How Katy Perry fumbled her pop return and how lack of authenticity destroyed her career (exclusive)

Katy Perry was anticipated to make her return to pop music in a big way—so big that she recruited disgraced music producer Dr. Luke to create her new album after not having collaborated since 2013. Unfortunately, the lack of authenticity showed that what worked for others… didn’t exactly work for Katy.

Originally, the Dr. Luke tea was told to Rolling Stone by a label source and it was so outrageous… fans couldn’t believe it until she did collab with him and went on to defend that decision in an interview.

Dr. Luke was one of the main producers for the Teenage Dream era, an era that spawned 6 #1 hits, a record that was unheard of in the early 2010s.

I’ll spill the inside tea first then give you a breakdown of additional context needed.

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Also sorry giving you guys this post in November even though it was finalized in June… deep sigh

if any of this info is repetitive or confirmed at this point… well sorry. this was written in june after all idk i wanna clear my drafts

Exclusive Information

“She was told not to work with him on this upcoming era, but she’s really desperate to make a return that solidifies her pop status again. At first, she was high and mighty saying she wouldn’t work with Dr. Luke on Witness, not because of any moral agenda but because it wouldn’t be well received by the public. She said this in her deposition.” — my source

My source tells me that once Katy saw the demand and social media dissertations on how she went from being this #1 superstar to not even charting anymore, the plan started to revive her pop comeback.

She had a lot of people backing this comeback up which I discussed in my TikTok video alongside her planned career downfall.

Watching that back now in November when her album “143” tanked despite actually being good and serving those fun pop hits people wanted to hear, reiterates the point that people never respected her as an artist or took her seriously.

My Roman Empire is Katy Perry’s career downfall and how Taylor Swift added to it. For years I thought it was just maybe my own Swift bias coming in between my better judgment as if I didn’t document that Perry v. Swift war and saw everything before the media rewrote the story and publicists cleaned it up, so to my surprise, my source said that Katy herself blames Taylor.

“It’s not that she’s two-faced, I mean everyone in the industry is two-faced, but she plays nice with Taylor because Taylor is #1 and it’s better to be on Taylor’s good side than be an enemy. She has a lot of resentment for what Taylor did to her and how she treated her in the media. She would have never accepted Taylor’s offer to clean up their feud and appear in her music video if she had a career of her own. But she slipped from A-lister to C-lister in one night while Taylor chewed anyone in her way.

Mark my words, if Katy can pull this career comeback right and gain a cult following—one she lacked before, I totally see her getting revenge on Taylor. I also see Taylor trying to recruit Katy back in her circle, the way she usually does. There’s a lot of untold history and animosity there despite the graceful exchanges in public.”

i’m sat 🪑🧎‍♀️

My source says that Katy reportedly said: “Do they think I want to sell f-cking shoes for the rest of my life?”

That’s funny especially since Katy was being accused of buying likes on Twitter because her shoe collection posts were somehow garnering over 100k likes and anyone on social media knows that when a celebrity advertises a product (that’s not a tour or an album), it oftentimes it flops in engagement.

But here’s where things take an interesting turn…

“To be frank with you, I don’t know if Dr. Luke did anything to Katy or not so I can’t speak on that topic, but I will say that Katy has this conservative belief that men will be men and this is just how it is.” — my source

For the following information, my source wanted me to put a disclaimer that she doesn’t know how true the following story is but it’s something she has heard time and time again through other insiders.

What’s wild is reading this back when it was written in June after how Katy acted in September on Call Her Daddy.

“A [redacted] said that she [Katy] reportedly went on a whole rant about how you can’t take down the industry by yourself and a lot of artists like Kesha were desperate enough to do anything they wanted for fame, saying something along the lines of “we all had to do it.” I don’t know what ‘it’ is exactly but [redacted] believes that either she meant Kesha consented and that Katy also had to do something to get to the top because that’s how the game goes. Please clarify what I said prior though.” — my source

Believe it or not, I have heard of many celebrities not believing Kesha because the industry runs on the casting couch or sleeping with producers for songs. Unfortunately, there is a circle in the industry that believes this is just how it is, suck it up if you want a #1 hit (pun intended), or shut the f-ck up.

If Katy is part of that circle or not… I don’t know.

All I will say is that there must be some truth to where Kesha got the information that Dr. Luke reportedly raped Katy and there has to be context as to Katy denying the allegation, claiming it was a misunderstanding.

“In terms of her collaborating with Dr. Luke after being told not to, I heard that the argument of Dr. Luke collaborating with mainstream artists on popular hits such as Doja Cat’s Say So & Need To Know were mentioned, claiming “nobody said anything then, why should they now?” And she seems to stick by what she said in the deposition that no one knows his side of the story and the charges were dropped with Kesha saying she doesn’t remember everything from that night anyway.” — my source

Now with all of this context… Kesha’s reaction to Katy working with Dr. Luke on Woman’s World makes even more sense.

Check out what Kesha tweeted a few hours after Katy’s “Woman’s World” announcement:

Kesha was also asked about Katy working with Dr. Luke and she gave a disappointed reaction without saying anything:

Katy was even pressed about working with Dr. Luke on the album:

Here’s what Katy said on Call Her Daddy when asked about working with Dr. Luke:

“Taylor Swift and the way she wins everything and everyone is being studied a lot by everyone in the industry. She also has quite a number of enemies but they won’t say anything because they don’t want to feel her wrath.

