Five years have passed since Katy Perry released "I Kissed A Girl" and became a household name. Looking back now from her perch atop the throne of pop superstardom, she realizes how "radical" it was to sing about bisexuality at the time.
The 28-year-old sat down with W magazine ahead of the release of her fourth studio album, "Prism" (which dropped Tuesday), and got retrospective about her career. Going from a small-town California girl raised by devout Christians to an international star with a hit single about same-sex kissing was certainly a transition.
"It was a bit radical to sing about bisexuality, but it was a topic that was on the tip of everybody’s tongue," Perry told W for the fashion magazine's November 2013 issue. "And even though it was 'I kissed a girl, and I liked it, and that’s what I like to do sometimes,' I sang it with a wink. It may be a fun little pop song, but sometimes fun little pop songs most clearly express the zeitgeist."
"I Kissed A Girl" catapulted her to fame, and "its bi-curious lyrics effectively established Perry's dismissal of taboos in a way that none of her other singles could," Billboard previously noted.
The song did, however, cause an uproar in the gay community after its release, with some questioning her authenticity.
In 2011, she explained its success to Vanity Fair, saying: “finally someone was singing about something that existed. But it really was [meant to be] fun; there was no agenda.” Still, she didn't honestly discuss the song back in 2008 because of some "sleazy" male journalists who made her uncomfortable.
Today, she is more willing to open up about the song, as well as a youthful infatuation she once had with her 15-year-old friend, Morgan.
"[S]he was that friend, the one that you idolize and maybe even have a weird obsession-slash-crush on," she told W. "We were standing on her bed, wearing her clothes -- because her clothes were cooler -- and she put on 'Killer Queen.' My world froze. It was a very cinematic feeling, and it opened up this lyrical world."
Before You Go
In a 2011 Esquire interview, Megan Fox confirmed her bisexuality, stating, "I think people are born bisexual and then make subconscious choices based on the pressures of society. I have no question in my mind about being bisexual. But I'm also a hypocrite: I would never date a girl who was bisexual, because that means they also sleep with men, and men are so dirty that I'd never want to sleep with a girl who had slept with a man."
The Green Day front man opened up about his sexuality in a 1995 interview with The Advocate: "I think I've always been bisexual. I mean, it's something that I've always been interested in. I think everybody kind of fantasizes about the same sex. I think people are born bisexual, and it's just that our parents and society kind of veer us off into this feeling of 'Oh, I can't.' They say it's taboo. It's ingrained in our heads that it's bad, when it's not bad at all. It's a very beautiful thing."
Comedian Margaret Cho has long been open about her sexuality. In August 2013, Cho discussed the semantics surrounding her open marriage to artist Al Ridenour, saying that she's "technically not able to stay with one person sexually because I’m bisexual,” and joking that she just “can’t stop up that hole.” She also identifies as queer, and opened up about her sexuality in an interview with HuffPost Gay Voices Editor-At-Large Michelangelo Signorile.
Twice-married record executive and music mogul Clive Davis came out as bisexual in his 2013 memoir, The Soundtrack Of My Life. Davis opened up about two long-term relationships he had with men after his divorce from his second wife.
Actress Bai Ling is openly bisexual -- and the identity category has often provided some humorous mix-ups involving her first name. According to GLAAD, she discussed it in-depth in a 2009 interview with Entertainment Weekly: "[A]t first when I was in the United States I didn't always have an interpreter in interviews and I didn't speak English so well. There was some confusion. My name is pronounced 'bi,' so when I was asked, 'Are you bi?' I said, 'Yes, I am Bai.' Do you like men? 'Of course!' Do you like women? 'Why yes!' And later I found out what that means and I said, 'Sure, I am bi!' But I think the interpreters and the reporters thought that I didn't know what I was saying because I was so open about it. They were uncomfortable about it. Such a thing is not important for me."
The "Portlandia" star and former guitarist and vocalist for Sleater-Kinney is often assumed to identify as gay. However, she told "Willamette Week" in 2012 that, "It’s weird, because no one’s actually ever asked me. People just always assume, like, you’re this or that. It’s like, ‘OK. I’m bisexual.’”
The star of "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" revealed that she's bisexual in an "Inside Edition" interview in April 2015. Her daughter "Pumpkin" Lauryn Thompson also came out as bi at the same time.