Like a new woman

> Katy Perry shows her mature side on her new album Witness, where she incorporates the robust beats of R&B and hip hop

100 million followers – warns: “Funny my name keeps coming out yo mouth / ‘Cause I stay winnin’.”

Swish Swish is sure to fuel speculation it is a response to fellow mega-star Taylor Swift, whose own song Bad Blood was widely seen as an attack on Perry, whom Swift has suggested sabotaged her tour by poaching her staff.

Whatever the rivalry, Perry and Swift both turned for their latest albums to Swedish producers Max Martin, Ali Payami and Shellback – who behind the scenes have created some of the 21st century’s top hits.

If sexuality is part of adulthood, so too are romantic entanglements.

Perry’s stories are full of relationships that never quite end neatly, with an overlyactive smartphone ever ready to rekindle memories.

“You don’t have to subtweet me / My number’s always been the same,” Perry sings on Save as Draft.

Perry – whose real name is Katheryn Hudson – returned to write Witness at her home in Santa Barbara, California, where she reconciled with her conservative Christian parents and returned with a new short-cut, blonde hairdo.

The singer has described her journey home as part of healing, saying she was able on Witness to reveal more of herself beyond the Katy Perry stage

persona. While Perry kept quiet on the music front last year, she emerged as one of the most prominent celebrity supporters of Hillary Clinton’s ill-fated presidential campaign. Perry has hardly become a protest singer, but on Bigger Than Me, she explains her need to speak out, saying she has become convinced she has a higher mission in life. “So I’ll speak my truth, though my voice shakes,” Perry sings – musically at least, not shaking. In a description that could sum up the album, Perry likens herself to “Marilyn Monroe on a monster truck”. “I’m feminine and soft. But I’m still a boss,” she declares. – AFPRelaxnews