Katy Perry Defends Collaboration With Dr. Luke On New Album: “I Understand It Started A Lot Of Conversations”
Katy Perry has spoken out about her decision to collaborate on her new album with Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) after the music producer was accused of sexual assault by Kesha.
Perry was asked about the decision on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast and acknowledged that it had been a talking point ahead of 143‘s release later this month.
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She was asked about Dr. Luke after spending much of the podcast discussing how she has overcome past relationships with narcissistic men who “couldn’t handle me in boss mode.”
Without addressing the allegations (which Dr. Luke denies) or mentioning him by name, she said: “I understand that it started a lot of conversations and he was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with.
“But the reality is, it comes from me. The truth is, I wrote these songs from my experience of my whole life going through this metamorphosis, and he was one of the people to help facilitate all that.”
She added: “I am speaking from my own experience. When I speak about ‘Woman’s World,’ I speak about feeling so empowered now, as a mother, as a woman … I created all of this with several different collaborators, people that I’ve collaborated with from the past, from ‘Teenage Dream’ era. All of that.”
Dr. Luke has been one of Perry’s most important creative partners, producing her first No. 1 single ‘I Kissed a Girl’ and other hits, including ‘California Gurls.’ He produced the single ‘Woman’s World’ from Perry’s new record.
Perry has previously appeared to dodge scrutiny about the collaboration, ignoring questions from people in Paris as she got into a car in June. “Isn’t your album about women empowerment?” someone off-camera asked the singer.
In a 2014 lawsuit, Kesha accused her former producer Dr. Luke of drugging and sexually abusing her in 2005. The legal writ also contained allegations of emotional and psychological abuse. Dr. Luke counter-sued for defamation.
The pair settled last year, with Kesha stating that “only God knows what happened that night.” Dr. Luke said: “I am absolutely certain that nothing happened. I never drugged or assaulted her and would never do that to anyone.”
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