One week after launching her cross-continental Lifetimes Tour, Katy Perry thanked fans for their support — and reflected on the hypercritical response to her recent career moves.
On Tuesday, @katyperrybrasil, a fan page dedicated to the diamond-selling singer, shared footage of a billboard in Times Square that reads in part, “Congratulations on the opening week of the tour. We are so proud of you and your magical journey.”
In the Instagram caption, the account’s owners explained that Perry fan pages from all over the world had chipped in for 24 hours of prime billboard real estate to honor Perry and “remind her that she is never alone.”
Mission accomplished: Perry saw the post and wrote a lengthy comment expressing gratitude for the bond she shares with her fans, aka “katycats.”
“Please know I am ok, I have done a lot [of] work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me,” she wrote.
“When the ‘online’ world tries to make me a human piñata, I take it with grace and send them love,” Perry continued, “’cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed.”
The fan-funded gesture arrives amid a rough patch for Perry’s reputation. After reaching unprecedented pop heights in the 2010s — Perry’s sophomore album “Teenage Dream” is the first and only by a woman to yield five No. 1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 — Perry’s new music has struggled to generate the same enthusiasm. Last year, her would-be comeback hit “Woman’s World” was criticized online for shallow lyrics and problematic collaborators, while her newest album, “143,” failed to reach the top five of the Billboard 200 chart.
More recently, Perry went to outer space as a member of Blue Origin’s first all-female crew. The trip was marketed as a step forward for women in STEM, but a loud group of detractors — from fellow celebrities like Olivia Munn and Emily Ratajkowski to the fast-food chain Wendy’s — saw it instead as wasteful “girlboss gibberish.“
Perry also cross-promoted her forthcoming tour during her stint in space, which led to more criticism when her elaborate arena show landed in Mexico City last Wednesday. Over the past week, clips of Perry performing have made the rounds online, often paired with harsh commentary.
In her Instagram comment, Perry said she is focused on the actual crowds at her concerts, not online snark.
“What’s real is seeing your faces every night, singing in unison, reading your notes, feeling your warmth,” she wrote. “I find people to lock eyes and sing with and I know we are healing each other in a small way when I get to do that.”
“I’m not perfect, and I actually have omitted that word from my vocabulary,” she continued. “I’m on a human journey playing the game of life with an audience of many and sometimes I fall but… I get back up and go on and continue to play the game and somehow through my battered and bruised adventure I keep looking to the light.”
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