As she winds down her American Idol run Katy Perry is gearing up for her next pop era. And to hear tell it, the best is yet to come. Earlier this week while doing Idol promo, Perry snuck in a tantalizing tease about her upcoming single, which, low key, she think is among her greatest work to date.
Perry said the unnamed track — whose release date has not yet been revealed — is “one of my biggest songs that has yet to come out.” The track was co-written by 28-year-old Canadian-Congolese singer Lu Kala, best known stateside for her feature on Latto’s 2023 song “Lottery.”
“But it’s coming out,” Perry, 39, says excitedly, counseling Kala, “don’t say anything!” as she covers her mouth in mock horror.
Kala, of course, could hardly contain her excitement, sharing a roll of pics with Perry from her visit on Tuesday (April 23) with the caption, “To know me is to know that I’ve been a Katy fan FOREVER!! You can’t spell Pop without @katyperry and as a Pop gurlll, this means the WORLD TO ME!!!!🥹💕 brb, still crying.” The pics include Kala standing arm-in-arm with Perry, as well as a slide with the caption featuring Perry’s tease.
“I was not expecting any of this, wow😭 Thank you @katyperry for letting me be the tiniest part of what you have coming. I can’t wait for the world to hear it🥹💕,” Kala captioned the video post. Kala, who was named a Vevo #DSCVR Artist to Watch for 2024 just released her aching new ballad “Nothing But Love.”
On the same night, Perry further pulled back the curtain on the long-awaited follow-up to her 2020 album Smile, telling Access Hollywood that her as-yet-untitled LP is one of her happiest to date. “I just have yet to make a record from a place of feeling really happy and whole and full of love,” she said. “Sometimes artists are like, ‘Oh, that’s boring, you want to make music from kind of like a tougher place,’ but actually it’s very bright and joyful, like pure joy and fun and playful and celebratory and a party.”
Check out Kala’s post below.