Katy Perry: ‘I feel like I was born to be an ambassador of love and joy and light’

Katy Perry sits down with Apple Music’s Zane Lowe to reflect on her illustrious career and life ahead of the release of her new album, 143. The pop icon speaks about wanting to be a mentor for emerging artists, takes Zane behind the scenes of her creative process, chats about her affinity for astrology, and more.

Katy Perry tells Apple Music about reaching out as a mentor to the next generation of pop stars.

Katy Perry: I love being a pop star. It’s definitely a shade of who I am now. I think in the past it was more separate. It was pop star and personal life and now there’s a little bit more. It’s kind of like-

Zane Lowe: Mixing the both.

Katy Perry: …mixed and more balanced.

Zane Lowe: Well, it’s hard when you’re trying to figure out both identities, especially when the whole world loves you as one and doesn’t really know you as the other. Back in pop star 1.0. ’08 to ’12, when you were just achieving that success for the first time, it must’ve been crazy if you look back on it now with the perspective of wisdom in how you even got through that four years.

Katy Perry: I’m here if you need to talk to anyone that’s been through what you’ve been through because there’s only a few astronauts out there and you want to talk about what you’ve been through and tell them that, look, you’re riding this rocket now and it’s going to go up. It’s going to go down. You’re holding on for dear life and if you ever need anything, I am here because I have ridden it hard and for a long time. It’s been a wild ride. It’s been really fun. I’ve learned so much and I’m just so grateful that I’m still here standing today and this is my job and I’m still celebrating and still bringing life and light and joy and BPM, especially on this record.

Zane Lowe: We love it when you find tempo and we love it when you do your job.

Katy Perry: This is my job, this is my purpose. I feel like I was born to be an ambassador of love and joy and light and to give all that and to evolve and maybe evolve in the spotlight so I can be an example of that. I really talk about my tools and try and put them out there for people to hear about and to investigate themselves. I think that I was born to, hopefully, get people back out of their head and into their heart, to be more heart centered.

Katy Perry tells Apple Music about the evolution of her sound and trajectory of her career

When I was going through ‘One of the Boys,’ which was, whoa, it was like, oh my God, hold on to this ride. And then ‘Teenage Dream’ and ‘Prism,’ my personal life was not really working. My professional life was working. And then when Witness shifted everything, it started to come more into balance and then Smile really solidified it. And now ‘143’ is the celebration of feeling that wholeness, operating out of that wholeness, which is a space I’ve never written a record from. I’ve always written a record from defense or not feeling enough or trying to transmute my trauma, whatever that was, and to change it. I always say this is the biggest lie I think artists have ever been sold is that they have to stay in pain in order to create.

Katy Perry tells Apple Music about how she looks to the stars for guidance

Katy Perry: The stars are really my guide. I use the stars every single day as a way to GPS what’s coming next. It’s kind of like everybody looks up, “Well, what’s the weather going to be like today?” Well, I look up my stars and I go, “Okay, this is what’s coming and how do I play it? And this is how I’m going to play it.”

Zane Lowe: I’ve had some really interesting experiences along the way myself where things have been uncannily on time through that process, but there’s also a little part of me, and maybe you can help me understand it a little bit better, that sometimes wonder which one is chicken and which one’s egg? Who’s leading who? Am I being led by the stars or am I looking into the stars?

Katy Perry: I think you get a choice. I believe in free will and I think that you get… There’s two options here, a positive and a negative. And even in the negative, you can still find the positive. All of the shifting that I’ve been through in my life, the ups, the downs, the peaks, the valleys, if you don’t find a way to sow seeds in the valleys, you’ll never find those fruits in the peaks, so you got to find what it is. And I find those fruits in the peaks so you got to find what it is and I’m an eternal optimist when it comes to that.

Katy Perry tells Apple Music about how she prepares to perform

Katy Perry: I used a lot of tools before I go on stage to fortify myself.

Zane Lowe: “Fortify” is an interesting word, so to prepare yourself for that.

