Portrait · Danilo / CC BY-SA 3.0

Katy Perry

Singer, songwriter and television judge

Born 1984

Katy Perry is an American singer and songwriter whose career combines theatrical pop, filmed performance and television. Born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson in Santa Barbara, she developed her songwriting with Nashville gospel musicians as a teenager and released Katy Hudson. She moved to Los Angeles at seventeen, worked with Glen Ballard, and endured label setbacks and financial difficulties before Capitol supported her pop direction. One of the Boys and I Kissed a Girl brought the breakthrough. Teenage Dream expanded that success into a vivid sequence of songs and videos, followed by Prism, Witness, Smile and 143. Her stage career includes the Play residency at Resorts World Las Vegas. Her concert productions also became screen works, from the documentary Part of Me to the Prismatic World Tour and the Lifetimes Tour film. Beyond her own music, she voiced Smurfette in Sony’s Smurfs films and spent seven seasons on the American Idol judging panel with Luke Bryan and Lionel Richie, concluding that run in 2024. Her honors include a BRIT Award, MTV’s Video Vanguard Award and UNICEF’s Audrey Hepburn Humanitarian Award; the Recording Academy lists Grammy nominations rather than wins. She has served as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2013. Her checked recent record includes the release of Watch It Burn in June 2026, the Paris concert film’s Japanese screenings and publicly discussed personal changes. Her older interviews provide specific listening choices, musical favorites and tastes, retained with their original dates and contexts.

Verified identityCore facts checked against named sources.

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Connected people

ConnectionJustin TrudeauPublicly acknowledged relationship in the checked September 2026 record.

ConnectionKristen WiigInterviewed Perry for Interview Magazine.

ConnectionLuke BryanAmerican Idol co-judge.

Lifestyle index · sourced and contextualised

Trivia & tastes

Cover source

The Power of NowEckhart Tolle

Listening to the audiobook inspired This Moment during the Prism sessions. Listening and creative influence, not a favorite-book recommendation.

Named item linked to an attributable source

Cover source

CosmosCarl Sagan

Cosmos audiobook listening before flight; reference paperback differs.

Named item linked to an attributable source

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Tidal; Jagged Little Pill; Flaming Red

Named to Kristen Wiig in 2012: Fiona Apple, Alanis Morissette and Patty Griffin respectively. Historical favorites, not a current playlist.