'Kissed' by Stardom

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Pop sensation Katy Perry makes A.C. debut at Borgata July 30

By Lori Hoffman

Add Comment | Comments: 1 | Posted Jul. 23, 2009

It took a few years, but pop vocalist and songwriter Katy Perry, voted the "next big thing" by Blender mag in 2004, hit the big time last summer with her smash single "I Kissed A Girl" and has been on a roll ever since, racking up more hits from her One of the Boys CD including "Hot N Cold" and the latest single "Waking Up In Vegas." She makes her Atlantic City debut next Thursday, July 30, at the Borgata Event Center.

The 24-year-old native of Santa Barbara, Calif. first expressed her musical gifts in her parents' church (they are both pastors) and released a gospel album in 2001 under her real name Katy Hudson.

When she discovered the forbidden fruit of secular music, in particular Queen and Alanis Morissette, her expanded musical obsession took her into the realm of pop music. She pursued her career and was signed by two different musical labels, Def Jam and Columbia. Both dropped her before she could make her pop music debut. However, Capitol/EMI signed her in 2007 and her music finally saw the light of day. In a phone interview with AC Weekly, Perry talked about her breakout year and what's next.

Can you sum up how the past year has gone for you?

I found my lucky star and I've been holding on. It's been like a hurricane but I feel like I live in the eye of the hurricane. I'm in Istanbul, Turkey today and tomorrow I'll be in Dublin. For this little European run I've been in a different city with a different language practically every day. It has been a wreck trying to order room service.

Several labels dropped you before Capitol/EMI came along. Any revenge fantasies against those labels?

I definitely don't need to say anything. Some of them folded or had to melt into other companies because of [financial] problems. Well, I could have kept your company alive. Obviously, success is the sweetest revenge. I really respect the new artists who are coming in and making a career of it. It's kind of easy to be a flash in the pan. It's really hard to [sustain] a career.

It's great to get discovered via the Internet, but so much of that aspect of the music business involves fans looking for the next new thing. That has to be tougher for maintaining a career.

That is how our world is. Everybody wants it now. Fast. Yesterday. To me it feels like an over-sensitized ADD world, where it is hard to get people's attention and keep their attention.

How do you describe your music?

One of the Boys was a coming-of-age record. I wrote it from 17 to 23. It's about boys and it's about relationships and moving away from home for the first time. It's very honest. I have girls come up to me all the time and say, "Oh my God, I can't believe you actually put what I'm going through and dealing with into words." It's spontaneous. It's got this kind of kitsch fun -- [a] slapstick, sometimes dark sense of humor. Humor is a big theme in my music. I don't take myself too seriously unless I need to. The world is so over-saturated with these artists that are so full of themselves.

Your lyrics are what make your music different and fun.

When you listen to pop radio, a lot of times it's just background music, it's just there when you are driving. Most of them don't have stories or a point. Most of them are about the same old crap -- Mercedes Benz and butts and booze and showing off. Is that life? I want to write a great pop song that has a great melody and sounds hooky, but I also want people to pull their car over and say, "What the hell did she just say? I have to learn these lyrics so I can sing along."

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