Katy Perry: To prepare myself. So I typically don’t look at my phone an hour before I go on stage because someone can send you a text that has some information that just goes, what?

Zane Lowe: Yeah. It’s the disconnect.

Katy Perry: Yeah. I want to be in it. And every tour that I do, I get to bring out these meditation teachers from Transcendental Meditation, which I’ve been doing for 15 years, and they teach everyone. And so we do it every show day at 6 PM altogether. And there’s just this energy that’s created that we all share that’s incredible.

Katy Perry tells Apple Music about the energy she wanted to create around her new album, ‘143’

With this new record going out, the energy that I am hoping to create is celebratory, is freedom. Is freedom to be yourself, freedom to be sweaty, freedom to dance with a stranger. That’s what’s so great about music and live experiences is because you only get that in… We used to live as tribes, we used to live in communes. We don’t have that as much anymore and you do get to experience that when you are in a live setting, you’re literally standing or sitting next to a person you’ve never met in your life, and you catch a lyric with them and they’re in your face, they’re connecting with you, and all of a sudden you don’t feel so alone. There’s that oneness feeling so that’s so great about performing live. And what I hope to do with 143 is just a continual, nonstop party. Everyone’s invited, doesn’t matter who you are, 8 to 80 all over the world. And that’s the kind of music I wanted to create for that live event. I think I’m having the most fun in my life.

Katy Perry tells Apple Music about her writing process and the inspiration behind her hit song “Firework”

Katy Perry: I think I have these ideas and I’m constantly writing, constantly taking notes. I think it’s coming. I think it’s a channeling of sorts. It’s coming from a different place. It’s coming from my highest self that maybe lives in a different dimension. It’s like, “Here you go.” Especially songs like “Roar” and “Firework” where I’m really down in the dumps, don’t know if I can keep doing whatever I’m doing. It’s like, well, I’ll write this to help encourage myself. And then all of a sudden it encourages a generation.

Zane Lowe: So Firework was a result of a depressed state, of doubt?

Katy Perry: Oh, yeah. Yeah. And trying to encourage myself out of that.

Zane Lowe: I’ve never talked to you about that in particular, and we’ll come back to ‘143’ in a second, but it’s interesting to me because that song has been used as a form of celebration, of uplifting, at the highest level of government. Literally da, da, da, fireworks, you know what I mean? So it doesn’t get bigger than that in terms of let’s celebrate victory or whatever it is to be alive.

Katy Perry: The height of individualism.

Zane Lowe: The height of, exactly. Call it what you will, but where were you when you wrote it? What was going on?

Katy Perry: Yeah, I don’t know specifically. I think I was just trying to make my mark and leave my fingerprint and feel like I was born for a purpose, and maybe I was not feeling it that day or that week when I wrote it. I remember I wrote it in the studio with Stargate, and I was inspired by a Kerouac book where it’s just “Never be a dull person.” I’m paraphrasing. And be like a firework. Make people go, “Ah.” It’s not ‘ah’, it’s ‘ah’, and not ‘on’, it’s ‘ah’, it’s ‘ah’. And so that little quote from the book really inspired me, and I just felt like, okay, I know I was born for this purpose and I hope everybody finds that. They find their spark and they nurture it, and it becomes a firework. I think that’s our journey as humans in this human game, is to figure out what we were put on this planet for. Do it well, figure out your karma and try and ace the game.

Katy Perry tell Apple Music and writing music for other artists

Zane Lowe: Is there a Katy Perry that writes with and for other people that we don’t know about? Or have you ever really explored that as a writer, and not just as Katy Perry, the performer who performs her own songs?

Katy Perry: It’s something I’d love to do more of later on. But I write a big batch of songs, typically. And then sometimes I have parts that are not finished, or they didn’t work right on the record, and so they find other homes. There’s lots of other songs that Kelly Clarkson has done, Selena Gomez has done one, Britney has done one. All in the past, but I think the landscape of the music industry has changed so much. There’s so much choice. I mean, there’s so many songs that come out. There’s no real gatekeepers. It’s been democratised.

