Hey Katy Perry Fans, How ‘Woke’ Are You?
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Hey Katy Perry Fans, How ‘Woke’ Are You?

K Pez's latest album 'Witness' sailed in on a ship called woke. So ahead of her O2 Arena show, we spoke to some fans about it.

It’s 2018, and apparently Katy Perry is woke now. Yeah mate, I know. That Katy Perry. The one who performed at the AMAs dressed in a full geisha costume and defended her choice to release a video where she’s wearing cornrows despite being arguably the whitest woman alive. The Katy Perry who sang a song called“Ur So Gay”, dated John Mayer and snogged that poor teenager on American Idol without asking first.

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But listen, that’s all in the past! She’s changed now. She’s cut her hair short and she wears maxi dresses. She made friends with RuPaul and sent Taylor Swift an olive branch in the mail. Yeah, I know there was that whole thing about her killing that elderly nun in court, but that was an accident, it’s all been a big misunderstanding and she’s actually incredibly woke these days. Her last album is called Witness for god’s sake!

Not convinced? Neither were we, so we headed down to her gig at London’s O2 Arena to ask her biggest fans what they thought.

Charlotte, Bambi, Josh and Elizabeth

Noisey: When her last album Witness came out Katy did a New York Times interview where she didn’t stop talking about how woke she is now. Was she chatting shit?
Bambi: I think it would be so unwoke and unfair of me to make comment but I think she’s great and I think anyone can be what they want to be.

What do you think woke means?
Josh: That you look slay everyday and you know what you’re doing. I don’t think Katy knows what she’s doing yet.

One of her slogans when she released this album was ‘I know nothing’.
Josh: Well, darling. Yeah.
Charlotte: But she’s willing to learn, that’s the thing.

Do you think you’re woke?
Bambi: Wait how would you define woke?

Ummm for me I think it means being socially conscious I guess?
Elizabeth: I think it’s hard to be socially conscious about every issue, so I guess it depends what issue you’re talking about.

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Do you think she’s a feminist icon?
Bambi: Yeah I’d say so. I think she’s a strong female so I guess she’s an advocate for women and young girls. In terms of the woke issue, I think we’re all partially asleep on some things.

Wow, that might be the wokest thing I’ve ever heard. Thanks guys.

Matthew and Daniella

So, apparently Katy Perry has woken up.
Daniella: Um, ok.

But what does that mean exactly?
Matthew: Ummmm… just being aware of social issues and privileges I guess. She’s not there completely but it’s good that she’s at least trying to be.

Can you give me an example?
One time she did a performance in full geisha costume and there was a lot of talk about cultural appropriation and I think she’s acknowledged things like that as maybe… something she shouldn’t have done?

That’s good!
And she did this whole Witness World Wide thing where she invited a load of different people to have discussions with her, so I think she’s trying to learn!

Nelsey and Jordan

Katy Perry has woken up, y’all.
Nelsey: Hahahaha. Ok.

I’m sensing from the laughter than you maybe disagree with that.
I have no idea what you mean.

Define woke for me.
Jordan: It means she’s like been to India for a month and found herself. But actually, I’d prefer it if she hadn’t found herself because this album was kind of dull.

So just thinking back to some of her older material like “Ur So Gay”…would you say Katy Perry is woke?
I dunno…I’m gay and I wasn’t offended by it at the time.
Nelsey: I don’t actually know that song…I feel like I’m at the wrong gig, I’m gonna go home.

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What’s the wokest thing you’ve ever done?
Jordan: That’s a really weird question.
Nelsey: I’m not sure if I’ve done anything woke to be honest. I’m not even sure I know what it means. Is it like ‘lit’? All the kids are saying ‘lit’ now and I just found out about that, so I definitely have some catching up to do.

Don’t we all, really?
Well, I do yeah.

Thanks guys, hope tonight is lit.

Vanessa

So Katy Perry wants everyone to know that she’s woke now.
Vanessa: Yeah she’s “Wide Awake”.

Wow, yeah that is one of her songs. I never thought about it like that before. What does woke mean to you?
Coming alive in realisation.

Would you say that you’re particularly woke?
I will be when the concert starts.

What do you think is the wokest thing you’ve ever done?
I was in the crowd at a Madonna concert and she came up to me and I sang on her microphone. I was pretty awake then.

Wow, lol. Are you a troll?

Luke and Annabel

Would you say that you’re woke?
Luke: Come on, we’re fairly woke aren’t we. In the grand scheme of things I’d say we’re fairly woke.
Annabel: Yeah.

Have you done anything particularly woke today?
Errrr I made sure I had stock imagery that was of people of mixed racial heritage.
Luke: I was writing emails for some brands and when I put emojis in I checked that I used… racially diverse emojis.

That’s pretty damn woke if you ask me.
Annabel: That’s why I stick with the yellow emojis. Then you don’t have to worry about it.

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Do you think Katy Perry is woke?
I don’t think it’s something I’ve ever thought about to be honest. I’m largely here cos I like Teenage Dream.

What do you think about songs like “Ur So Gay” and “I Kissed A Girl”?
Annabel: I think at the time “I Kissed A Girl” was quite woke.
Luke: I’d say the world is generally more woke now though. I dunno if I’d describe her as woke but what I take objection with is that people think she’s really trashy and a bit lame and I think actually, maybe this is too deep, but I think there’s a lot of positive messages that come from Katy Perry’s songs and I think if kids are gonna be listening to some kind of pop artist then she’s a good one to be listening to.

Uh-huh.
But she’s probably like a six out of ten on the woke scale.

What would you say you are?
Seven
Annabel: I’d say we’re a few degrees above Katy Perry, c’mon.
Luke: We haven’t said anything too bad have we?

You’re ok guys, I think you’re doing pretty well.

David and Ryan

Big Katy Perry fans?
David: Yeah I guess so. We do a big gay concert every year, and this is our outing this year.

Cool. So Katy Perry has got woke, have you heard?
Ryan: Oh yeah I’ve heard about this.

And what are your thoughts?
David: I think she’s probably too much of a pop act to be woke. I dunno, if you’re gonna be woke…should you be a pop star?

Yeah, maybe not.
Ryan: Maybe she’ll get all political tonight and do some sort of anti-Trump diatribe, we just don’t know!

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Yeah, well, it is the Witness tour after all. Would you say that you’re woke?
David: I don’t really know if I fully understand what wokeness is to be honest.
Ryan: We’re too old! We’re in our mid-thirties.
David: I mean – what is woke? Aware?

Yeah exactly.
David: I would say we are, we know what’s going on in the world and we feel confident enough to have an informed opinion.

What would you say is the wokest thing you’ve ever done?
It sounds really weak but… actually exercise my right to vote every time. Ever since I was the age of eighteen, I’ve made sure that every time I’ve had the opportunity to vote I have done.

Right on. Ryan what time did you wake up this morning?
Ryan: 5.45?

That’s pretty woke if you ask me.
David: Very woke.

Thanks lads. Stay woke.

You can find Rosie on Twitter.