Lips of an Angel
For newcomer Katy Perry, kissing a girl just doesn't make boys dreams come true - it's making pop music cool again.
If the best things come to those who wait, it’s no wonder that singer-songwriter Katy Perry is enjoying such commercial and critical success. After five years of being signed to various major labels and having her project shelved, Perry is finally on the charts with her single, “I Kissed a Girl” – a quirky pop-rock track that is introducing the world to the girl that is going to make pop music cool again.
As she takes to the streets for this summer’s Vans Warped Tour, Perry took some time to chat with us about finding herself, hindsight and keeping up with the fellas without smudging her lipstick…
Katy Perry: What’s up? How are you?
Deluxe 920: Good, good. How are you?
KP: I’m good. Just caravanning from one city to the next, trying to spread the good word (laughs).
D920: You are friggin’ EVERYWHERE these days! What can you tell us about your single “I Kissed a Girl” for anyone who’s been in a cave and hasn’t heard it yet?
KP: It’s a match of my personality. It’s sassy, it’s fun – if I may go so far as to say I like to have fun and be sassy (laughs) – and it’s upbeat and provocative and sexy. I wrote it because it’s undeniable, the beauty of a woman. It can do anything to anybody. You have Angelina Jolie walk into a room and it doesn’t matter if it’s a man or a woman, you wouldn’t pass up the opportunity to kiss her. Come on!
D920: I don’t think I know a woman who wouldn’t…
KP: Exactly! You know, a lot of my songs are based on my life, growing up, and having that thought in the back of my mind “What would that be like?”
BEING HERSELF
D920: So the way you present yourself is very strong and out there, and sort of a “take it or leave it” approach. What impact do you want to have on the industry? It’s full of a lot of nonsense that’s just putting out what they think people want to hear and see.
KP: That’s unfortunate too! I get letters and MySpaces [sic] from girls from all over – doesn’t matter their ages or race or if they barely speak English – they send me things like “I can’t believe you wrote that song! That is SO about my situation!” And it’s really encouraging because that’s what I set out to do. I always think of the people who made an impression on me with their music and what they were saying.
D920: Like who?
KP: Like Queen. Freddie Mercury’s take on the world was just – he didn’t care. It was like a f-you, fabulous, fantastic, colorful, beautiful, honest take on life. And that IS life! Why would you want to portray it as something else? There’s not just one emotion of “Oh I want to go to the club.” You want to laugh, you want to cry, be happy, be sad. There’s so many things to write about. I mean believe you me, I like those songs about getting drunk at the club – but there’s so much more than that!
D920: What have you been hearing about what people think of you? You’re not like all the other acts out there, you know.
KP: I read one post where they said I’m just this major label product. You know people think I just walked into a record label naked and they slapped some clothes on me, got my hair cut, and made me pose for pictures with a guitar. So it’s like “Ok honey, think what you want.” But I haven’t had a whole lot of it, which I am thankful for. But it comes with the territory. And people love to be anonymous with it because they’d never tell you to your face – especially on the internet.
D920: You have gotten some love on the internet though. Perez Hilton damn near blew you up with just one posting.
KP: His support has been consistent, and amazing. He’s a friend of mine, and I take everything into account. It’s insane though. Like Madonna giving me shout-outs? That’s INSANE, and I’m not going to hate on that at all.
D920: Yeah, when a music legend says they dig you?
KP: I think I’m still dreaming with that, actually.
WAITING IS THE HARDEST PART
D920: I know you have been waiting for this opportunity for a long-ass time, but were you really ready for all of this?
KP: I was so ready for this! I’ve been making this record for like five years. I was signed on other major labels and was told every year for the past four or five years that my record was going to come out, so the expectation was always there.
D920: In hindsight, are you glad it took some time?
KP: Oh my God – in hindsight, I’m SO glad it took some time. It’s just like, you know, a lot of situations where – you know when you’re in your twenties and you’re glad you didn’t marry your first boyfriend? You just look and think “Wow, my life would have been so different!”
D920: Ugh, I’ve thought that!
KP: Me too! (Laughs). I mean sometimes you do it and it turns out great, and other times you’re like “Ugh, I can’t believe I actually dated that guy!”
D920: So waiting was a good thing, even though you didn’t like doing it at the time?
KP: I got the opportunity to do something very rare, and that’s grow and develop and try different things artistically, outside of the limelight, and not be scrutinized for it. I feel like I know who I am and I’m grown up, and I’m probably gonna [sic] change again and again and again, but I’m happy now.
D920: You did get to try a lot of things. You worked with a ton of different producers, and not just Glen Ballard. You worked with Butch Walker, who we’re huge fans of…
KP: Yeah, he is AMAZING!
D920: Which of the producers made the cut on the album? Did you have any favorites?
KP: All of them brought something really unique to the table. I worked with them all not because I had to, but because I wanted to. In the process of making a record for so long, and living in Los Angeles for so long, you get to rub elbows with a lot of different people and make these relationships. So I tried out a lot of them – especially in the pop-rock music theme. Sometimes I’d go into a session to write a song and I’d be treated like that girl who’d never have a hit and they did the “I’ve had the hit, listen to me” thing, and I’d be like “Excuse me? This is not how it’s going to go, thank you very much” (laughs). But then I’d walk into other situations, like one of my favs was Greg Wells, and I’d walk in there with crazy ideas – just CRAZY – like “Ur So Gay,” and I played it to him, and he’s like “Let’s finish this song, this is great!” It gave me the confidence to just go for it when these professional, older men really related to the song.
D920: So how do you end up working with these people? I mean, Dave Stewart from the Eurythmics?
KP: I remember about three years ago, being in the U.K. and going through the countryside outside of London, and [he] invited me out to his farmhouse to meet his beautiful family. And I remember going out there - and this is right when I was starting to feel confident in what I would say versus the pseudo-strict household I came from where I’d have my mouth washed out with soap for half the things I say now! But I remember going there and writing a few songs in a couple of days and he really challenged me to be provocative and to just – not be sexy, but to know who I am and know the magical power of a woman.
D920: You sound wise beyond your years, girl!
KP: (Laughs) There’s a lot of days I’m still a very young girl, and I don’t know how to do my taxes and stuff like that. But I really feel like I’m about to be a woman. Not yet, but I’m about to be… JUST ONE OF THE BOYS…
D920: So what can we expect from your album, One of the Boys?
KP: I wrote over 60 songs for it, so some are less overt [than “I Kissed a Girl”]. It’s like a “Dear Diary” and it’s meant to be listened to from the front to the end. It’s like a series of events in my life – almost down to the outfit.
D920: And what’s with the title? As cute as you are, we’d never really think of you as one of the dirty boys…
KP: It’s funny, because there’s a song on the record called “One of the Boys,” and it talks about “I don’t want to be one of the boys, one of your guys…I just want to be one of the girls, pretty in pearls.” So it talks about how I don’t want to be one of the boys, but then you get the impression that I do, but then you look at the album cover and it’s obvious that I’m not one of the boys, but then it’s like “Well you are one of the boys, because you’re going on Warped Tour all summer!”
D920: So does that represent you in a nutshell?
KP: Yeah, there’s a mystery to it. Is she? Is she not? But she is, but she’s not. And really, I’ve got scars all over both of my knees, but my red lipstick will forever stay in tact.
Can’t get enough of Katy? Check her out on Vans Warped Tour when it hits Milwaukee on Friday, August 1st.
