Music
Katy Perry Addresses The Dr. Luke Controversy On Call Her Daddy
The singer garnered major backlash for working with the producer after his legal battle with Kesha.
Katy Perry’s music career is no longer a Teenage Dream. On the Sept. 4 episode of the Call Her Daddy podcast, the singer addressed the controversy over her decision to collaborate with Dr. Luke on her upcoming album, after his nine-year legal battle with her onetime friend Kesha.
During the podcast, host Alex Cooper directly asked Perry why she decided to reunite with Luke, who she worked with on her biggest hits, from her 2006 debut single “I Kissed a Girl” to “Roar” and “Dark Horse” in 2013. “I understand that it started a lot of conversations, and he was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with,” she said.
However, she emphasized that her own life inspired her new music. “The reality is, it comes from me,” she said. “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. I am speaking from my own experience.”
Perry explained the inspiration behind her song “Woman’s World,” which was derided by fans and critics, to prove her point. “I speak about feeling so empowered now, as a mother, as a woman, giving birth, creating life, creating another set of organs,” she continued. “A brain! A heart! I created a whole *ss heart!”
Dr. Luke’s History With Kesha & Perry
In 2014, Kesha alleged in a lawsuit that producer Dr. Luke (aka Lukasz Gottwald) had drugged and sexually assaulted her, and asked to be released from her contract with his label, Kemosabe Records. Luke said the allegation was false and sued her for defamation, which Kesha then countersued under a New York free speech law. The two reached a settlement in June 2023, a month before the trial was set to begin.
While Luke produced most of Perry’s first three albums, he did not work with her on 2017’s Witness and 2020’s Smile as he navigated his lawsuits with Kesha, indicating their professional relationship was over. However, he helped produce a good portion of her upcoming album 143, including the first two singles, “Woman’s World” and “Lifetimes.”
Other collaborators on the album include Max Martin, Stargate, and Sarah Hudson, as first reported by Rolling Stone in June. “I created all of this with several different collaborators, people that I’ve collaborated with from the past, from Teenage Dream era, all of that,” Perry said on Call Her Daddy. However, she didn’t explain specifically why she chose to work with Dr. Luke again.
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, you can call the National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline at 800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit online.rainn.org.
