Katy Perry Addresses Backlash Over Working With Dr. Luke on New Album After Kesha Lawsuit

Katy Perry is speaking out on the backlash she received over working with Dr. Luke (Lukasz Gottwald) on her new album.

While appearing on the Call Her Daddy podcast, the singer was asked about the producer’s involvement in her upcoming sixth album. Perry received criticism over choosing to work with Gottwald given he had been in a legal battle for nine years with singer Kesha Sebert, known as Kesha, after she alleged she was drugged and sexually assaulted and wanted out of her recording agreement. Meanwhile, Gottwald maintained the accusation was false and sued for defamation and breach of contract. They reached an agreement last June, less than a month before the case was set for trial.

“I understand that [working with him] started a lot of conversations, and he was one of many collaborators that I collaborated with. But the reality is, it comes from me,” Perry said. “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. One of the writers, one of the producers. I am speaking from my own experience.”

Perry previously collaborated with Gottwald on her hits such as “I Kissed a Girl,” “California Gurls” and “Teenage Dream.” For her new album, recently released songs “Woman’s World” and “Lifetimes” were co-written and produced by Dr. Luke.

“When I speak about ‘Woman’s World,’ I speak about feeling so empowered now, as a mother, as a woman, giving birth, creating life, creating another set of organs. A brain! A heart! I created a whole-ass heart! And I did it, and I’m still doing it,” she said. “I’m still a matriarch and feeling really grounded in that, that’s where I’m speaking from. So 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.”

The music video for “Woman’s World” has drawn criticism for being a dated attempt at writing a feminist anthem, according to Billboard. In a behind-the-scenes video shared on her social media, Perry seemingly responded to the criticism while explaining the video.

“We’re kind of just having fun being a bit sarcastic with it, it’s very slapstick, and very on the nose,” Perry said. “With this set, it’s like, ‘We’re not about the male gaze but we really are about the male gaze,’ and we’re really overplaying it and on the nose because I’m about to get smashed, which is like a reset, a reset for me, and a reset for my idea of feminine divine, and it’s a whole different world we go to after this.

“We wanted to open this video making it look like a super high-gloss pop star video, and that’s what it is,” she said.

Perry’s new album 143 releases on Sept. 20.