COUP DE MAIN: From fifteen years old to twenty-three, the debut Katy Perry album 'One Of The Boys', has been a long-time coming... What kept you going?
KATY PERRY: In the face of all adversity or someone saying no over and over, was what I thought was a void in female pop. I wanted there to be other pop acts that inspired me. Like Shirley Manson, Alanis Morisette and Gwen Stefani. The 'Tragic Kingdom' days and the 'Jagged Little Pill' days. I missed that and I felt like nobody was really doing it right in the 2000's. I think Pink was amazing but beyond that, I think there needs to be more girls that come out with an attitude of they don't give a fuck. Girls with no apologies in their music. Just really expressive, honest and bold. Pretty much saying what people don't have the guts to say.

CDM: How did it feel to score the 1000th American #1 single with 'I Kissed A Girl'?
KP: I feel lucky on that note. I think that was just one of those weird moments in history where your standing in line at the supermarket and your buying groceries. But all of a sudden your the hundredth person to buy that grocery and you get a lifetime supply. Cool. Awesome! I just came to get some peanut butter... but I'll take a lifetime's supply! Perfect.

CDM: You seem to be a pretty modern girl, but your bio states that your childhood was rather sheltered...
KP: It was awesome but sheltered, all at the same time. I grew up raised in church, my parents are both traveling ministers. They blocked out MTV which was fine, but I'd find myself figuring out who New Kids On The Block were. I had no idea when they were having a comeback. I'd only just heard their song. I missed out on the Spice Girls. I missed out on all those big pop phenomenon and missed out even on the Madonna records. It's okay, cuz I'm playing catch-up on everything now. I think it's good though. I feel like I have a little bit of a fresh ear when creating music. I'm not trying to be like anything else, cuz I have no idea what anything else is like!

CDM: What were your teenage years like in comparison?
KP: I thought I knew more, than I actually did. But I think that goes along with all teenagers. I think that a lot of teenagers think they got it all down-pat. Especially when they first move out and they're on their own for the first time. Oh this is easy, this is breezy. Then all of a sudden it hits you in your mid-twenties that maybe you don't know how to do your taxes still. There's all kinds of things and you start calling your parents up again. I can't figure this out! Help me!!

CDM: The media seems to have latched onto stereotyping you as, "Katy Perry: Good Christian Girl Gone Bad"... Did you reinvent yourself to get away from being labeled as a Christian artist?
KP: No, not at all. I'm not ashamed, or embarrassed. I'm happy that I grew up listening to gospel music and came from where I came from. I feel like I have a history and a story. That's what I am and that's what I'll always be from. I was never running away from it, or anything like that. I just changed as a person and have always been changing constantly from fifteen to twenty-three.
The internet is such a strange place. You can put up one thing on there like, Katy Perry was a taekwondo master of the black belt! When really all I did was one kickboxing class. That's how I think my short time in doing my gospel record was like. I did my gospel record, but there was nothing really of it. Maybe a hundred people bought it. But it's one of those things on the internet that people find and they make into a big deal. They think that I was like Amy Grant, when actually no! The label went bankrupt and maybe sold a couple hundred records and that's about it. I was just trying different things.

CDM: I listened to the Katy Hudson album and liked it.
KP: Oh amazing. I thought it was cute. I thought it was the best thing I could do at fifteen. It was the opportunity my parents gave me. To sing, or not to sing. Of course I'm going to sing! No regrets at all.

CDM: Do you still consider yourself a Christian?
KP: I consider myself a believer in something much bigger than myself, thank God. I'm definitely not trying to be, or am, a poster child for anything so structured. But I do have my own personal faith most definitely.

CDM: What are your thoughts on being labeled a "recreational lesbian" by critics?
KP: There are so many things on the internet. There's a disease on the internet, called Anonymous Commenting. Which so many people do, cuz nobody would actually say half of the shit to anybody's face.
When I kissed a girl, nobody was around. So I didn't do it for anybody. I'm not a lesbian. I encourage anybody to try anything, just make sure you have integrity and character. It doesn't matter who anyone loves. I am for gay rights and I also have a boyfriend.

CDM: What's your take on the media fame game?
KP: I think that it's pure comedy. I have no idea what it's going to be like when I go back to Los Angeles because I've been out on the road when it's all been happening. I'm not scared, but cautiously aware of when I go home. Is it going to turn into a frenzy? Or is everything going to be just cool, like it was? I have no idea. I'm scared. I'm excited. I'm ready for whatever happens but I think that fame is what comes along with the territory when you open yourself up and become this story, this book for anyone to read. You have to really know that getting into it. For me especially, I always have a very cheery disposition and that's how I've always come off. So I forget that doesn't really allow me to have a bad mood. Last week, I had a fever while on the road and I was sick while we were on a ten day stretch of no days off. I was really sick and I walked outside of the bus and realised; oh no I'm not allowed to be sick. I'm not allowed to say; sorry no I can't pose with you for a photo because I'm sick. I am a super human now, or I have to be one.

CDM: Do you feel victim to the media trying to pry a Katy Perry exposé out of your life and history?
KP: The media, is media. You always have to take the media with a grain of salt. You can't believe everything you read. I always tell my fans that are closest to me, if it's not coming from my mouth, my website, or my appointed person, then it's generally not true. Or it's an exaggeration. Or it's just another person's opinion. I welcome those opinions. Everybody wants to have a commentary on my life, like they are actually living it. Cool, comment all you want but I'm the one that's living it. So if I give my final commentary, then your really just having an opinion which your entitled to but is usually just not the most informed one.