My personal opinion? I think that Katy sees how Taylor bounced back despite being in the wrong several times yet somehow molded the story to her benefit is something that Katy can do as well. One thing that I know for a fact is that she doesn’t feel like it was right of Kesha to drag her into this mess and out her experience—whether it was true or not—because that’s something that should have been up to Katy. And I mention Taylor because she’s a topic of conversation oftentimes whether people know this or not. As I said, she is being studied by the industry.”

Taylor you white devil skdhslkdjsf

More Tea

Soaking in this information from my source has me coming to a few conclusions.

One, I believe that Kesha is a victim of Dr. Luke’s since the industry is full of “Dr. Lukes.” Second, I believe that Katy was also a victim of Dr. Luke’s as Kesha said, but might not be affected by what reportedly happened because her quest for power and fame may possibly be bigger than her need for vindication.

Or maybe she is affected… I don’t know, but working with Dr. Luke after all of this sure is … a choice.

As my source says, Katy has a conservative mindset of “well this is just how men are.”

After all, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. She claims that she’s very different than her upbringing such as releasing I Kissed A Girl… but I feel that there are some beliefs that are still true to her.

Speaking of that, my source alleges that Orlando Bloom cheats on Katy and always has (pretty sure I exposed this in the Katy AAP post) but again, “that’s just how men are… we should expect them to cheat.” It’s not like Katy has a good understanding of what a healthy relationship is because I don’t believe she was ever in one.

Many MANY celebrities know that sometimes to get a role or a certain song, you gotta sleep with the right people. A lot of celebrities hit this peak of desperation where it’s like “f that, I’ll do what you want if it means I can get this.”

Selena Gomez’s mother begged her not to work with Woody Allen and what did she do? Go and get photographed all over Woody Allen in that movie with Timothée Chalamet.

I think the only person who hasn’t experienced this is Taylor. She is like an industry anomaly. I don’t know what she does to harness this type of power and strength (is it witchcraft?), but it’s something to note and it’s not shocking that everyone is studying her right now.

Look at the court case with P. Diddy. It was exposed that Diddy was involved in some scheme of telling his producer that if he wanted to secure a Grammy, he needed to have sex with him and boom, the award would be his.

And understand this—whatever you think you know about injustice in the industry and power imbalance, it’s much worse.

Here’s a recap of Kesha’s court trial with Dr. Luke, Katy Perry’s involvement, and texts with Lady Gaga.

Court Trial and Scandalous Texts

courtesy of StereoGum.

In June 2023, Kesha and Dr. Luke reached a settlement where in their joint statement, Kesha said she acknowledges that she doesn’t recount everything that happened that night in 2005 with Dr. Luke holding strong to his argument that he didn’t do anything…

courtesy of StereoGum.

Long story short, Kesha claimed that Katy was “raped by the same man” in a July 2017 deposition.

Katy not only refused to speak out in support of Kesha but also denied her claim saying “Absolutely not.”

Here is what Katy said in her deposition:

courtesy of Vulture

Text messages between Kesha and Lady Gaga that took place on February 26, 2016, but revealed to the public in November 2018, were revealed showing that Kesha and Lady Gaga called Katy mean, but Gaga said that she should try to have empathy for Katy.

courtesy of Vulture

Everything wrong with the “143” Era

I gave Katy’s new album, “143” a listen and I was expecting to hear absolute horseshit from the way people were acting on social media, and to my surprise… it was actually full of bops.

Veteran readers know that I’m more critical of pop music because pop music is sometimes the easy way out to producing a recycled beat over some mediocre ass lyrics. Songs like Rain On Me and Bejeweled come to mind.

However, the following songs on 143 were fun bops that I could see being Teenage Dream’s older sister:

  • Gimmie Gimmie feat. 21 Savage,

  • Gorgeous feat. Kim Kim Petras

  • I’m His, He’s Mine feat. Doechii

  • Crush

  • Artifical feat. JID

Yet the album is her lowest charting album in 16 years.

The album faced significant backlash from both critics and fans, leading to its commercial underperformance and lackluster reception.

When people wait a long time for something, they’re expecting you to deliver not only GREAT SONGS but a respectful approach.

This reminds me of Justin Bieber releasing Yummy as fans waited 5 years for an album comeback. It’s not that Yummy sucks… it’s actually commercially successful peaking at #2 and being a multiplatinum hit, but it gave the wrong idea in terms of how you present yourself as a respectful artist.

Justin was coming off a hate train and instead of presenting himself in a more respectful manner that will garner respect and seriousness… he presented himself as a clown… despite the fact that the music video was purposely done in a way to expose the dark side of the industry.

Katy was coming off of years of being clowned and yet didn’t do anything to disprove the clowning. Instead, she collaborated with Dr. Luke and tried to fit in with Gen Z which only read off to people as “try hard, has been.”

Take a look at Taylor’s song, “You Need To Calm Down.” It’s truly one of the worst songs I’ve ever heard in my life and yet because Taylor holds herself as this revolutionary mastermind queen… everyone treats her as such because she sees herself as such.

But if you see yourself as a clown… you will be seen as a clown.

This is psychology and celeb marketing 101. Take this into your own life as well.

The lyrical content of "143" was perceived as lacking depth and coherence, unlike her earlier albums which showcased Katy's ability to blend personal experiences with universal themes. This release seemed to sacrifice lyrical quality for trends and marketability.

This doesn’t mean that you have to release folklore types of albums to be taken seriously. Take look at Sabrina’s Short N’ Sweet album… the lyrics are hilarious and the songs don’t tell us anything about Sabrina, but they seem authentic to Sabrina.

143 seemed authentic to wanting a hit and being that pop queen that Katy was 10 years ago.

It’s not about the art… it’s how you PRESENT that art.

Well, that’s all for this post!

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