【Busty Lifeguards (2010)】

Who would have Busty Lifeguards (2010)thought that even after an endless press tour in support of her fifth album Witness, there's still a bit more to learn about the pop star Katy Perry.

In a New York Timesprofile written by Caryn Ganz, Perry opens up about a lot of things she didn't get to during her four-day livestreaming experiment—including Hillary Clinton's loss, sexuality, and the false nature of award shows.

Perry found comfort in Lady Gaga after Hilary Clinton's loss:

“It was a revelation, it was a reckoning,” she said of Mrs. Clinton’s loss. She started downing drinks and reached out to the nearest person for physical support: Lady Gaga, also there to celebrate the election of the first female president. There they were, “Gaga and I just looking at each other, and being like, [expletive] it, we need to touch each other,” Ms. Perry said. And for a minute, two of the biggest pop stars in the world held hands.

She explains her frustrations about 'woke-ness' and reacts to being repeatedly called out for appropriative actions:

Reacting to a steady stream of criticism (TMZ’s Met Ball headline: “Katy Perry Rocks Ugly Outfit by Jew-Hating Designer”) is a “maddening game,” she said. Referring to what she called “this strange race to be the most woke,” she added, “They want you to stand for something, but once you do, and if you don’t do it perfectly, they’re ready to take you right down.”

Perry speaks about her "hypersexual image," being influenced by queer women, and how she came to understand her own sexuality better following Donald Trump's victory:

Ms. Perry credits her shift in perspective on her sexuality — she calls it “a full sexual liberation” — to resolving issues with her father. “The reality is that I was retriggered on the election,” she said. “I was retriggered by a big male that didn’t see women as equal. And that had been, unfortunately, a common theme in my upbringing.”

Sia is Perry's unofficial mentor in the industry

When she needs to speak with somebody who can relate, Ms. Perry said she turns to Sia, a songwriter and artist who has gone to great lengths to control how much (or in her case, how little) the public sees of her inner life. “I think she’s presently challenging old held beliefs about herself and that even in this day and age, cutting all your hair off and having an opinion is NOT WHAT THE PEOPLE WANT,” Sia wrote in an email message. “They would prefer you to make cute pop and to stay in your lane.” She added: “I hide behind my wig, while she is out there taking bullets for the rest of us ... The less brave ... you know?”

Award shows are "fake" and "constructs,"—but that doesn't mean the old Katy Perry is, too:

“All the awards shows are fake,” she said, “and all the awards that I’ve won are fake,” she added, explaining that they don’t represent the audience. “They’re constructs.” The old Katy Perry wasn’t a construct, she explained, and she isn’t dead. “I didn’t kill her, because I love her, and she is exactly what I had to do then,” she said. “And I’m not a con artist, I didn’t con people, like, that was just me. And this is me now.”

"The old Katy Perry is gone," Ganz wrote.

Whether or not the image Perry is painting for fans today suits you, we can all agree that there's definitely something differentabout Katy 2.0, or whichever version of the singer we're getting now.