Katy Perry defends collaborating with Dr Luke on new album after backlash

Katy Perry has given an explanation for a controversial collaboration on her new album following backlash.

Katy Perry defended working with Dr Luke on her forthcoming album, 143, despite the producer being accused of drugging and raping singer Kesha.

While appearing on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast on Wednesday, the Dark Horse singer, 39, was asked why she decided to work with the songwriter, born Łukasz Sebastian Gottwald, reported Page Six inThe New York Post.

“Look, I understand that it started a lot of conversations. He was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with. But the reality is, it comes from me,” she responded.

“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.”

Perry has defended her decision to work with the producer. Picture: Supplied

Perry, whose real name is Katheryn Hudson, said she was speaking from her own experience on the new project, which is set to be released on September 20.

“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**e heart,” the pop star, who shares 4-year-old daughter Daisy Dove with fiance Orlando Bloom.

Perry, who said she’s “still a matriarch,” added, “I created all of this with several different collaborators — people that I’ve collaborated with from the past, from the Teenage Dream era, from all of that.”

In 2014, Kesha filed a lawsuit against Dr Luke accusing him of drugging and raping her after a party in 2005.

The TiK ToK singer, 37, claimed the eight-time Grammy-nominated producer, 50, had been sexually, physically and verbally abusive during the decade-long period they worked together, and that his behaviour caused her to develop an eating disorder.

Dr Luke denied the allegations and countersued Kesha, claiming she had legally defamed him with “false and shocking” allegations.

Lukasz "Dr. Luke” Gottwald and singer Kesha in 2011. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty Images

In April 2016, a judge dismissed all of Kesha’s claims of sexual assault, sexual harassment and gender violence in New York.

Four months later, the singer dropped her California lawsuit against Dr Luke.

The parties finally settled their legal battle in June 2023.

“Only God knows what happened that night, as I have always said,” Kesha said in a statement at the time. “I cannot recount everything that happened”.

Kesha added that she was “looking forward to closing the door on this chapter of my life and beginning a new one”.

Meanwhile, Dr Luke continued to maintain his innocence, writing that he was “absolutely certain that nothing happened”.

“I never drugged or assaulted her and would never do that to anyone,” he continued. “For the sake of my family, I have vigorously fought to clear my name for nearly 10 years”.

This article originally appeared in Page Six and was reproduced with permission.