Katy Perry Talks Songwriting

Katy Perry recently sat down for an interview with W Magazine. Here's what she had to say:

Lynn Hirschberg: How do you write songs? And was it different writing the songs on Witness?
Katy Perry: "In the past I used a tape recorder, and now I just use my phone. My Notes section is a hodgepodge of all kinds of crazy ideas. And I have an old-fashioned memo notebook—not one of those leather-bound things with a Montblanc pen! Just an old-fashioned black and white composition book, filled with scraps of songs."

Where do you get your best ideas?
"I get them in three different ways. From Transcendental Meditation, where I rest and kind of restart my mind. Or during a massage. Or showering. I always have my phone on standby when I hop out of the shower."

Do you sing your own songs in the shower?
"No. I make up songs. Or I go, “I like to move it, move it.” I’ve had several sing-offs with boyfriends. That’s very fun—singing in the shower and scrubbing!"

Is life more enjoyable with short hair?

"Everything is more fun with short hair! I can just get up and go. I feel so liberated with this hair now. In general, I feel 360-degrees liberated—all around. Whether it’s politically, mentally, spiritually, sexually. I feel liberated from all the things that don’t serve me. I’m surrendering and embracing my 30s. You couldn’t give me anything to go back to my 20s. To get to this place, I had to do some much-needed work on my heart, soul, mind, and body. Since doing that, a lot of beautiful things started to bloom again."

Now that you mention your 30s, what was your favorite birthday?
"I am such a birthday-party girl! I take that one day as a big fat excuse to throw a massive party. For my 32nd birthday, we had a 1950s sock hop–themed party in a veterans’ hall in Hollywood. It was on the night before Halloween, which is close to my real birthday, and everyone is still sad that party is over. I’ve heard people say that it was one of the greatest nights of their life."

Is there a song that makes you cry?
"Many. I always want to be moved to tears. I recently saw Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway and was a mess afterward. The actor [Ben Platt] went to that spot that is so vulnerable that it was almost scary. We all pose so much. We all display a life that isn’t real. I’m guilty of that as well. But when you break it all down, it’s really powerful. And that show does just that. Go see it!"

Do you ever cry during your own songs?

"I have. My songs are so personal. Sometimes they are about people who are no longer in my life, or they’re about unrequited love. I started out on tour last time and I couldn’t perform a couple of the songs on the record because I was just too upset."

Read the full interview at W Magazine.