Photo by Ali Szubiak.

Two things most people know about Katy Perry: her left boob and her right boob. That is a damn shame. Katy Perry (formerly Katheryn Hudson) went from a sort of indie folk singer-songwriter complete with Zooey D dresses and acoustic guitar, and a powerful voice, to a spandex dress wearing, teenage dreaming, definition of pure giddy pop. Yes. Non-believers, watch:

But, Just Like Gaga (lest we forget that she too started as a folkie gal with a piano), she reinvented herself to be relevant and make money. And what the hell is so bad about that? Wouldn’t you do the same?

Why do people hate Katy Perry and pop music in general? Pop music will live forever. It’s fun but it can be unexpected. It influences fashion. And oh the great Halloween costumes that come from it! Like this:

 Where was this costume last year?? By the way that’s supposed to be a Rihanna costume behind her. Change the wig, lost the skirt, and you got a Gaga costume.

How smart is she to recognize that her fans dressed like her at her concerts and should make a Halloween costume for the masses, so that all DIY challenged fans could dress like Katy? How smart indeed. Some would say diabolical. Others would say that her managers and such pushed her to do it. Well duh, everyone has managers and lawyers and etc. But some pop artists have more control than others, and I bet that Katy is one of them. She knows her fans. She interacts with them on her personal twitter that, for better or worse, is written by her and her only.

Her record company was adamant in keeping ‘I Kissed A Girl’ off her debut album. Katy fought for it. Girl has great instincts. And that wasn’t a fluke. “Katy Perry is the first woman to have five #1 songs from one album on the billboard charts. She’s tied with Michael Jackson.” (source). Could a total idiot strike lightning five times? She knows her image and she knows her crowd. She can get slimed on at the Kids Choice awards with as much enthusiasm of being on the cover of Vanity Fair. In that issue she said,

“I don’t care what people say about my relationship; I don’t care what they say about my boobs.

People are buying my songs; I have a sold-out tour. I’m getting incredible feedback from my music…I don’t take anything for granted. There are 500 other girls right behind me. And I know that, because I was one of them. I remember what it’s like to be someone who’s always trying to get there — sending out tons of e-mails — trying to connect with some person who could connect me to some other person. And I wouldn’t be working at this pace now if I didn’t truly know that fame is fleeting.”

She gets it. She has fun but she also works her ass off. She parodies herself in her videos and gives Rebecca Black a cameo. That’s a crazy smart thing to do considering that Rebecca Black is one of the most talked about “artists” right now. How many pop stars do you know whose songs are sung by Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon on national tv?

Does she contradict herself at times? Yes. Did she wear some really silly outfits at the most recent VMA awards in perhaps an attempt to Gaga it up? Maybe. Did she try to go too artsy with her “E.T.” music video? I’m sure of it. But she also got Kanye on that track. Kanye!

And then she’ll defy your expectations and take her biggest pop hit and turn it into a jazzy “whoa-what-the-hell-is-this-(in a good way).”

So leave her alone. If you think about it, there really isn’t a big difference between Lady Gaga and Katy Perry. I think one of them even wrote songs for the other one, when they were starting out. Both sing amazing pop songs while dressed as Bjork. There is nothing wrong with liking Katy Perry.

Say it with me: “There is nothing wrong with liking Katy Perry.”

I like Katy Perry and I like David Bowie. You can like pop music and classic rock. The two are not mutually exclusive. So don’t be ashamed. And don’t be hateful. Either way, she’s doing really, really well for herself. And how about you?