Katy Perry tells Apple Music about her relationship with husband, Orlando Bloom

Zane Lowe: It’s a byproduct of what has obviously been a really life-changing relationship for you. Pretty amazing that you two found each other. And I’ve only ever met your other half very briefly, but he’s got lovely energy about him.

Katy Perry: He does. He does. He’s a real sage. We both have parts of ourselves. There’s two parts of us, our highest good, and then our carnal, material self. Ego. Our ego. Our ego. When the ego is running the show, then it’s like, “Whoa.” But when that’s in check, then we’re both something else.

Zane Lowe: He seems pretty equally curious as to what else there is.

Katy Perry: Oh my gosh, yes. That’s what I wanted. Actually, when I met him almost nine years ago, before I met him, I was stuck in a bad, continuing loop. And then, so I was like, “Fuck this.” I was like, “I’m going to go swim in a different pond. I want to try something else. I’m going to say yes to something I wouldn’t normally say yes.” But before I go to the Golden Globes, which I was like… But I was like, “I’ll do it. I want to go see what’s out there in the world.” And I was like, “But I’m going to set so many intentions. On this full moon, I’m going to write out exactly what I want. I’m going to wear a rose quartz dress to attract the love that I want.” And the two things I wrote down very specifically is I want someone to meet me in the adventure department, because I love adventure. I mean, we just jumped out of a helicopter together.

Zane Lowe: How do you know that when you meet somebody? And how long does it take to figure out that they’re going to match up to that very personal expectation of spiritual curiosity and adventurism?

Katy Perry: Well, you just know after spending time with them, after living with them, after they move in. There’s no hiding. It’s a seven day a week relationship.

Zane Lowe: Moving in. The way you said that was most brilliant.

Katy Perry: Friday, Saturday, Sunday relationships, those are easy.

Zane Lowe: Well, ever since you moved in.

Katy Perry: And then what gets revealed when you have a child. I mean, life is not peachy keen, jelly bean. It’s about who you are in those really challenging moments. And I get to see who he is in those challenging moments. And it’s why I chose him.

Katy Perry tells Apple Music about her time on American Idol

Zane Lowe: Seven seasons? When you finally stepped away from it… And it’s not lost on us that you stepped away from that and we have ‘143,’ and it’s like, “Cool. I want to get back to this now.” What was it like, that experience, looking back on it?

Katy Perry: I think we took it one year at a time, mostly. And then, obviously, the pandemic happened, and I was just like, “Whoa, I still have a job. I’m so grateful.” And I got so much out of it. I was constantly reminded of where I came from.

Zane Lowe: In what ways? That’s interesting.

Katy Perry: Just the humble beginnings, the fight, the hustle.

Zane Lowe: Watching people do that on the stage every day?

Katy Perry: Yeah. Not the fear, because I feel like I never really had that fear. But just the grind, and the desire, and the passion. So reminded me of that’s still out there, and to hold on to that feeling continually. And just reminded me about humanity, and to reconnect with people, and be like… To help guide them in this way and nurture them. I’ve been fortunate to have a lot of regular talk therapy, and I’ve gotten so much from that, and I’ve been able to give little bits of that in my American Idol life, and to really connect with people, and to see them. I don’t know. It’s just like, that five times Scorpio that I am, it really allows me to be that intuitive… I really can see what people are going through.

Zane Lowe: Does it make it really hard when you have to let people down, though? Because for every winner, there has to be a lot of people that don’t win.

Katy Perry: Yes, but I don’t think it’s the end of the world. I mean, having it all, and having it change, and being through so many variables, knowing that it is not the actual end of the world, I can safely say, “Yeah, this is going to be upsetting, this is going to change, but this possibly is going to be the making of the real you, of the you you’re supposed to be, whatever that is.” I think it’s okay. I do have a lot of boundaries. I am a very firm, fun, somewhat fair mom. And to all the people I was on with American Idol, I felt very firm, fair, fun. And I also saw them, I felt like. It was just a real constant giving back. I got so much from them. If they got anything from me, I was grateful for it, but I got so much from them, and that’s why I continued to do it.