The journey from teen idol to adult artist hasn’t always been bubble gum fun for the 30-year-old multi -platinum star, but it’s sure been interesting
by Matt Scanlon and Susan Hornik
Pop aimed at teens is as old as the music genre itself, from the hordes of “Bobby soxers” who shocked Frank Sinatra during a December 1942 series of shows at the Paramount Theater in New York City (“The sound that greeted me was absolutely deafening,” Sinatra recalled many years later. “I was scared stiff. I couldn’t move a muscle.”) to the screaming, grimacing, and tearful mob that often overwhelmed police barricades during the Beatles’ 1964 American tour…to a front-row audience member at a 2013 Beyoncé concert who promptly passed out when she hugged him—teen fans have been an indispensable force of both nature and commerce.
Evolving as an artist from that sector to adult-aimed rock, however, is a high-wire act, and one with a considerable number of casualties. Justin Bieber is ongoingly frustrated in his efforts to expand beyond a teen/tween constituency, One Direction seems ossified in its fan realm, despite advancing into their 20s, and the list goes on…Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, the Jonas Brothers, and the Cheetah Girls are all advancing awkwardly into a more broadly-aged buying pool.
There was every reason to believe that Katy Perry was going to be faced with an analogous “either this or that” business future after the titanic success of the frothy pop classic “I Kissed a Girl” (from the 2008 album One of the Boys) and the craze surrounding the “Teenage Dream” single from the 2010 album of the same name. As if to punctuate that market sector appeal, Perry opened the 2010 Teen Choice Awards with the song.
The hitch was that, at 25 at the time of the awards performance, Perry was getting dangerously close to aging out of her voting block, and most savvy agents would have recommended a pivot to fractionally more meditative work.
She seemed to have heard, and her fourth studio album, Prism, though safely in the light-rock realm, was in many ways an adult effort. Tracks like “Roar” and “Dark Horse” implied a sort of attempt at a recovery from something… at reclaiming or at least reimagining a self (particularly in the anthem-like cries in the former track). The disc was not only successful—grabbing #1 sales slots in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada, and the United Kingdom—but an evolution in both style and audience appeal.
It’s cheap editorializing to suggest that more “serious” music per force comes on the heels of a crisis, but in this case the time math works. Perry, raised by a profoundly religious family (both of her parents are pastors) and originally a gospel singer, has been forced to contend with a relationship with her folks that frequently occupied adversarial territory, her mom quoted in the Daily Record as saying, in response to “I Kissed a Girl” success: “I hate the song. It clearly promotes homosexuality and its message is shameful and disgusting. Katy knows how I feel. We are a very outspoken family.” Then there’s this little slice of future-therapy, courtesy of her father Keith, while addressing his flock: “We must pray for our family. We all have our crosses to bear. If you have a son or a daughter that is not serving God, just stand up right now. Don’t be embarrassed. Don’t be ashamed. Listen, we love them. I love Katy. I want everybody to go to heaven, but I want my family most of all. What would heaven be without them? It won’t be the same.” As if that wasn’t indicative enough, Perry herself flatly offered to Vanity Fair that, “I didn’t have a childhood.” Though their relationship has thawed in its way, it’s tempting to imagine the lyrics that must have coursed through the head of a young women on the receiving end of such worldviews.
Katy speaks
The film documentary that followed Perry on her California Dreams tour, Katy Perry: Part of Me, featured some telling quotes from the then 27-year-old performer on a variety of subjects, from motherhood to appreciating success rather than relentlessly chasing after it.
On stagecraft: “My goal when I’m playing shows, is super simple. It’s just to make people smile, and to enjoy themselves. To have like a heart full of hope and happiness, and to leave with a shimmer in their eyes.”
On her upbringing: “My dad would give me $10, which is a lot of money when you’re 9, to sing at church, on tables at restaurants, at family functions, just about anywhere.”
On heartache: “Being in love is the dream, and then [there’s] the reality of making it work…with marriage, it’s not like the movies. There’s a lot more compromise, a lot more sacrifice.”
On songwriting: “I think people appreciate a songwriter who shows different sides. The whole angst thing is cool, but if that’s all you’ve got, its just boring. Everything I write, whether its happy or sad, has a sense of humor to it.”
On physical attributes: “Besides my big boobs, my hourglass shape is my best feature. I play off of that a lot. I like that I have a lot on top and a lot on the bottom.”
On appreciation: “Mind you, I already have a brilliant life. All I need to do is like remind myself that I have it.”
On being a mom: “A baby can’t have a baby, and I’m still a baby..”
to the audience: “Thank you so much for believing in my weirdness!”
As if that sobering experience wasn’t sufficient, there’s the matter of her glactically public marriage to comedian and author Russell Brand, which ended in 2011 after less than a year. (“Let’s just say I haven’t heard from him since he texted me saying he was divorcing me December 31, 2011,” she explained to Us magazine.) And though in all likelihood an at least partially management- and media-crafted feud, her recent dust-up with Taylor Swift couldn’t have been entirely pleasant, particularly after Swift offered to Rolling Stone last August that they were, “…just straight-up enemies, and it wasn’t even about a guy! It had to do with business. She basically tried to sabotage an entire arena tour.”
Matured, but unbowed, Perry launched into an extended tour in promotion of Prism. Started in May of last year, Katy Perry: The Prismatic World Tour took a break for the summer, but will next head to Asia and South America this fall for a final leg.
The raven-haired star took to the pink carpet for the world premiere EPIX screening of a film depicting the tour, and there offered some on-stage slices of life.
“I am not ‘on’ every day,” she said. “We have days where I am sometimes at 85 percent to 100 percent, but I try my best. I am looking after my health, which is most important.”
Introducing the concert film to a room full of fans, Perry said. “I’m very proud of this tour. I am due for a nap, but am extremely proud. We have done 129 shows, and have gone all over the world. I’ve only been here for about 72 hours [in the U.S. from a gig in Stockholm, Sweden], but I am so happy to see the sun!” As of press date, the singer had just returned from a week-long respite in the Greek islands.
Perry observed that, “Every day is an adventure; we were in Europe for five weeks. When I was a little younger [on tour], it was all about going to the clubs…Now we have transitioned to going to museums” [laughs].
Pressed to offer more on her traveling life, the 30-year-old explained that, “It’s a bit of a circus. Thankfully I get to work with a lot of people I’ve worked with before, like on the previous tour for Dreams. We stop by all kinds of wonderful monuments and different historical places. I saw Renaissance paintings in Florence… went to Auschwitz, I saw Anne Frank’s house. I get to educate myself along the way.”
With a whopping 52 million Twitter followers, Perry was included in the Forbes list of “Top-Earning Women In Music” for 2011, 2012, and 2013, with 11 million albums and 81 million singles sold worldwide to date. Though a new studio album is anticipated perhaps as early as the end this year, both tour and off-tour appearances (including the Super Bowl halftime show in February, with Missy Elliott as a guest) keep her buzz fresh.
EPIX’s two-hour live concert special, which features a number of Perry’s hit songs, famously numerous costume changes, elaborate set pieces, and flurry of wigs, will be out on DVD later this summer.
