Katy’s sweet fantasy world
KATY Perry is calling the shots. The American pop star says she’s all about work-life balance, building her music around her marriage. She has stretched her Californian Dreams World Tour out over almost a year, ensuring she makes time for new husband, comedian Russell Brand.
Perry is two months into the tour, with rave reviews for her European shows.
And she’s set to kick off the Australian leg at Melbourne’s Rod Laver Arena on Thursday (April 28), followed by dates in Adelaide, Sydney, Brisbane and Newcastle.
“You definitely have to learn how to pace yourself,” Perry tells Insider. “I’ve routed it for me so that I can have a husband as well, which is really nice.
“I get three days off every now and then or every while I get four days off and I’ll just be able to re-energise myself and make it an experience that I’ll never forget, instead of like a grind.”.
In just a few years Perry, 26, has cemented herself as pop royalty, alongside the likes of Lady Gaga, Beyonc aac and Britney Spears.
Her breakthrough album, One of the Boys, was a worldwide smash, sales of more than five million copies and spawning hit after hit including I Kissed A Girl, Hot n Cold and Waking Up In Vegas.
And her second album, Teenage Dream sold a further five million albums, with several more single hits. Earlier on in her career, Perry says she felt less in control.“In the art of being four and five, six years into your career, I think you start to realise the word ‘no’ does exist,” she said.
“I think it is just better for you and your mental health and your marathon, your stability. If I said yes to every single thing, I would have been dead a long time ago.
“So I’m doing the right amount now.
“Sometimes you are up to doing certain things in the beginning of when it all starts because of several different reasons, one because you can’t believe people are offering you an opportunity like that and then two because you are living in fear, because you are like, this is all going away tomorrow.”
Her latest, and biggest tour to date, sees the singer’s stage transformed into a fantasy world of sweetness, with cupcakes and lollipops. Even the arena air is pumped with chemicals to make it smell sweet.
Lollies and fairy-floss are sold in the foyer, as well as a bunch of other merchandise.
“You will be seeing a lot more candy,” Perry said. “When people walk in it smells like candy floss.
“Sometimes I get a little confused because when I walk out of the part of the backstage, it still smells like dinner, like a roast dinner with all the mash potatoes and brussel sprouts and then mixed in with like candy floss stuff.”
There’s also countless costume changes. In one song Perry changes outfits eight times.
“There’s a bar in my quick-change area that I just hold on to and they are ripping clothes off of me and I am like screaming and swearing, getting my side caught in my zipper,” she explains.
The scale of Perry’s tour is her gift to fans. And most of Perry’s Australian shows are sold out.
“I am feeling a lot of love, especially from this last record and that’s why I’m touring, because I am not making any money off of this tour, I am spending all my money,” she said. “I’m touring because I feel indebted to the crowd. I feel like I owe them some face time.”
As well as her music, Perry has developed into a global brand. She’s got a number of films in the works, including voicing Smurfette for the new Smurfs animated film, is known as a fashionista and has her own perfume called Purr (see below).
Fame, though, is not something she’s entirely comfortable with.
“When I was nine years old, I didn’t pick up a hairbrush and think to myself, I want to be famous,” Perry said.
“I thought to myself, I want to be a singer and I want to be on a stage and of course I want to have wonderful costumes and to be able to write wonderful songs that people sing along to.
“But the fame part wasn’t something that I dreamt of as a kid, it’s just something that comes along with it and you have to be careful of it, it can be very delicate. I am very aware of it and I have both my good moments and my bad moments with it.
“I’m glad that if I have an opinion it will be heard.
“But I think fame, when someone is just famous to be famous and there is nothing behind it, I think it is disgusting. Talent and creativity and art is beautiful and has always existed and that should be celebrated because its creation and evolution of a person.”
Source: Daily Telegraph