She’s the force behind “Firework,” “California Gurls,” and “Teenage Dream” — not to mention about a bajillion other songs you can’t get out of your head. In between dominating the music world, being a style trendsetter, and holding the record for the highest number of Twitter followers (73 million to be exact), Katy recently used the social networking site to sell her fourth perfume, Mad Potion. (Yes, Twitter commerce!) The singer sat down with BuzzFeed to give us the deets on everything from her favorite hangover food to whether or not we’ll see Left Shark and Right Shark ever again.
1. Katy is one of the first to launch and sell a product directly through Twitter.
“I thought it was a nice way to launch, and eventually Mad Potion will be in stores. I feel like I have a couple followers on Twitter, so it’s a great place to be heard within the snap of your finger. I thought it’d be an interesting, innovative way to start buying things directly from Twitter, which isn’t something people have done in the past. So [Mad Potion] is now available on the site in my pop-up shop, @KatyPerryPopUp, and there’s a Twitter Buy Now card that you use. It’s like a gift card and you buy it there. It'll also be rolling out in different stores soon. With the online pop-up shop, for example, I like being part of innovative technology.”
"I control my Twitter, as is obvious with all of my grammatical contributions and typos."
2. Social media has helped shape her career "from the get."
“Well, it’s just given me another voice than the singing voice. A lot of times I get to just share. I control my Twitter, as is obvious with all of my grammatical contributions and typos. I was always involved very early on in Twitter, so I think that does contribute to the amount of people that I have following [me]. When you’re at the base level of the different technologies, after 10 years of it being around — or however long, maybe it’s been five — then eventually you’re going to have more than the others that just joined yesterday. And I was on Vimeo, blogging and making videos for the first moves in my career, and I had my Tumblr account, and I was always testing out the waters with my different songs on Myspace. So I was always using technology to connect with people around the world. From the get.”
"I was always using technology to connect with people around the world. From the get.”
3. There's a reason her fragrance is named Mad Potion.
“Well, everything is in a name, and I am such a sucker for a theme. So once I named it Mad Potion, I decided to really play up this magical element and the perfume being a potion. And I really do think that sense of smell is really powerful in creating memories, because, like, how often do you find yourself walking past someone wearing the same perfume you wore when you were a teenager? Or meeting a guy, and he’s wearing the cologne your first boyfriend wore — and you’re transported to this place in the time of your life. So I feel like scents are really powerful in making memories, and it’s like a magical potion that does all that. I wanted to make it like a classical magical potion vibe. And then [the neck of the bottle] kind of comes from the Cheshire Cat from the tale of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, and then maybe there’s a reference to the Mad Hatter. Everything being a little off, which is me.”
4. Katy's go-to emoji is the sassiest of them all.
“I like the smiley face that just has lines for eyes and one line for a mouth. ‘Cause it’s also the same as that dog picture where it’s the hound that’s just like [smiles] and it could mean so many different things but it’s just, ugh."
5. She's uses her darkest times in life as a way to help others.
“My favorite song that I’ve written is probably... Well, there’s different moods on the records that I’ve done. Constantly 'Firework' and 'Roar,' the songs that uplift people, that inspire people, that give them hope, even though they can sometimes say I’m corny. We all get really down in the dumps and life as an adult is extremely difficult. It's not like what they made it out to be in the movies. Like, ‘Oh my god! Really?’ I feel like we all need a little glimmer of hope every once in a while or just a hug via a song. Or just some encouragement. And also, like, when I write songs, stuff like 'By the Grace of God,' which is a ballad I got to do on the Grammys — it’s about me having really dark thoughts about my own particular life, and even though it doesn’t make me comfortable when I talk about that, I think other people hear it and go, 'Oh, I’m not so alone in my own problems. I’m not the only person going through this situation. Even someone like Katy Perry who looks like she has it all, she still has stuff that she has to deal with. So I’m not alone in my situation.' I like when people don’t feel so alone, and I like to lift people up. But I also like 'Walking on Air' for the kids, some music for the background while you get ready to go out."
"We all get really down in the dumps and life as an adult is extremely difficult. It's not like what they made it out to be in the movies."
6. Some of her most emotional songs are her fav.
"'By the Grace of God,' is definitely my most emotional song. I mean, they’re all snapshots of how I feel. What I do with my writing right now, I’m in this research and development phase of life where I’m just being a sponge, where I’m just absorbing everything so that it kind of turns around inside of me [and] comes out as this song. I have to recycle it, I have to stew it, I have to slow-cook it. And then how I see the world comes out after I’ve had those life experiences. Right now, I’m in life-experience mode so that I can have something to say and something to offer in the future. But all my songs are personal and they’re all from a situation or a person or a thing I’ve been through, and hopefully people can connect with that and feel the authenticity and they relate to it. I really like when people relate to the songs.”
