Katy Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson on 25 October 1984 in Santa Barbara, California, to two Pentecostal pastors. Then came “I Kissed a Girl” in 2008. Since then: nine US number-one singles, a Super Bowl halftime show, seven seasons judging American Idol, a trip to space, and a run of music videos built to

The comeback video, and the one people argued about. In Woman’s World (2024) Katy Perry plays a skimpy Rosie the Riveter: denim cut down to almost nothing, a red polka-dot bandana, power tools and a bottle of “whiskey for women”. She was thirty-nine. Released 11 July 2024 with the single. Then an anvil drops on

Her biggest video, and her Cleopatra. In Dark Horse (2014) Katy Perry plays Katy Pätra, the witch of Memphis (the Egyptian one, a joke on Juicy J’s hometown in Tennessee). Gold headdress, jewelled grill, a throne shaped like a sphinx, and suitors who keep bringing gifts. She was twenty-nine. It was the most-watched music video

The strangest one, and maybe the most suggestive. In the official Bon Appétit video (2017) Katy Perry is the dish. She is unwrapped from plastic on a kitchen table, “kneaded like dough” by a team of chefs, boiled in a pot with carrots and served to a room of hungry diners. She was thirty-two. Migos

The sexy-but-sweet one. Teenage Dream (2010) was filmed in Santa Barbara, her hometown, in July 2010, with Josh Kloss as the boyfriend. She was twenty-five. Less makeup, more skin, and a story that runs from a white convertible to a motel bed to a kiss under water. Perry said at the time the video would

Not a nude scene, and nobody ever claimed it was. But it is the closest Katy Perry has come to one on camera. In the official California Gurls video (2010) she lies naked on a pink cotton-candy cloud through the chorus, lilac bob wig, big smile, everything that matters hidden by the fluff. She was