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.

Stephen Lovekin / Getty Images

2. She was born in Santa Barbara on October 25, 1984.

Bryan Bedder / Getty Images

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.

Frazer Harrison / Getty Images

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.

Red Hill

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.

EMI Music

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.

Interscope

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.

Warner Music

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.

Atlantic

9. And even though she is now one of the biggest names in pop, she was on the Warped Tour lineup at one point.

Vans

Our high school selves never knew what hit 'em.

10. She is the most-followed user on Twitter, with more than 109 million followers.

Twitter: @katyperry

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.

Rob Carr / Getty Images

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!

Jamie Mccarthy / Getty Images

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???

EMI Music

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."

EMI Music

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.

Larry Busacca / Getty Images

16. She's appeared on the Forbes list of top-earning women in the music every year since 2011.

Allen Berezovsky / Getty Images

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.

EMI Music

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.

Frederic J. Brown / AFP / Getty Images

But she's been nominated 13 times.

For more translated content and BuzzFeed International goodness, subscribe to Inter Webz: our new bi-weekly newsletter bringing you the best of the 'net from around the world.

Note: if you can’t see the signup box above, just go here to sign up.

This post was translated from Spanish.