Katy Perry
On preparing for an album and a child during a pandemic, going back to school, and speaking out on politics
On preparing for an album and a child during a pandemic, going back to school, and speaking out on politics.
Katy perry has spent most of the pandemic sheltering in place and preparing for two major August releases: Her fifth album, Smile, and her first child, a daughter named Daisy Dove Bloom. “I keep saying it’s a bit of a win when the fans get an album and I get a baby,” Perry says, laughing over Zoom in what she calls her “fortuneteller” outfit: a silky pink-and-white floral button-down paired with a matching turban. On Smile, Perry pulls from the darkness she experienced in 2017 after a short separation from her now-fiancé, Orlando Bloom, and an unenthusiastic response to that year’s Witness, which was led by a subversive single about her post-election depression, “Chained to the Rhythm.” Smile balances heartache and hope, with emphasis on the latter. “It’s a record that stands for hope and resilience and joy,” she says. “Hopefully, the listener can take away some of those themes.”
What have the past few months been like for you?
It’s been a go-with-the-flow roller coaster of emotions for everyone — taking it week by week and curveball after curveball. This time is about surrendering, and it’s hard for control freaks like myself.
How much of the new album was completed before the pandemic hit?
I had done the bulk of it before that Friday, the 13th of March. Seems like that was “the day” [everything changed]. I came from Australia and was planning on shooting a big video for “Daisies”; instead, I went into apocalypse-prepping mode. We put on finishing touches from a bedroom with my brother-in-law, who’s a producer. Then I started mixing it from my car [near] the beach. That was my office.
Last year, you talked about taking a break and going back to school to take courses like anthropology, astronomy, Egyptology, and comparative religious studies. How long did that break last before you started working on Smile?
I was so used to being on this loop of “write a record for six months, bring it to life the next six months, then go on tour for a year and a half,” and repeat. I did that for four records. And it started to really grind on me.
The break for me was like, “Don’t have such a strategy around making a record.
Just let it come, if it wants to come. Think about all the other things that you could do and the different parts of life you haven’t explored.”
I made space for the idea of having a child in the future. I still want to go to school. There are still so many dreams to dream. But they’re different dreams.
Which song took the longest to bring to life?
“Smile” is probably one that I would come back to the drawing board [for] a lot, because that is the definition of the record. That song really talks about the journey of falling flat on my face and losing my smile and getting my teeth knocked out and then trying to come back out of that place. I had a piece of humble pie. I went through a bunch of bullshit that was not fun, but now here I am still standing and better for it. You want to get that story right.
As a judge on American Idol and the head of your label, Unsub, you’ve been taking on more of a mentoring role. Is that something you want to do more of?
For the next year or so, I’m just going to, like, transition into being a good mom.
I find a lot of joy in connecting with people through music. It doesn’t feel like hard work. I won’t be doing [anything] if I don’t love it, because I am really candid and it’s hard for me to fake things. I did a little bit of faking on Witness. That didn’t really work out for me as far as being on tour and pretending that I was actually happy.
I’m 35, and that might be one-third of my life. Whatever dreams I want to have in the future, don’t bet against me. Those dreams could be just being a mother. Those dreams could be going to college. Those dreams could be running a massive record label. I guess it’s up to me to navigate all of that.
You called Witness a “purposeful pop” record and spent the cycle grappling with your experience as a public figure in light of the 2016 election. What did that mean?
2016 was interesting, and I felt like I had this deep knowing that if we all weren’t making the right decisions, then shit was going to hit the fan. When I first came out [as a pop star], we were living in a different mindset. I definitely was. I was in my twenties. We weren’t struggling as we are. There wasn’t so much of a divide. The inequality was more underneath the mat. It was unspoken. Now it’s really facing us.
Do you want to engage with politics as a public figure going forward?
I feel like I can’t just put out an escapist record. I think my job as an artist is to observe, digest, and serve. What I have observed has me questioning. I hope the listener can question, too. Then again, there are songs on [my albums] that you can have a couple of drinks to. You want that because that’s entertaining. I’m also just totally a pop star.
It’s an old narrative that you are just one thing and that your voice doesn’t count. Everyone’s voice counts. And let’s not make the same fuckin’ mistake we made in 2016. If we have any control over it [ hums “Twilight Zone” theme].