Q & A with Katy Perry

Relevant offers

Music

The Stone Roses reunion Web humorists hit new low City and Colour grants fans' wish Adele's ex-boyfriend deserves credit This Is Not a Love Song (list) Beyonce pays special Whitney tribute Sony plans Houston marketing Tim caught the Fame bug Adele's the big winner at Grammys Winehouse's parents accept Grammy

Katy Perry talks about stripping her songs bare, writing scandalous lyrics and how her new album will make people dance.

She is proud to be following in the footsteps of Nirvana and Lauryn Hill by recording her own MTV Unplugged session.

What was the appeal for you in doing MTV Unplugged?

"Well, the MTV Unplugged session was really important, it was kind of like the swansong of the whole One of the Boys record. It was the last real look I wanted to give on the record and show off some of the songs at their most simple, kind of at their most stripped down, at the core of how they were written."

Were you nervous at taking those songs that you've performed in big festivals and then sitting down in front of an intimate audience?

"No, I thrive in that kind of environment probably better; not better, it's just a different me. The first time I started singing was in church, but then when I started playing guitar I would go into the newspaper and I would find open-mic sessions and coffee shops that would let anybody sign up to play.

"And I would go there and I would just pull out my guitar and play these little rough drafts of songs and get people's feedback and really see if it was connecting, if people really related to it or if they would even listen."

But I've read that the next stuff you're going to be doing will be more pop and dance-oriented. Is that right?

"I'm hoping it's going to be a bit more pop. Going on the road, that's what I saw that I lacked in concert, was a little bit more movement. And that doesn't mean that I have to sacrifice the story for it."

I know One of the Boys had a lot of personal things that happened to you when you were growing up. Now you're much more high-profile, much more successful, are you still going to have that personal aspect in your stories?

"Yeah, I think even more so. I guess in my personal life and in interviews, sometimes I don't give as much detail as I used to, but I think I am saving it for the songs, and the songs I'm just gushing.

"From the few songs that I've written so far, they are very honest, if not more honest than the last ones. But they are a little bit more mature ... I know how to handle boys now.

"Actually I don't even mess with boys any more, I mess with men, you know. It's different because One of The Boys was like 17 to 23 and some of those songs I wrote when I was 19 and that's such a different place than you are when you're 25."

Your life must be completely different now. It's a whirlwind.

"Yeah I'm definitely getting used to it, or trying; it's difficult. I don't feel completely different than when I started. I feel like I have a lot to prove still and I still have that ambition and that drive that I had when I didn't have any money..."

With the last album, there was a lot of hype about I Kissed a Girl and Ur So Gay. Do you feel like you're going to have to have some scandalous angle on a track on the new album?

"I think the I Kissed a Girl and Ur So Gays were never, 'oh, let's see how I can stir up a pot of scandalous,' you know.

"It was actually just me telling my story, and that is how I see the world you know, and that's the kind of funny, messed-up way I live my life, I guess.

"With a dark undertone, a sarcastic dark undertone, just everything is kind of that way for me, and so I'm sure that'll be a thread in my next record."

- Katy Perry's Teenage Dream is out now.

- AP