CDM: Is it sweet being in Perez Hilton's good-books, not having to worry about what he may blog about you?
KP: I don't think anyone is free from that. The appeal of Perez is that he says whatever he wants. I am happy that I'm on his good-side now! But I live in fear of him. Like I lived in fear of my Principle. I'm happy he's not drawing white dots coming out of the side of my mouth.

CDM: Do you think that there's double standards in the music industry for females?
KP: That's just how the world has always been period. It's unfortunate and I hope someone takes up the job to try and change it. But I'm just singing about my own life. Singing about all the little stories in my life and the things I've been through. I think the world likes to pick apart different songs and play doctor with songs sometimes and make them into this big controversial thing. Dude, I didn't come here to run for President. I really just came here to play rock and roll. I'm speaking my mind and that's what my mind says.

CDM: Do you regret your 2004 Blender magazine interview where you were quoted as saying, "I've done a lot of bad things. Use your imagination", and "music wasn't allowed in the house because it's the devil's work"?
KP: I feel like I have more of a point and I know exactly what I want to say NOW, but I do know that unfortunately that interview I did when I was nineteen in 2004, was kind of like a game of ad-lib. It was an hour long interview and they just took key words and placed them however they wanted to. That happens every once in a while sometimes with interviews. But, it's fine. I always say silly things and I always say things that have a big sarcastic chuckle at the end of them. I am never usually taking myself too seriously and I think that people when they read stuff from me, they have to realise that I'm having fun.

CDM: What was it like working with The Matrix (production team for Avril Lavigne, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera)?
KP: It was one of the things that I did while I was finding my way. I did many different things and worked with amazing producers. Some that are highlighted on this record and some that aren't. I wrote sixty-five odd songs in five years for this record, and only picked twelve. They taught me a lot about pop music. They're the ultimate craftsmen of it.

CDM: Were you aware of Jill Sobule's 'I Kissed A Girl', when you wrote your same-named single?
KP: Yes, I was totally aware. I even met her in this play before I even wrote that song. It was one of those obvious things where I was like, okay do I call the song 'I Kissed A Girl'? Which is what everybody is going to be calling in saying, I want to hear that 'I Kissed A Girl' song. Or do I call it 'Cherry Chapstick'? Which is maybe a little bit more far-fetched. I was like, I'm going to go with the obvious because that's what everyone is going to call it anyway. I knew it was a Jill Sobule song, but I was okay with it. I was okay if some of the trafficking would go to her. She's a much-deserved artist.

CDM: What's it like being a girl on Warped Tour?
KP: Difficult. But awesome! It's exhausting but it's great. I think you get a lot of attention cuz it's kinda like a caveman thing, with few WOMEN! We're so far and few in-between that it's an advantage, cuz you get lots of attention from guys and you get lots of attention from the crowd too. I think that everybody that's coming out to Warped Tour, when they come to see the show, they're always like; let's go see that band that band that band and... that girl. I think that I tend to be that girl sometimes and I think that it's cool that I get to hang out with this Summer camp of smelly boys.

CDM: Have you been heckled by any punk-rock bozo's?
KP: It's just a childish argument. That's like playground talk. I think that some people have a raised eyebrow; Katy Perry on Warped Tour? That is some-what strange... I am a pop girl! And I'm on a major label. I enjoy singing pop songs and so forth. But if you look at the Warped Tour line-up, there's all kinds of different people on the Warped Tour. It's a festival of live music. You've got your hip-hop, you've got your electro dance. You've got your singer-songwriter. You've got your hardcore, screamo, metal. You've got all kinds of different flavours and there are other pop acts on the tour that are on pop radio just like me. But I think that people can be somewhat pleasantly surprised when they come and see the show and see that I'm just as sweaty as everyone else from jumping around.

CDM: Is it fun having Gym Class Heroes around on Warped Tour as well?
KP: It's great! It's fun having my boyfriend constantly there as an anchor. I think that it's nice because I'm not wandering the buses at night, trying to figure out who's going to hold me. I KNOW who's going to hold me! It's my boyfriend! He's my companion and he's a good friend. He is constant. It's nice when you have someone there that shows you the ropes, that's already done it and done it a lot of times and help me be aware of what to do and what not to do. I take his advice, most definitely.

CDM: Did you meet Travis McCoy before appearing in the music video for 'Cupid's Chokehold'?
KP: I met him before. We met at a recording studio. He was working on his record, I was working on my record. We were in opposite corners of the room, working with the same producer. He was going back and forth with both of our records. After five days of not really talking to each other, we decided we'd hang out and grab a drink. And we ended up really liking each other. I think there was always an attraction though. We've always been very attracted to each other.

CDM: Future plans for Katy Perry?
KP: World domination! I say that with the most sarcastic smirk on my face. Definitely keeping my head on straight and looking forward. Planning this next big tour coming up in Spring. My big tour in 2009 is going to be very Katy Perry. Very me. Very, basically whatever I want to do. Which is definitely exciting. I just hope that I look back and say, awesome. Keeping everybody excited. Can't wait to blow them away in 2009.
CDM: New Zealand?
KP: Please!!!!!

KATY PERRY's debut album 'One Of The Boys' is in-stores now.