Warning: This article mentions allegations of rape.
In July, Katy Perry released her divisive single “Woman’s World” ahead of her upcoming album, 143.
The song centers around the theme of female empowerment and the “divine feminine,” with Katy singing lyrics like, “Sexy, confident / So intelligent / She is heaven-sent / So soft, so strong,” and, “It’s a woman’s world, and you’re lucky to be livin' in it.”
Katy’s decision to work with Dr. Luke on a single about so-called female empowerment sparked fierce backlash online, with many users branding the collaboration “insensitive and problematic.”
Katy continues to face scrutiny for the collaboration; according to analytics site SocialBlade, she has lost over 300,000 followers on Instagram over the past 30 days alone.
Now, Katy has finally addressed the outrage directly.
Appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast this week, Katy was asked about her decision to collaborate with Dr. Luke.
“I do wanna ask you about one collaborator in particular,” said host Alex Cooper. “I know a lot of people have expressed disappointment and were really upset that you decided to involve Dr. Luke on this album. Why did you choose to work with him?”
Katy replied, “Look, I understand that it started a lot of conversations. He was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with. But the reality is, it comes from me.”
“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. One of the writers, one of the producers,” she continued.
“I am speaking from my own experience. When I speak about ‘Woman’s World,’ I speak about feeling so empowered now as a mother, as a woman, giving birth, creating life, creating another set of organs, a brain, a heart — I created a whole ass heart!” she said. Katy welcomed her daughter, Daisy Dove Bloom, with Orlando Bloom in 2020.
Stating that she’s “still a matriarch,” Katy added, “So, I created all of this with several different collaborators — people that I’ve collaborated with from the past, from the 'Teenage Dream' era, from all of that.”