Katy Perry interview

Less cute and more sexy is that what Katy Perry’s new album Teenage Dream sounds like compared to her 2008 smash debut ‘One of the Boys’.

But that doesn’t mean she’s ditching all things whimsical. In her ‘California Gurls’ music video, Katy takes a romp through a psychedelic landscape filled with all manner of sugary confections, and Katy Kats will even be treated to a candy-floss scented album cover forTeenage Dream.

When asked, Katy says, “Teenage Dream is completely a different album compared to One of the Boys. It’s close to her life and to what she is as a person. She says, Teenage Dreamis a perfect snapshot into who I am in general – as a young woman, with my perspectives, convictions, anthems and mottos. And it’s kinda like One Of The Boys. Maybe it’s less cute and more sexy. It’s full of different dimensions. It has songs like ‘California Gurls’ that are really fun and obvious and then there are songs like ‘Firework’ that would hopefully motivate you and make you want to move and there are songs like ‘Not Like The Movies’ which are love songs. If you want to know about me, it’s definitely the CD to get.”

And her favorite tracks from Teenage Dream are ‘Firework’ and ‘Peacock’. These two are very close to her heart. She explains, “‘Firework’ is probably my favorite song on the record because it really shows who I am now and the message I want to send to people in a way, and hopefully it’s an encouraging one. And to me, I’ve always been on the lookout for a song to really uplift me but wasn’t so cheesy. ‘Firework’ is like an anthem, and also it talks about making people go “aah” and I wanna make people go “aah”.

But ‘Peacock’ is a whole other side to my personality, that’s like more messed up, silly, sarcastic, and full of irony.  I’m really such a heavy lyricist in all my music, like I really try and give words a different dimension and make them double entendres and hidden innuendos.

We wonder how did the ‘candyland’ theme on the ‘California Gurls’ music video come about! “I had the ‘candyland’ theme idea last year when I was on my Hello Katy tour. I was thinking of what to do next and what would be really fun. I like to possibly do a tour that invokes all the senses; sound, vision, smell, taste and touch. I basically told them I wanted a ‘candyland’ reference and they made it happen. It’s amazing! I love that music video for ‘California Gurls’. It’s my favorite one that I got to make! I was actually on a cotton candy cloud and I was eating real cotton candy and I was like, ‘That’s not work. That’s play!’” she says.

What was it like working with Snoop Dogg on ‘California Gurls’? “The collaboration with Snoop Dogg came about pretty naturally. I had this idea to write a song about California girls, being one myself. And also, I had heard the Jay-Z and Alicia Keys’ song ‘Empire State of Mind’ so much in California that I was jealous! ‘What about California? What about the West Coast? What about the Beach Boys? Or Tupac?’ So I thought it was time for a West Coast anthem with my twist. I went into the studio, brought the idea and collaborated with some songwriters. And I started to insert obvious Snoop Dogg references like ‘sipping gin and juice’ and more obvious ones like ‘Snoop Doggy Dogg on the stereo’. And I was like, ‘If Snoop Dogg was on a song about the West Coast, it would be truly legit!’ So I kind of lured him with all those little odes to Snoop Dogg already in the ‘California Gurls’ lyrics. He was so cool! He’s like, chill.

Brian Wilson (Beach Boys) too enjoyed ‘California Gurls’ a lot.  “To be on Brian Wilson’s radar is probably like as big as to be on the Queen’s radar. I just love them. I came out to ‘California Girls’(the Beach Boys’ 60s hit) on my Hello Katy tour and that might have been somewhat of a reason for me writing ‘California Gurls’ as well”.

On the subject of Teenage Dream, who was Katy’s teenage dream or crush? She tells, “My teenage dream would have to be Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Devon Sawa, he was like a really cute actor, and maybe Zach Morris from Saved By The Bell (played by actor Mark-Paul Gosselaar). But I really idolized and still do idolize Gwen Stefani – she’s my be all and end all.”

She is also Smurfette in the upcoming movie The Smurfs. She says, “We’ve done a couple of takes so far on the voiceovers for the animation. It’s kind of natural and it’s like an extension of me. A lot of the days I feel like a cartoon, with my larger than life personality and some of the costumes that I choose on stage. I feel a little like a cartoon, whether it’s Snow White or Betty Boop.”

“Smurfette was really just so fun to do! It’s something that I really wanted to do and be a part of. I love watching those movies, whether it’s Up or Toy Story and feeling good inside but also feeling really entertained or laughing out loud. But I didn’t watch Smurfs growing up. So it was really interesting going in there to do vocals for someone that you don’t really know. I caught up on all the stuff, of course.”

And when it comes to fashion, Katy clearly is a game for all sorts of eye-catching outfits, from the carousel dress and Hello Kitty corset to fruit accessories. “I wouldn’t be caught dead in something that someone made me wear. Sometimes I’ll go onto a photo shoot and they’ll say you’ll have to wear this because you know, they’re paying us to wear it, and I’m like no, I’m not doing this. No one can pay me so much money to wear something. Also, when they say you have to wear this because it’s a big flashy designer and I’m like, ‘It doesn’t fit me, it doesn’t look right, it doesn’t really epitomize who I am or highlight my character and my personality’, (I wouldn't do it).

“If anybody pushes things on me, I’m more likely to go in the opposite direction. I sometimes walk into a shoot and they go, ‘Oh, you’re going to wear nothing’, and I’m like, ‘Nah, get the burqa out, I’m wearing the burqa today.’ I just like to have my own kind of direction when it comes to things I wear.”

She grew up with Christian parents who also happened to be pastors. And her upbringing has somewhere influenced her perception. She says, “I guess where I come from is still inside of me and nipping at my heels everyday. There’s a song on my new record which talks about my convictions – it’s a song called ‘Who Am I Living For’. It’s interesting along the road in the path of life, I meet a lot of different people who come from so many different places and they really kind of influence and inspire who I am.”

“I definitely continue to want to know the answers and have my own personal pilgrimage, so in a way it does affect what I do musically and who I am as an entertainer; but there’s still a lot of me in that as well. I think probably one of the things that is most important in life is not collecting all this stuff or trying to be as famous as possible but to worry about your soul and your spirit and what’s happening next.”