"What’s that thing that Michael Jackson slept in? A cryochamber! I wanna get a cryochamber."
7. She has some pretty weird possessions.
“I have a trip to space! [laughs] I also have this weird meditation chair that changes lights so when you’re meditating it’s like light therapy. Those are pretty weird, right? I’m trying to get one of those things — what’s that thing that Michael Jackson slept in? A cryochamber! I wanna get a cryochamber. That’s, like, sooooo on trend right now — it’s buzzing.”
8. Hangovers are the worst, but Katy has a foolproof remedy.
“'In-N-Out burger is the cure. And also Sprite. I think there is probably a BuzzFeed article about Sprite being the number one drink that helps your hangovers. Sprite and an In-N-Out burger. And meditation and just sleeping the whole day away.”
"Animal-style fries, right?"
“No, I don’t like my onions grilled. I like them raw — like my sex. Just kidding. What?”
9. NEWS FLASH! Katy is a fan of unexpected clothing.
“I mean, I don’t always end up on the best-dressed list, but I sure as hell look like I’m having fun — and I am. I guess I just like unique offerings. I like when people present themselves with something unique. And it doesn’t have to be labels, it could just be a sense of personal style. One of my favorite girlfriends, Mia Moretti, just has the best combo, Frida Kahlo–Chloë Sevingy, going on, and she just looks so fresh and cool. Wearing these awesome head wraps and prints and I just adore her.”
10. As for fashion regrets, she doesn't have many.
“I mean, things that are too tight where I look like I’m spilling out of them unnaturally aren't the greatest. But I just love playing, and I have so much fun, and I don’t take myself too seriously in any regard. And I think people see that and you know what? I’m just laughing all the way.”
"Shit. Fuck. I do. I have a hidden talent, yes I do. This is just such an offering for you guys ‘cause I don’t give this out to anyone."
11. Katy has been hiding an incredible secret talent for years, which BuzzFeed is first to uncover.
“Shit. Fuck. I do. I have a hidden talent, yes I do. This is just such an offering for you guys ‘cause I don’t give this out to anyone. I can look like a frog. It’s disgusting. Do I really want this in my life? For the rest of my life on the internet? So, I can do a frog face, and I discovered this when I did vocal training. It’s like a different muscle. [Does frog face] Yeah, so there’s that. Sorry, internet."
12. Her stereotypical California habits are both healthy and not.
“I’m in the sun too much. I mean, I like the sun and everybody’s supposed to talk about how they don’t. But I’m like, ‘I like it!’ Cut to 10 years later when I’m like, ‘What was I thinking?' I actually started surfing again, which I haven’t done for a long time, and I bought these two foam Doyle boards. I was just in the ocean last week and it’s such a full-body workout and it’s so much fun. It’s so dangerous and I love it. You just connect finally again with the earth.”
13. If Katy could make anything in the world disappear, it'd have something to do with how people treat one another.
“There's just so much intolerance in the world these days. Ignorance, intolerance. I would like for compassion and tolerance, empathy and education to appear.”
14. She has one beauty product she could never live without.
“Well, I discovered Shu Uemera cleansing oil, and I take off all my makeup at the end of the day with that and it leaves kind of like a really nice moisture residue. So I love that, especially for the stage — it really lifts up the dirt. I’ll be expecting a box later.”
15. Her favorite hair color will make you envious.
“I love all the colors, but I really like being able to rock that really grunge alternative green. And I really like matching my hair to the bottle today, but it’s a wig."
"There's just so much intolerance in the world these days. Ignorance, intolerance. I would like for compassion and tolerance, empathy and education to appear.”
16. We definitely will be seeing Left Shark and Right Shark again.
“Yes, in the form of Halloween costumes coming this year, 2015. But they always pop up. They were pretty prevalent around the internet during Shark Week. It’s just so funny that’s the thing from the Super Bowl that is still relevant — which I love — which means you didn’t mess up.”
17. She can easily describe her new "juice" in three words.
“Mad Potion is magical, mysterious — because of the musk — and I think it is mad. It’s really mad. It’s just so fun and mad in the best sense of the word. And I just love the bottles I get to create and the fragrances I get to create and all the different things that go along with it. It takes about a year and a half, every single [fragrance]. From coming up with the name to the actual holder for the juice, every element is so important. It takes a lot of time, but I always love the finished product.”
