Katy Perry’s ‘mean’ Aussie interview resurfaces

Katy Perry’s own words are coming back to haunt her, with a notorious 2014 moment on Seven’s Sunrise resurfacing on social media.

Pop star Katy Perry’s own words are coming back to bite, as an infamous snippet from a 10-year-old Australian interview resurfaces on social media this week.

The moment took place during Perry’s extended in-studio appearance on Seven’s breakfast show Sunrise back in 2014, while she was promoting her next Australian tour.

During the interview, then-co-host Samantha Armytage described Perry as the “biggest female entertainer in the world”.

“No I’m not, Beyonce is – duh! Do not blaspheme,” Perry said with a laugh.

Armytage and co-host David Koch then revealed they’d had a tweet from a viewer arguing that, in fact, it was Mariah Carey who deserved the title.

“Well, she’s fabulous … for a throwback,” Perry said pointedly, eliciting shocked laughter from the hosts.

“Fabulous! We love Fantasy … Honey, I love Honey … I sang all those songs growing up.”

Katy Perry speaks her mind on Sunrise circa 2014.

Then-Sunrise hosts Sam Armytage and David Koch.

As Perry releases new music this week to a decidedly mixed reaction, a clip of her “throwback” jab was this weekend posted on X, where it’s so far been viewed more than a million times and attracted much discussion.

“She is a mean girl,” wrote one person in response.

“Isn’t Katy a throwback?” another asked.

“She predicted her own future,” wrote another. “And look who’s the throwback now?”

Perry made her “throwback” pronouncement about Carey a year after what would be Perry’s final US number one single, the 2013 hit Dark Horse. Since then she’s released two more studio albums, 2017’s Witness and 2020’s Smile, both of which sold a fraction of their predecessors’ millions.

Perry will release her sixth studio album, 143, on September 20. The first single Woman’s Worldlaunched with a big budget video on Friday – but has been absolutely savaged by critics, who’ve called it everything from “abysmal” to “warmed-over hell”.

Early chart reports indicate Woman’s World is expected to chart around the lower end of the Billboard Hottest 100 this week. It has been seven years since a Perry song last troubled the US top 10.

Katy Perry’s back with a new look for her comeback single Woman’s World.

The singer is no doubt hoping Woman’s World can resurrect her chart fortunes: She’s enlisted controversial producer Dr. Luke, the man behind some of her biggest hits, to co-write and produce the single.

Some have criticised Perry’s decision to once again work with Dr Luke, who was at the helm for songs like Teenage Dream and Last Friday Night, for this musical comeback.

Fellow pop star Kesha served Dr. Luke, producer of her early hits, with a lawsuit in 2014 alleging emotional distress, sexual abuse and employment discrimination.

Dr. Luke denied all claims, and launched a countersuit against Kesha. In 2023, the two parties announced they had finally reached a joint settlement.

But that scandal made him a controversial figure in pop music, with artists like Kim Petras and Doja Cat weathering public backlashes for working with him in the wake of Kesha’s claims.