My "Feud" With Katy Perry
"how DARE YOU. Calling Katy Perry a slut. srs. I'm so pissed at you right now. So are the rest of her fans. why did you do that?!"
"Hi gramma.. I mean Jill fuck face. You should probably get over yourself.. Your 1995 song. I kissed a girl is terrible"
I woke up last Tuesday, and went straight to the computer. I had an interesting idea for a song -- that now I forget. First thing I noticed was my Twitter was filled with, what appeared to be, hate mail from about 30 very upset Katy Perry fangirls. I was confused. Then, I got email messages from relatives and friends informing me that I was in Perez Hilton and The Sun. Why would I be in the tabloids? I'm not that fancy. And, from what they said -- I still have yet to visit those particular sites -- I was portrayed as this angry bitter jealous "gramma" starved for publicity.
It all started with an interview I did for one of my new favorite blog sites: Therumpus.net -- a semi-obscure but hopefully growing arts and cultural website. It was one of the more interesting interviews I have ever done, as I was actually asked, engaging questions for a change. However, the interviewer had to ask the annoying yet inevitable "What did I think of the Katy Perry version of "I Kissed a Girl?"
I thought maybe this time I would have fun with it and goof on what many of my fans were hoping to hear over the last year. I prefaced my reply with a wink, and then rambled on with a string of over the top dumb-ass profanities, purposely out of character and completely in jest.
There was no problem with The Rumpus readers, but then a few weeks later the quote was picked up in the tabloids, out of context, with no link to the original interview, and without that -- hard to sometimes see in print -- wink. My friend Ken, a publicist, said, " I saw the grin behind your words, but not everyone knows you, Jill" My use of the phrase, "fucking little slut", by the way, would only be used... ironically.
I am sounding apologetic, which I'm not, but I have to admit the whole thing made me feel terrible for a couple of days. Who wants to be misunderstood or portrayed negatively, especially by such a beacon of light as Perez with his enormous following -- my mother reads him. And I'm not one who goes for the "all press is good press" dictum. Now I hear I will be featured in the upcoming issue of US magazine under the heading "Feud of the Week"!
But where my thin skin really showed was my reaction to the Katy Perry teen fangirls. I somehow was transferred to 7th grade, the worst year of my life. I was reminded of when mean girl Shelly Zissman spread the rumor that I was a "lezzie" at Shwader Camp. I was devastated. Okay, so maybe the rumor had some basis of truth to it, but she didn't know that at the time.
Out of curiosity, I wrote back to one of my tormenting Katy Perry fangirls -- Typhany. Most had already bored of trolling me, but Typh kept on going. I didn't ask her to stop, but instead asked if we could actually have an honest civil dialogue --unlike some of those health care town hall meetings. We did, much to her credit. She said she was just sticking up for her favorite artist. We are friends now. Facebook friends.
I will end with my final Katy Perry comments. I may be a touch cynical about the business, but I have never really been angry or had ill feelings towards Katy herself. I was actually in a small way happy to not be the "Kissed a Girl" girl anymore. That said, I hope her and her fans (god knows I don't want to piss them off anymore) are okay with the title of my brand new song, " I Kissed a Girl ...First"
Wink.
By the way (a bit of shameless self-promotion since I don't have a big machine behind me): My new record, California Years, was completely fan-funded. You can get it most places, but I like it best when it's listened to and bought on my website, JillSobule.com.
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Never underestimate the idiocy of the general public on mood altering drugs eh..
Sheesh.
a lot of the commenters here missed the entire point of Jill's article. THERE IS NO CONTEST between her and Katy. Gosh, even the most upset Katy fangirl twittering her got it. There is no need to compare the two. Okay? ::smile::
Personally i still listen to Joni Mitchell.. thats who MOST of you all are trying to be any way right??
Sorry, but you appeared to be talking exceeding amounts of crap that you had NO actual right to talk. Did Katy Perry lift YOUR stuff??? NO So do us all a favor and drink a BIG can of STFU, k?
Teenage girls are evil. That's all there is to it. Their collective fangirl SQUEEEE! could shut down communications within a 200 miles radius. Their rage at anyone who denigrates their love object could match Al Qaeda in its closed-minded ferocity. In fact, teenage fangirls may be the secret to winning wars. Just drop them in enemy territory, point them in the direction of the bad guys and say, "Those guys said the Jonas Bros are g.ay and that Twilight sucks." The bad guys won't know what hit them.
LMAO! That is true!
ah, narcissism.
what a burden.
It is sometimes disheartening to realize that irony and sarcasm are so rarely recognized for they are. It is more personally disheartening when others mistaken your ironic remarks for truth, attributing views to you which are the exact opposite of your true intent.
For what it is worth, I say, completely without irony, I very much enjoyed your song "I Kissed a Girl". I've listened to Katy Perry's song but I simply prefer the gentle swing of your music and the exploratory innocence of the lyrics.
Jill, you did it first and you did it the best.
Who really gives a shit?
Stymie
Hey, I liked your song better. How's that?
I remember seeing her "kissed a girl" billboards last fall in London, thought of you every time. I'll never pull the plug on ya, gramma, carry on!! xoxs
You mean she's not a slut? Damn.
"But her teen fangirls portrayed me as an angry, jealous "gramma" starved for publicity."
And your article posted here refutes that contention - how?
It's not intended to refute the perception. It's intended to set the record straight regarding the her non-existent feud with KP and point out that her comments were made in jest...and, in the process, provide commentary on the shabby state of contemporary journalism.
She covered your song? Who knew?
Saw you open for Warren Zevon many moons ago. Killer show from both of you.
She covered your song? Probably not as well.
I saw you open for Warren Zevon awhile back. Killer show.
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