POP star Katy Perry is standing by her decision to work with Dr. Luke on her upcoming album, 143, despite fan backlash.
The pop singer opened up about her controversial collaborator during Wednesday’s episode of Call Her Daddy.
Katy, 39, joined host Alex Cooper to discuss her love life, share relationship advice, and promote her upcoming album on the hit podcast Call Her Daddy.
Near the end of the hour-long episode, Alex asked Katy about her decision to work with disgraced producer Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald, known professionally as Dr. Luke.
“I want to ask you about one collaborator in particular,” Alex questioned the star.
“I know a lot of people have expressed disappointment and were really upset that you decided to involve Dr. Luke on this album,” she added.
Dr. Luke was accused of sexual misconduct by his former artist, pop icon Kesha.
After nearly a decade of allegations, lawsuits, and countersuits, Dr. Luke and Kesha released a joint statement on June 22, 2023, announcing they had settled the matter privately before the case was to go to trial.
Katy didn’t provide a clear response, instead delving into how the collaboration “started a lot of conversations.”
One of those conversations involved actress Abigail Breslin, who posted a series of tweets earlier this year in what was taken as an alleged dig at Katy.
“I’m just saying… working with known abusers in any industry just contributes to the narrative that men can do abhorrent s**t and get away with it,” the actress wrote.
“On another note, I love @KeshaRose and she gave one of the best shows I’ve ever been to last year <3 stream Kesha!”
Abigail Breslin calls out Katy Perry for working with ‘abhorrent’ producer Dr. Luke on new album and praises Kesha
Katy told Alex that while Dr. Luke was “one of many collaborators” she worked with on her album, she also said the reality of the situation is that the album comes from her alone.
“The truth is I wrote these songs from my experience of my whole life going through this metamorphosis,” Katy revealed, adding that Dr. Luke was “one of the people to help facilitate” that transformation.
She added that Dr. Luke, who produced and wrote lyrics for her upcoming album, was one of several different collaborators she worked with on her tracks.
Katy also confirmed that her album features other people she’s collaborated with in the past, including those from her hit Teenage Dream era.
Katy Perry’s biggest hits
Katy Perry has released six studio albums, with her seventh, titled 143, set to debut on September 20, 2024.
The singer hasn’t enjoyed as much mainstream success in recent years as she did at the beginning of her career.
However, even the boldest critic can’t underscore her domination on the charts in the 2000s and 2010s.
Some of Katy’s most popular tracks include:
- I Kissed a Girl (2008)
- Hot n Cold (2008)
- Waking Up in Vegas (2009)
- California Gurls (2010)
- Teenage Dream (2010)
- Firework (2010)
- E.T. (2011)
- Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F) (2011)
- The One That Got Away (2011)
- Part of Me (2012)
- Peacock (2012)
- Wide Awake (2012)
- Roar (2013)
- Dark Horse (2013)
- Unconditionally (2013)
- Birthday (2014)
- Rise (2016)
- Chained to the Rhythm (2017)
- Bon Appétit (2017)
- Swish Swish (featuring Nicki Minaj) (2017)
- Daisies (2020)
- Smile (2020)
- Woman’s World (2024)
143 features producers Max Martin, who notably worked on Katy’s past hit singles, I Kissed A Girl (2008) and Roar (2013), and Stargate, who co-wrote and co-produced 2010’s Billboard Hot 100 hit, Firework.
“I am speaking from my own experience. Like when I speak about woman’s world, I speak about feeling so empowered now, as a mother, as a woman,” she said.
Katy Perry released the first single from 143, Woman’s World, earlier this summer, to major fan backlash.
Fans even criticized the pop star’s music video for the single, which she later shared was meant as a satirical take on feminism.
“It’s very slapstick and very on the nose,” Katy stated in a video shared on Instagram.
“Giving birth, creating life…and feeling really grounded in that — that’s where I’m speaking from,” she added.
143 is Katy’s first album since her 2020 release, Smile.
It also marks her first album since giving birth to her daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom, which she shares with her longtime fiancé, actor Orlando Bloom.
Katy Perry says she performs sex act on husband Orlando Bloom as a reward if he washes up and cleans the house
HOT N COLD
Podcast listeners were quick to call out Katy for skirting around the question.
“So much was said…yet none of it justifies working [with] Dr. Luke,” one user wrote on X.
“So she basically didn’t answer the question,” a second user commented.
“She literally said she worked with him because she wanted to?? Oh yikes, at this point just don’t speak,” a third user shared.
One podcast listener dubbed Katy’s answer as a “word salad,” while another called her response a “waster of breath,” as shared on Reddit.
One listener even said they would have had “more respect” for Katy if she had been “honest about wanting to work with the person who gave her the biggest hits of her career.”
Dr. Luke was named Songwriter of the Year at the ASCAP Pop Music Awards in 2010 for his work on two of Katy’s hit singles from that year, including California Gurls and Teenage Dream.
Instead, they accused Katy of peddling what they called a “rehearsed” narrative of “being a mother.”
SWISH, SWISH
Other listeners said it seemed like Katy was “doing mental gymnastics” to avoid answering the question directly.
“This is the most non-answer answer I’ve ever seen,” another user shared.
“She could commit a crime and still find a way to justify it,” another user added.
“Idk I like her music but as a person eh,” a listener revealed.
Still, Katy also told Alex that she’s always been “authentic” in her music career, and now, more than ever, she feels like she “doesn’t have to make [certain kinds of] music” or “prove anything” to anyone.
“I’m doing it now from a place of celebration and love,” she said.
Katy’s seventh studio album, 143, is set to be released on September 20.
