‘You Got This': ‘I Kissed a Girl’ Perry Claims God Spoke to Her Before Super Bowl Performance
Pop star Katy Perry, a former contemporary Christian artist now known for her hit song “I Kissed a Girl,” told reporters this week that she believes that God spoke to her before her performance at the Super Bowl, telling her, “You’ve got this and I’ve got you.”“I over prepared myself and did a lot of prayer and meditation,” she told Ryan Seacrest during an interview at the 57th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday.
“It’s funny, I was praying and I got a word from God and He says, ‘You got this and I got you,'” Perry explained. “And then I was on top of the lion and a guy—a random guy—just looked on me with a headset that I’ve never communicated with before and he just looked me straight in the eyes and said, ‘You got this.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, this is God confirming I can do this.'”
As previously reported, Perry performed several songs during the Super Bowl’s halftime show, including “Roar,” “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream” and “Fireworks.” During “Roar,” the pop star rode a giant mechanical lion, and during “California Girls” and “Teenage Dream” she was accompanied by dancers dressed in shark costumes.
“Let’s go all the way tonight/No regrets, just love,” she sang during “Teenage Dream.” “[I’ll] let you put your hands on me in my skin-tight jeans/Be your teenage dream tonight.”
Perry also sang her hit song “I Kissed a Girl,” which speaks about experimenting with lesbianism.
“I kissed a girl and I liked it, the taste of her cherry chapstick,” she sang out, rubbing her bottom up the leg of rocker Lenny Kravitz, who joined her on the song. “I kissed a girl just to try it/I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it/It felt so wrong, it felt so right/Don’t mean I’m in love tonight/I kissed a girl and I liked it.”
Perry was brought up to avoid secular music and television programs. She began singing as a Contemporary Christian artist at age 15, and released her first national album in 2001.
“He’ll prevail in the midst of all my sin and temptations,” Perry, then known as Katy Hudson, sang out on the song “Faith Won’t Fail,” featured on her self-titled debut album.
In an interview with CCM (Contemporary Christian Music Magazine), she stated that one her musical influences was Keith Green, who was known to be bold in his lyrical witness for Christ.
However, in 2007, Perry signed with with the secular label Capitol Records, and released her first single, “I Kissed a Girl,” which rose to the number one position on the secular pop charts. The popularity of Perry’s single brought continued national attention until she became one of the most well-known pop artists in the secular music industry. She later announced that she no longer professed to be a Christian.
“I don’t believe in a Heaven or a Hell, or an old man sitting on a throne,” Perry told Marie Claire Magazine in 2013. “I’m not Buddhist, I’m not Hindu, I’m not Christian, but I still feel like I have a deep connection with God.”
But Perry Tweeted a Bible verse the day of her Super Bowl, sharing Psalm 118, which read, “Today is the day the Lord has made! I will rejoice and be glad in it!”
Her parents have stated that they do not agree with all the choices that their daughter has made during her career.
In a book proposal by Perry’s mother, which was shopped in 2011, Mary Hudson reportedly outlined a number of concerns to set the record straight about her feelings.
“I recognized the psalmist gift in her performance. Yet she sang out, ‘I kissed a girl, and I liked it,’ while thousands joined her,” she wrote. “One part of my heart soared … [but] the other part broke for the thousands of hungry souls being fed something that didn’t nourish their spirit, but fed their flesh.”
Hudson said that did not like the song because it “promotes homosexuality and its message is shameful and disgusting.”
Keith Hudson, who leads Keith Hudson Ministries alongside his wife, and attends Jentezen Franklin’s Free Chapel in Orange County, Calif., has been double-minded about the matter.
“I love my daughter and I will always love her. Stop being judgmental and critical,” he said in 2012, choking back tears.
But in 2013, he reportedly referred to Perry as a “devil child” and requested prayer for his daughter.
“[People] ask: How I can preach if I produce a girl who sang about kissing another girl?” he said during a speaking engagement in Santa Fe, Calif.
“I was at a concert of Katy’s where there were 20,000. I’m watching this generation and they were going at it. It almost looked like church,” Hudson continued. “I stood there and wept and kept on weeping and weeping. They’re loving and worshiping the wrong thing.”
Earlier this month, Hudson attended the Super Bowl to watch his daughter, commenting to reporters that she was going to “do some good” songs, and that he is “always proud” of her.
“I’m a proud father,” he said.
On Sunday, Perry was among those in the audience who donned devil horns during AC/DC’s performance of “Highway to Hell.” She also made the devil horns symbol with both hands as cameras moved across her row.