So Katy Perry went to space for a whole 11 minutes earlier this month as part of the Jeff Bezos-owned Blue Origin's very #girlboss first all-women crew, which also included TV host Gayle King and Bezos's fiancée, Lauren Sánchez. Everyone had a good laugh, including Kesha and Wendy's, although the latter walked back jokes after the fact because they're more into chicken than beef lately, apparently.
Perry has now also begun her Lifetimes World Tour behind last year's decidedly panned, Dr. Luke-produced 143, some of the choreography for which is looking a little phoned-in to say the least. (It's very much the kind of thing your boyfriend sees on Reddit and interrupts what you're doing to insist that you watch it.) Suffice to say, the pop star's public image is in a state of great disrepair — but nevertheless, the KatyCats persist.
A bunch of Perry's international stans evidently pitched in to purchase a 24-hour ad spot on a billboard in Times Square earlier this week to celebrate her quote-unquote accomplishments. "We are so proud of you and your magical journey," it read. "And we love you to the moon and back! Know that you are safe, seen and celebrated. We'll see you around the world, this is just the beginning!"
In a comment on a fan account's Instagram post highlighting the billboard, Perry took the time to assure fans that she's holding up alright amid the internet being a "dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed."
"I'm so grateful for you guys," she wrote. "We're in this beautiful and wild journey together. I can continue to remain true to myself, heart open and honest especially because of our bond. I love you guys and have grown up together with you and am so excited to see you all over the world this year! Please know I am okay, I have done a lot [of] work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me."
Perry continued, "My therapist said something years ago that has been a game changer, 'no one can make you believe something about yourself that you don't already believe about yourself' and if I ever do have any feelings about it then it's an opportunity to investigate the feeling underneath it. When the 'online' world tries to make me a human Piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed."
"What's real is seeing your faces every night, singing in unison, reading your notes, feeling your warmth," the pop star concluded. "I find people to lock eyes and sing with and I know we are healing each other in a small way when I get to do that. l'm not perfect, and I actually have omitted that word from my vocabulary, l'm on a human journey playing the game of life with an audience of many and sometimes I fall but… I get back up and go on and continue to play the game and somehow through my battered and bruised adventure I keep looking to the light and in that light a new level UNLOCKS."
Kudos to Perry for not letting the backlash get to her, although bemoaning the virtue signalling of an 11-minute rich-lady space mission hardly seems like "unhinged and unhealed" behaviour. For environmental perspective, Perry's short trip out of this women's world generated significantly more CO2 emissions than all of Taylor Swift's Eras Tour private jet travel combined. We really are lucky to be living in it!