Katy Perry is in the middle of a Gen Z rebrand

Katy Perry is one of the most famous pop stars in the world, but something strange is happening to her at the moment and it can’t be ignored.

COMMENT

Something strange is happening to Katy Perry. By strange, I mean something very clever and calculated. She’s in the middle of a significant Gen Z rebrand.

Perry, 39, has been on a career decline in recent years. However, she’s done what fading pop singers do and landed a judging role on American Idol.

She’s also married to Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom, who revealed in an in-depth interview with GQ that he introduced her to ingesting vitamin C powders.

So that is about as exciting as things were getting for a moment there.

Katy Perry is married to Hollywood star, Orlando Bloom. Picture: Instagram/KatyPerry

She's changed up her look. Picture: Instagram/KatyPerry

She’s firmly in the era of her career when people are more interested in her bizarre celebrity life than the music she promotes.

It isn’t a bad place to be in!

She’s still making bucket loads of money and can probably head into the supermarket without being hounded.

It is also a safe decline.

Once you land a judging gig in pop singer land, next you’ll usually release a greatest hits album or a memoir in which you admit to sleeping with an unexpected fellow celebrity and maybe have a little cry on a popular podcast.

If things get dire, you’ll go on a reality show where you’re forced to complete a series of comical tasks.

It’s a slippery but familiar slope, but Perry has decided to stand at the top of the slide and make a U-turn.

She's ditched doing a teary podcast interview for a Gen Z rebrand. Picture: Instagram/KatyPerry

Perry embracing all the Gen Z trends. Picture: Instagram/KatyPerry

Perry could, at this point, be leaning into our nostalgia. Her biggest hit, Teenage Dream, came out in 2010, and her fans who grew up with her are now definitely old enough to be able to afford pricey tickets to her greatest hits tour.

So what’s happening instead?

She’s decided to have a Generation Z rebrand and she’s even teasing new music. She’s not getting ready to relive the past, she’s focusing on her future.

Katy Perry is the middle of a rebrand. Picture: Instagram/KatyPerry

On Instagram, she’s posting photos of her looking like she’s cosplaying pop singer Olivia Rodrigo, 21.

She recently uploaded a photo in which she wore every item of clothing that is trending among people under 25.

Perry wore impossibly tiny shorts paired with a mesh crop top, cowboy boots (yes, people are wearing them now), and very ugly sunglasses. At the moment, the uglier the sunglasses, the cooler you are.

It should have been cringe but she looked so good it was just a vibe. Photos of Perry looking gorgeous now routinely trend on social media. She’s back to being goals.

“Feeling crate Hbu,” she captioned the photo. .

She’s even using very bizarre slang that surely some 13-year-old somewhere is explaining to an elderly Millennial what it means.

She's even embraced the oversized shirt. Picture: Instagram/KatyPerry

Love it or hate it? Her Coachella look was striking. Picture: Instagram/KatyPerry

Online, Perry’s also done a few other clever things. She posted a photo of herself walking into work on American Idol and jamming to Gen Z pop singer Sabrina Carpenter’s hit song Espresso.

The pop singer also attended the popular music festival Coachella and, for the occasion, she wore an oversized graphic T-shirt. Yes, like the ones you keep seeing young people wear and, yes, they are ugly and shapeless.

Perry also wore some impossibly low-rise baggy jeans and let them slide down her legs to show off her incredible black underwear.

She paired that with a leather jacket. It is like she’s combining all the Gen Z trends and taking them a step farther.

“I’ve been to Coachella longer than you’ve been alive,” she wrote on Instagram.

Once again iconic.

She’s embracing the Gen Z lifestyle while also acknowledging she’s a very hot Millennial.

The see-through dress was a moment. Picture: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for iHeartRadio

You can't say she's not committed to the new era. Pictured: Backgrid

The pop singer is also posting online differently. It is no longer just super glossy, made-up images of her on Instagram.

Now, it is blurry photos, almost unflattering close-ups of random things, and she’s embraced doing photo dumps instead of a single photo.

She’s using social media like a Gen Zer – or her very canny social media manager is. Perry’s back in the pop culture conversation.

People online are also noticing that Perry is slowly but surely sliding herself back into A-list status.

“Katy’s rebrand needs to be studied,” one wrote.

“No artist have this kind of successful rebrand as Katy Perry have done,” another mused.

“Katy Perry having the best rebrand of all time with everyone praising her and awaiting her comeback … 2017, this one’s for you,” someone joked.

“Katy Perry’s comeback feels real this time! With her rebrand, active social media presence, and viral TikToks, it’s the comeback we’ve been waiting for,” another shared.

Perry’s decided if you can’t beat the youngest generation, join them, then beat them and then reclaim the pop princess crown.

Originally published as Katy Perry is in the middle of a Gen Z rebrand