 Pop's newest sensation Katy Perry stormed to the top of the UK chart last weekend, with her sweet, sexy and out-and-out saucy hit 'I Kissed A Girl'.
The song has already topped the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was not due to be realised in this country until September.
However, as soon as it began receiving airplay it caught the nation's attention, forcing Katy's record company to rush-release it as a download on July 30.
'I Kissed A Girl' went to number one on download sales alone, but Katy is determined not to rest on her laurels - she is desperate for success.
"I love pop music," she says. "I've been around kids that hate selling records and enjoy being the starving artist. But I want to play stadiums. I want to sell records. I want to be a pop girl!"
Clearly keen to dispel rumours she is just another one-hit-wonder, 23-year-old Katy has previously admitted that, if she had to have another musician's career, she would opt for that of the enduring Queen of Pop, Madonna.
"Of course I'd have Madonna's career," she explains. "She is the ultimate in female pop music, and she's like the Energizer bunny. Plus, she's got years on me and she looks my age still. She must have sacrificed something or sold her soul in exchange for continuing to be a world dominator in all things pop culture!"
With jet-black hair, scarlet lips and a seductive tone, Katy brings more than a little vamp to her music. Her sexy image coupled with the seductive lyrics to her number one hit (I kissed a girl and I liked it/The taste of her cherry chapstick/I kissed a girl just to try it/I hope my boyfriend don't mind it) has already caused controversy in her home country of America, with some religious factions claiming the track encourages young girls to experiment with lesbianism.
Members of the country's gay community have also voiced concerns about the track, claiming it belittles the issue of homosexuality. However, an unabashed Katy insists both sides have failed to understand the meaning of the track.
"I'm talking about the way girls are really touchy-feely and sisterly," she says. "Especially when we're growing up. We're holding hands, we're having sleepovers, we're doing choreographed dance moves in our pyjamas, we're painting each other's nails and practicing kissing on our arms - or maybe practicing kissing on one another.
"It wasn't something we were doing for the sake of anybody else because we were scared of boys, I know I was scared of boys! My first kiss was with a boy and he almost swallowed me alive! I wish I had kissed that girl I had a girl crush on when I was growing up. I would have been much more prepared for my dating life I think."
Similarly, Katy refuses to accept her previous single - the 2007 hit 'UR so Gay' which was offered as a free download on her website - encouraged negative stereotypes.
"Every time I play that song, everybody has come back laughing," she argues. "I'm not the type of person who walks around calling everything gay. That song is about a specific guy that I used to date and specific issues that he had. The listeners have to read the context of the song and decide for themselves."
However, despite claiming her single should not be taken too literally, when pushed Katy will admit there is one women in the world she would happily lock lips with.
"Scarlett Johansson," she laughs. "She's beautiful. She's such a lady, too. She reminds me of a pin-up girl. It's really beautiful to watch a woman have a presence about herself."
In a move possibly engineered to further stoke the fervour of right-wing conservatives, Katy has also admitted the cover of her album 'One of the Boys' - which sees her reclining on a pink sun lounger wearing hot pants and a 50s-style bikini top - was inspired by the film 'Lolita', about a middle-aged college professor who becomes infatuated with a 14-year-old girl.
"I'm obsessed with it," Katy explains. "I'm obsessed with how she can straddle the line of being innocent and sexy all in one. She's a beautiful creature, very girlie, sweet, and innocent, but she knows exactly what's she's doing. To me, I see a lot of myself like that. I think that I straddle the line a little bit because I know that I also am a bit of a tiger."
Clearly revelling in her reputation as a corrupter of the nation's morals, it comes as a surprise to hear Katy was raised in a strict Christian household.
The daughter of two travelling Methodist preachers, she listened to Christian radio stations and performed in the church. So sheltered was her upbringing that even secular music channels were blocked from the family's television.
"I was singing standards like 'Oh Happy Day'. That was my only door into music," she remembers.
In 2001, Katy released her debut album - titled 'Katy Hudson', the singer's birth name which she changed to avoid confusion with the Hollywood actress Kate Hudson - which was based on Christian music.
"I'm not ashamed of it," she claims. "Everyone's looking for me to be, 'Well, I'm so ashamed of it and that's why I kissed a girl!' No way! I still have 'Jesus' tattooed on my wrist. And I still have faith and a foundation of my own."
However, Katy soon began to discover other types of music, and it was then her love affair with pop was born.
"I'm a huge fan of Freddie Mercury," she enthuses. "I'm a fan of lots of music, but he was a turning point. There was a time when I was hanging out at my friend's house. We're trying on all our outfits, like girls do, and out of nowhere I heard the lyrics to 'Killer Queen'. Time stood still. The music was totally different from anything I'd heard. "
When she was 17, the plucky songstress decided to drop out of school in favour of pursuing her musical career in Los Angeles where she eventually bagged a deal with Virgin Records. The move helped Katy develop her own sound, and while she is proud of her gospel-infused roots she is also keen to expand her songwriting skills.
"I'm very happy to be where I came from and love my family and my parents, but I live on my own, and I make choices for myself, and I'm an adult, and I feel like I see the world everyday in a bigger picture," she says. "I just started singing about my life and whatever went on in it. I've never been a very censored girl - even when I was a kid, I was always saying what I felt, and I think that's just grown even more so."
At the moment, Katy is appearing in the infamous US rock festival Warped - as is her boyfriend, Gym Class Heroes' singer Travis McCoy. The festival is famed for the harsh way it is run - artists are not given their performances slots until the day and must play while the previous band's gear is still be removed from the stage.
"I was like, 'Holy s**t! Am I going to survive this?' " Katy laughs. "I'm usually following the last screamo hardcore punk band, facing this sea of black hoodies, and I'm in this little dress and trying to jump off the monitors like the boys."
Katy's decision to take part in the rock festival is yet another of her attempts to prove the critics wrong.
"They're saying this is the worst tour I'll ever do," she says. "I may be a pop girl, but I'm surviving Warped. And I don't think many of them b****s could!"
By proving she can withstand the festival, Katy hopes to show there is more to female musicians than simply pretty dresses and nice make-up.
"What happened to being rock 'n' roll?' she queries. "I play music, I'm not running for President. If only the world would stop walking on eggshells and get a sense of humour. Everyone has their shield up and they're just like: 'Offend me! I'm ready to be offended!"
As for those who criticise her overtly sexual lyrics and accuse her of leading a generation of innocent children awry, Katy comments: "I let them sip on their hatred. I don't really deal with them because they're inevitable. The Internet is such a widespread place, and there's the disease of what I like to call 'anonymous hating' - it's like ghost haters, people that would never say anything to your face, but they know they're not going be caught, so they just say what they feel without any repercussions."She adds that, although her religious parents don't sing along to 'I Kissed a Girl', they happily hum along to the rest of her songs because they realise they are tongue-in-cheek and ironic.
With the kind of down-to-earth comment that puts fanatics to shame, Katy adds: "They're very supportive and happy, and they're glad that I'm not strung out on drugs somewhere and not doing centerfolds. I'm thinking about a couple of cheeky things, but I know what I'm doing. I'm very focused, trying to keep a good head upon my shoulders."
With sassy lyrics and toe-tapping melodies, there's no doubt Katy knows exactly what she's doing and intends to do it for some time to come.
BANG Showbiz 15 August 2008 |
