{"id":32,"date":"2016-07-21T18:17:27","date_gmt":"2016-07-21T22:17:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/?p=32"},"modified":"2016-11-21T10:12:33","modified_gmt":"2016-11-21T14:12:33","slug":"my-interview-with-16-year-old-katy-perry-then-katy-hudson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/reelfaith\/2016\/07\/my-interview-with-16-year-old-katy-perry-then-katy-hudson.html","title":{"rendered":"Katy Perry at Sixteen: ‘Christians Should Influence Mainstream’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Out of any of the crossover artists that came from Christian music, Katy Perry is, for the moment, the most popular. What kept\u00a0most people from making the Christian music connection, however, was that she didn\u2019t have a huge amount of success in the market, even though that debut album won rave reviews from critics. As part of our annual pilgrimage to Gospel Music Week in Nashville, I interviewed her when she was 16 years-old. A few years ago, I\u00a0was contacted by a journalist looking for insight on her beginnings, so it made me dig out the old interview. It\u2019s short (I think we met for about 20 minutes). On my previous blog, it was by far the largest traffic generator. Here it is: Katy Perry (Katy Hudson then) at sixteen.<\/p>\n

\"Katy
Katy Perry photograph by DeWayne Hamby<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s refreshing to be a suite. We\u2019ve been out in public doing interviews . .\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Well we want to refresh you. We dont\u2019 want this to be the every \u201cAverage Joe\u201d interview. We want this to be new, exciting, SPECIAL.<\/p>\n

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I listened to your CD last week. It\u2019s really good. When they said it was a 16\u00a0year-old . . .\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
You were thinking, I know what you were thinking! You\u2019re bad, you\u2019re really mean! (louder) You\u2019re really mean!<\/div>\n
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No, not that I don\u2019t like that, because I do! I like pop music<\/b><\/div>\n
(singing) I like pop music!<\/div>\n
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But it\u2019s ROCK! (to a friend) She\u2019s got a real deep soulful voice.<\/b><\/div>\n
Well, it\u2019s different! We\u2019ve got things from the\u2008Beatles, Fiona Apple, Jennifer Knapp! This is like a melting pot of different things! It\u2019s not exactly Debbie Gibson or Tiffany!<\/div>\n
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If you listen to the CD, you\u2019d be shocked at how young she is!<\/b><\/div>\n
Thank you!<\/div>\n
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Not that that\u2019s an insult or anything.<\/b><\/div>\n
Well, I made the CD when I was 15!<\/div>\n
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And you\u2019re 16\u00a0now! (yeah) And you wrote all the songs?\u2008(yeah!)\u2008That\u2019s impressive. One you wrote in eighth grade.<\/b><\/div>\n
How\u2019d you know that?<\/div>\n
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I know things!\u00a0<\/b><\/div>\n
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Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div>\n