In her new Elle cover story, Katy Perry discussed her diminished expectations of being a pop star and the way the media molds celebrities to fit into very specific and easily identifiable archetypes. Such a classic “sage” thing to say.
On the pop-star phenomenon:
“It is a hundred times harder a dream than the dream that I dreamt when I was nine…You think you signed up for one thing, but you automatically sign up for a hundred others. And that is why you see people shaving their fucking heads.”
And if all the pop stars were characters in a soap opera?
“You’ve got to name someone the villain, someone the princess, someone the mom-, the dad-type—you know there always have to be characters. As pop figures, we’re all characters. And the media uses that. Who is the sweetheart, who is the villain? You know. Taylor’s the sweetheart. Kanye’s the villain. That’s the narrative.”
1.) While being famous can absolutely drive a person bonkers, I would say it’s a hundred times harder for every adult person—not just pop stars—to dream the dreams they dreamt when they were nine because the reality of adulthood is much different than the expectations of adulthood.