After months of silence, Katy Perry explains why she recruited Dr. Luke to help produce her next album.
The 13-time Grammy-nominated singer returned to music in July after a four-year hiatus spent judging “American Idol” and raising her young daughter. But her lead single, “Woman’s World,” was a non-starter after fans discovered that Lukasz “Dr. Luke” Gottwald had been credited on the supposed feminist anthem. Last year, Gottwald settled a decade-long legal battle with pop star Kesha, who in 2014 accused the producer of drugging and raping her nine years earlier.
Perry had to explain her decision to involve Gottwald in her new project, much to the “disappointment” of fans, during an appearance on the Alex Cooper show on Wednesday. “Call her daddy” podcast.
“I understand that this sparked a lot of conversations, and he was one of the many collaborators that I collaborated with, but the reality is that this all came from me,” Perry said. “The truth is that I wrote these songs from my lifelong experience going through this metamorphosis. And he was one of the people that helped facilitate all of that.”
The singer went on to say that her new music is “really based” on “feeling so empowered now, as a mother, as a woman.”
“That’s where I’m speaking from,” he said. “And I created all of this with a number of different collaborators, people I’ve collaborated with in the past, from the ‘Teenage Dream’ era, all of that.”
Perry previously collaborated with Gottwald on her debut No. 1 single, “I Kissed a Girl,” as well as other hits, “Hot n Cold,” “Last Friday Night (TGIF)” and “California Gurls.” Gottwald last worked on Perry's 2013 album, “Prism,” but was uncredited on “Witness” (2017) and “Smile” (2020), both of which were released in the wake of Kesha's sexual assault allegations against the producer.
Perry became embroiled in the legal proceedings between Kesha and Gottwald when the former alleged that the “Never Really Over” singer was also a victim of Gottwald’s abuse, a claim Perry denied.
In 2018, Perry said that she “I felt pressured” to support Kesha. She also revealed that she felt Gottwald was “using her as a pawn” and that she was “upset” with both parties.
Kesha and Gottwald released a joint statement after settling their series of lawsuits and countersuits last June.
“Only God knows what happened that night,” Kesha wrote about her alleged rape in her portion of the statement. “As I have always said, I cannot tell everything that happened. I am looking forward to closing the door on this chapter of my life and starting a new one. I wish nothing but peace to all parties involved.”
Gottwald added: “While I appreciate Kesha once again acknowledging that she cannot talk about what happened that night in 2005, I am absolutely certain that nothing happened. I never drugged or assaulted her and I would never do that to anyone. For the sake of my family, I have fought vigorously to clear my name for nearly 10 years. It is time for me to put this difficult matter behind me and move on with my life. I wish Kesha the best.”
In addition to Perry, Gottwald has worked with artists Kim Petras, Doja Cat and Nicki Minaj since Kesha filed her first lawsuit against the producer in 2014.
