Trivia / Katy Perry

• ReferencedBy.Katy Perry

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• Backed by the Pentagon: The music video for "Part of Me" was shot on Camp Pendleton, with real Marines as background extras. She was also filmed going through the same training the Marines go through. The Marines thought it was a great idea to give the spotlight to their female members, it was good publicity, and they said that the directors were going to make the video anyway, so it would be better for it to be realistic[1].
• Billing Displacement: In the "Last Friday Night" video Darren Criss has a ten-second cameo and gets a starring credit, Richie Nuzzolese who plays one of the main love interests is listed as an extra.
• Breakthrough Hit: "I Kissed a Girl".
• Celebrity Voice Actor: She voiced Smurfette in the 2011 live-action Smurfs movie and its sequel.
• Creator Backlash:
  • Perry started out making Christian gospel-rock music under her real name Katy Hudson, releasing a self-titled debut album in 2001. All mentions of this album have been excised from her official website and promotional materials as it doesn't quite fit with her current musical output that includes the singles "Ur So Gay" and "I Kissed A Girl".
  • She also had a much higher opinion of the lyric video for "Birthday" than for the official music video (which she wanted to disown!)
  • In a June 2017 interview, Katy admitted that she made a mistake for doing cultural appropriation during the Prism era, examples including dressed as a geisha performing "Unconditionally" at the 2013 American Music Awards and sporting cornrows in the "This is How We Do It" music video.
  • Katy hasn't turned her back entirely on the work she made for Witness, but clearly came away from the experience keenly feeling the negative reception it garnered, and has since made dismissive allusions to Witness, even referring to it obliquely as a misguided "ego trip" in the song "Smile".
• Creator Breakdown: "By the Grace of God" is about her depression after her divorce with Russel Brand.
• Creator Couple: Her then-boyfriend John Mayer wrote a sizable portion of "Prism" and inspired its title.
• The Danza: In "Last Friday Night", she plays a character called Kathy Beth Terry.
• Dawson Casting: She plays a 13-year-old girl in the music video for "Last Friday Night".
• Deleted Role: She shot a cameo appearance for Get Him to the Greek, in which she and Russell Brand's character Aldous Snow kiss. It got cut but did lead to a Romance on the Set as she and Brand began dating in September 2009 before having a short-lived marriage a year later.
• Dye Hard: She is actually a natural blonde, though she is more associated with black hair
  • She's been blonde, black, red, blue, pink, purple...◊ but performs in black and blue wigs.
  • In 2011 alone, she was blonde, brunette AND redheaded at different points during the year.
  • She returned to being a blonde in early 2017, though apparently this was a case of dyeing too hard, as she ended up killing most of her hair and having to switch to a short haircut similar to Miley Cyrus. Some people even speculated that she cut her hair short after splitting up with Orlando Bloom, though they've since restarted their relationship and are now engaged.
• Fan Community Nickname: "Katycats".
• Life Imitates Art: Katy may or may not have written "The One That Got Away" before her relationship with (and subsequent marriage to) Russell Brand, but it became eerily appropriate that he filed for their divorce during the song's run as a single. He became the one that got away.
• Meaningful Release Date: "Not the End of the World" was released as a single on the eighth anniversary of the day the world was supposedly going to end: December 21, 2012.
• Missing Episode: Footage of her from the Key 103 studios has become the victim of Keep Circulating the Tapes.
• Missing Trailer Scene: The "Last Friday Night" video teaser is almost entirely made of scenes that didn't make the final video cut.
• No Export for You: A weird case involving "Prism." The album is packaged with seeds that fans are encouraged to plant. This created a problem in Australia, which is very protective of their unique ecosystems, as the seeds could easily become an invasive species. Australia has their own version of the album containing seeds for local flora, but international versions of the album (such as those purchased online), have been quarantined as a biohazard.
• The Other Darrin: Her sister Angela portrays Kathy Beth Terry on stage, as seen here.
• Promoted Fanboy: Katy is self-admitted huge fan of Pokémon and collaborated on a song for the 25th anniversary of the series, "Electric".
• Reality Subtext: "Smile" is a song about coming back from an emotional low after flying too close to the sun. Its message is applicable to many things, but it was notably released as the titular track from the album following Witness, a project that hit Katy hard in terms of critical and popular opinion due to its attempted new direction largely being seen as a failure that reflected on Katy as an embarrassment. As such, "Smile" is also an admission of Witness being a low point and a declaration of a comeback with the eponymous album.
• Real-Life Relative: In Part Of Me, Katy Perry's sister Angela dresses up as her character Kathy Beth Terry for a live performance of "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)" onstage.
• Similarly Named Works: Jill Sobule expressed some irritation over "I Kissed a Girl".
• What Could Have Been:
  • Sia wrote "Pretty Hurts" for Katy and did send a demo to her via email, but Katy never bothered to check her email. Sia then pitched it to Rihanna's management, but they failed to do anything with it, but Beyoncé heard the song and jumped on it.
  • Her major debut album would've been much different had she remained in Columbia, as she recorded an album for the record label in 2005 before being dropped from said label. One of its songs, "Simple", made it to the soundtrack for The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.
  • Production team The Matrix, hot off the success of producing hits for Avril Lavigne, recorded and intended to release an album in 2004 that had Katy Perry writing and singing its songs. However, while it was fully completed, it was cancelled weeks before its release. After she broke out in 2009, the album was released independently.
  • Prism was originally intended to be a Darker and Edgier effort for Perry following the end of her marriage, with her even going far as to say she'd "be shoegazing". The final album was a much more lighter, dance-inspired affair.
  • "Part of Me" was written for Teenage Dream but Perry decided not to put the song on the album, feeling that it didn't fit the composition of the album. She eventually reworked the song for Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection.
  • A collaboration with Rihanna almost happened in Teenage Dream but it never materialized. However, Perry has expressed hope that the collaboration will happen one day.
  • She wrote "Black Widow" as a last-minute addition to Prism but the song was excluded from the final track listing and the composition of the song was finalized after the album's release. Ultimately, Perry decided to give the song to Iggy Azalea instead, who offered her to sing the hook of the song but Perry turned it down due to other commitments, so Rita Ora stepped in for Perry as a result.
  • A non-music related example. Originally, Ms. Perry was supposed to have performed a Lighter and Softer rendition of "Hot n Cold" on Sesame Street, as part of a duet with Muppet character Elmo. However, because the song wasn't kid-friendly enough, and because of the outcry of Media Watchdog groups over her Impossibly-Low Neckline, Sesame Workshop, the show's production company, had to pull the episode a few days before it was to air. You can still watch the video here.

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