Katy Perry has claimed every female artist “needs to say thank you” to Madonna.
The pop star made the remarks in an interview with Australian programme The Project ahead of her AFL Grand Final performance next Monday (September 28).
Speaking with The Project, Perry explained her friendship with Madonna, saying: “Madonna was really nice to me, well it took a minute because she was testing me and then she became super nice to me.
“She just does her Madonna thing,” Perry continued. “She would invite me to a party and we had to do a photoshoot together which was amazing. She’s the greatest.”
Perry went on to say that Madonna’s support of her 2007 hit ‘Ur So Gay’ on radio helped “break” the singer into stardom: “She actually shouted out my song and that was really the beginning of my career. That’s kind of what started to break me.”
The ‘Woman’s World‘ singer concluded by saying “every female [artist] still needs to continue to say thank you” to Madonna. “I’m 40, I still get to do music because of Madonna,” she said.
Perry recently released ‘143‘, an album which NME described as “a record that sometimes hits the target but rarely leaves a lasting impression.
“Pop fans have a fondness for resurrecting “flop” albums that were given short shrift when they first came out: Mariah Carey’s ill-fated soundtrack album ‘Glitter’ and Christina Aguilera’s sonic hodgepodge ‘Bionic’ have both become cult classics of sorts. But even this fate seems unlikely for ‘143’, a serviceable but slightly dull collection on which Perry struggles to relocate her old sense of fun.”
The album rollout saw the singer face backlash over working with Dr Luke, who was sued by Kesha accusing him of emotional abuse and sexual assault in 2014, culminating in a decade-long lawsuit.
Dr Luke denied the allegations and countersued Kesha, claiming she had breached the recording contract they had with one another and made up rape allegations in an attempt to get out of the deal.
The pair reached a settlement in their defamation lawsuit just one month before the case was due to go to trial in June 2023, with Kesha severing ties with Dr Luke’s label in December of that year.
Of her working with Dr Luke, Perry responded: “I understand that it started a lot of conversations, and he was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with. The reality is, it comes from me.”
She went on to say: “I am speaking from my own experience. The truth is, I wrote these songs from my experience of my whole life going through this metamorphosis, and he was one of the people to help facilitate all that.”
Her AFL performance will follow from her career-spanning set at the VMAs, where she also gave ‘I’m His, He’s Mine (ft. Doechii)’ its live debut.