Katy Perry’s cryptic response when asked why she worked with Dr. Luke on album after Kesha lawsuit

Katy Perry

Katy Perry has given Call Her Daddy podcast listeners a cryptic response when asked why she worked with controversial producer Dr. Luke on her new album, given his highly publicised lawsuit with Kesha.

The “Firework” singer appeared on the 4 September episode of the podcast, when host Alex Cooper asked about the backlash against her collaboration with Dr. Luke on her upcoming album 143

Cooper noted that “a lot of people have expressed disappointment and were really upset” about Dr. Luke’s involvement in the album due to his legal history with Kesha. He worked on Perry’s latest singles “Woman’s World” and “Lifetimes”. 

“Look, I understand that it started a lot of conversations,” Perry began. “And 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. I am speaking from my own experience,” she said.

However, as social media users pointed out, Perry then appeared to go off on a tangent about motherhood rather than addressing the elephant in the room. 

“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 a** heart! And I did it, and I’m still doing it,” she added.

“I’m still a matriarch and feeling really grounded in that, that’s where I’m speaking from. So I created all of this with several different collaborators, people that I’ve collaborated with from the past, from [the] Teenage Dream era. All of that.”

Dr. Luke controversy

Dr. Luke attends the 31st annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom.
Dr. Luke attends the 31st annual ASCAP Pop Music Awards at The Ray Dolby Ballroom. (Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic)

Dr. Luke, born Łukasz Gottwald, was accused of abusing Kesha in 2014. Gottawald vehemently denied the allegations and the pair settled Gottawald’s defamation lawsuit last year. Other singers spoke out at the time, including his collaborators Kim Petras and Kelly Clarkson.

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The “Hot N Cold” hitmaker will be performing at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards on 11 September and is set to receive the Video Vanguard Award

Katy Perry’s new album 143 is set to be released on 20 September.

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