POP STAR PRIMER
5 things about Katy Perry
1 So why the delay? Perry’s official statement on Instagram: “Due to unavoidable production delays, major elements of my tour stage design could not be available for me to rehearse on until this week. I’ll be spending the next few weeks taking the time to properly prepare the show to be an experience I am proud to share with you. I’m sorry for inconvenience this causes, but hope everyone who sees the show will agree it was worth the wait.”
2 Witness is Perry’s third consecutive Canadian and American No. 1 album. Although her latest has been met with mixed reviews from critics, the tepid reaction wasn’t enough to keep Perry from topping the charts both here and in her native country. But things aren’t all peachy with the album’s reception: Witness still has a ways to go before reaching the lofty sales figures of 2010’s Teenage Dream (3 million in the U.S.) and 2013’s Prism (1.7 million in the U.S.). Also, every ticket sold to her current tour came with a physical CD, including Montreal, which is a similar chart-manipulating bundling technique recently employed by LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire.
3 Just how rough were reviews of Witness? Rolling Stone said Perry is “stumbling through the fog and strobes of a less bombastic pop universe.” According to Spin Magazine, Witness “has the inherent appeal of spectacular failure.” Even her cameoladen video for Swish Swish, with its easy-to-love Space Jam motif, was met with derision. “Katy Perry is doing a great job … at becoming history’s most aggressively unfunny pop star,” screamed one Esquire headline. There was also an awkward, invasive four-day Big Brother-style live stream in advance of Witness’s release that featured an unedited therapy session with the singer and a clumsy explanation as to why she chopped and coloured her signature brunette locks.
4 Katy Perry’s long-standing feud with Taylor Swift shows no signs of slowing down. The two mega pop stars have been beefing since 2013, and Perry explained this May during a segment of James Corden’s Carpool Karaoke that it all began over backup dancers. Originally Perry’s dancers, they were allowed to tour with Swift with the proviso that they return to Perry when needed. Perry asked for them back and according to her, Swift fired them and wouldn’t respond to Perry’s messages. “She started it, and it’s her time to finish it,” Perry said. Swift may have got the last laugh, though: she returned her back catalogue to streaming services on the day of Witness’s release.
5 Miley Cyrus’s younger sister Noah is opening for Perry in Montreal. Oddly enough, a pair of Canadian acts will warm up the crowd in other cities, including one with a local connection: Purity Ring’s Corin Roddick is an Edmonton native who lived in Montreal for a number of years and also has three co-writer credits on Witness. Carly Rae Jepsen of Call Me Maybe fame is also set to open a slew of dates.