really getting it so I forgot about it. Then literally the last two days that were in the studio, I had this idea still and it wouldn’t go away so it was kind of like a pebble in my shoe, and I just decided, okay, well maybe since it’s still so prevalent in the back of my mind after a year and a half of dreaming it up, I should probably finish this song. I mean it’s a catchy little number, I mean, if I can go out on a limb and say so. As far as sonically and the music, it’s…I really wanted to make it catchy.
MS: Where did you get your motivation to push the boundaries you do?
KATY PERRY: I guess pushed their envelope from the day I was born. You know, I was always the kid at the dinner table who, if there was a line you shouldn’t cross, I took a big leap over it. And that kind of has always been in me, there’s never really been an edit button on my keyboard of life. And I guess my parents, they weren’t ever so shocked when I was singing very frank or honest songs.
MS: You have such a big personality. Is it something that came over time, or...?
KATY PERRY: I kind of was born a big personality, whether I have the opportunity to become a successful artist or not, I was always going to be hot. I don’t know how you could kind of explain that. And I don’t know, maybe there is something that’s attributed to that because of my big personality and my use of color and frankness and, you know, like kitschness; if kitsch could be my middle name, I definitely would take that. I like making people happy and making them smile.
MS: I read you don't do much by way of exercise, except for one odd thing?
KATY PERRY: I swear by jumping rope. I don’t really do anything else. I hate working out, but I love jumping rope. I think it’s because it’s kind of like dancing. There’s a rhythm. And I love dancing, going out dancing, I guess. But yes, I’m really like I can say this very unashamedly, I’m a really good rope jumper. I can double jump, I can cross, I can do all of it. I look like Rocky when I jump rope.
MS: How do you feel having so much success right out of the gate?
KATY PERRY: It’s really amazing to be able to do so many things with your first record. I mean, sometimes first records don’t hit, and second records work. Sometimes, it takes a long time to be recognized. So it’s really exciting that even in the beginning, you know, people are seeing all of this work I put into this record. It was not in vain. But it’s very exciting. The Grammys is kind of like the end-all be-all. It’s the most respect you can get from the industry. All of the other awards were fantastic, from MTV to People’s Choice. They were all fantastic and very much appreciated, but the Grammys are something you dream about when you’re nine years old. And you watch people go and accept awards on stage bawling their eyes out or freaking out, and that sticks with you your whole life. And so when this really important nomination happened to me, I was like “holy crap”. I got recognized from a classic, amazing industry.
MS: So what's it like being thrust into the the world of being a famous pop star?
KATY PERRY: You know, I was really gearing up for it. I was preparing myself for it. I was kind of preparing to kind of catch my lucky star and hold on tightly. And, you know, thank God I actually was kind of almost in training for so long, because I really don’t think I would have been able to handle it when I though I would have been able to handle it at 17, 18, 19. Because there’s a lot that you don’t realize, I guess, that people in the public eye deal with rather than just making music. I mean the whole world is a big, fat kitchen with a gazillion cooks. And everybody is always commenting so you have to definitely be strong or learn how to sift in the good and keep out the bad. And it’s exciting. I mean I definitely prepared myself for this. Living in Hollywood for eight years, man, that will prepare you whether you like it or not. Because I had the luxury of watching other people get famous, like some of my friends and seeing some of them fail pretty miserably at it. Then I’d sit back and take notes and say okay, I’m not going to do that if I ever have the opportunity. But I think my whole intent was just to get as many people that would want to listen just to listen. So now that they’re all listening, it’s exciting, and I’m just trying to continually make good music and hopefully take my career to the next level. It’s going to be really exciting.
MS: You’re getting written a lot about for things that go on in your life that are non music related. How do you plan to move forward with your career, having your big personality, living the celebrity life that you want to live, and yet not have the persona overtake your ability not to make music but to be able to sell music and have people take the music seriously?
KATY PERRY: Right. Well, that is just…That is the nature of the beast, honestly.
MS: Well, I guess I ask because it’s a new beast for you.
KATY PERRY: Well it’s a new beast for everyone, actually, I think. The media has always been very interested in the details of, I guess, people’s lives. But in a whole new huge kind of playing field way where there’s no kind of really…there’s no judge or editor. You could take this interview and take just one little thing I say and make it the headline and make me out to be the devil. And it’s unfortunate, but I think nobody is really exempt. Especially people with big personalities. You kind of have to be super private with a very almost like bland personality to kind of control it. And with me, I think that’s what separates me, as I’m very approachable, I pride myself as being very approachable. I love people, and I have a big personality. So you know I guess I get a little bit bulls-eye targeted more than other people, but you know I’ve turned my Google alerts off. And I think that is something you have to do if you can’t read your own press. If you read your own press, it’ll ruin you because everybody has an opinion, and you don’t understand sometimes why they have their opinions. Because when you start reading it, it starts kind of like you nitpick over it and all the sudden all the small things are really important to you when really they were never important to you in the beginning. So I guess I’m just going to stay focused on trying to be more like Freddie Mercury.
MS: What lessons did you learn from your first tour that will make a difference for you this time around?
KATY PERRY: Well, I’m definitely not dicking around on this tour. For the past two weeks, I have been, you know, straight to bed and just kind of working out the details. I’m working out the details of all the ins and outs from, you know, the merchandise to what the boys in my band and I will be wearing, to what it’s sounding like, to making it sounding bigger and brighter and making it be a real entertaining show. I don’t think it’s going to be a perfect first show off, maybe. I think maybe there are some kinks to work out. But I’m really excited about this tour, because last year it was very fast. And so you would get the “Hot N Cold” and the “I Kissed a Girl”, “Ur So Gay” and some of the other faster songs. But I don’t think that people really got to see my range. And so I’ll be able to play the whole record from the fast songs, you know that give the middle finger, to the sad songs that are regrettable and sad. It’ll be exciting to see kind of people go on that personality rollercoaster with me. When I go to see a show, I get really bored if it’s just the band and they’re in their jeans and t-shirt and they think that that’s all they need. I like to see it come to life, really. I like to see the eye candy, I guess, and I’m definitely bringing a load of eye candy.
