18 Things You Might Not Know About Katy Perry
Now that we live in a time of Tay-Kay peace, a quick refresher's in order.
1. Her real name is Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson.
2. She was born in Santa Barbara on October 25, 1984.
Which makes her 33 years old.
3. She created her stage name by swapping out her last name for her mother's maiden name — and thus, Katy Perry was born.
4. But before that, she had launched her career under her real name with her debut studio album, which had elements of Christian rock and contemporary Christian music.
Buuuuuuut it didn't take off.
5. As Katy Perry, she was first dropped by The Island Def Jam Music Group and Columbia Records before she signed a contract with Capitol Records.
Which was in 2007.
6. And before she rose to fame in 2008, she worked on some pretty random projects, including providing the backing vocals for Mick Jagger's "Old Habits Die Hard," a song from the 2004 movie Alfie.
According to Perry, Jagger hit on her while they had been recording the song.
7. Unless you were an early 2000s pop punk fan, you probably missed her appearance in the music video for "Cupid's Chokehold" by Gym Class Heroes.
The two dated between 2007 and 2008, and were together when she released her hit "I Kissed a Girl."
8. She's also in the "Goodbye for Now" video by P.O.D.
9. And even though she is now one of the biggest names in pop, she was on the Warped Tour lineup at one point.
Our high school selves never knew what hit 'em.
10. She is the most-followed user on Twitter, with more than 109 million followers.
Justin Bieber and Barack Obama come in as #2 and #3, respectively.
11. With almost 120 million viewers tuning in, her half time show for the 2015 Super Bowl was the most watched and highest rated halftime show ever.
The second-most watched halftime show was Lady Gaga's, in 2017.
12. The inspiration behind "I Kissed a Girl" is none other than Scarlett Johansson's lips!
When the actress found out, she said she felt flattered.
13. Speaking of "I Kissed a Girl," ever noticed that Kesha appears in the video???
A couple of years after appearing in the clip, Kesha would go on to launch her own music career.
14. More music video facts: in 2011, she recruited Diego Luna to play her ex in the video for "The One That Got Away."
Luna is now a prominent Mexican actor and producer who you may recognize from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story.
15. Perry has also written music for other pop stars including Selena Gomez, Kelly Clarkson, Britney Spears, Iggy Azalea and Nicki Minaj.
16. She's appeared on the Forbes list of top-earning women in the music every year since 2011.
In 2017, she earned $33 million, even without touring.
17. Her hit "Firework" was inspired by a line from the novel On the Road by Jack Kerouac.
It's probably Kerouac's most famous line: "...the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes, “Awww!”
18. And, despite all of her success, the singer has never won a Grammy.
But she's been nominated 13 times.
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This post was translated from Spanish.