It's no secret that Katy Perry's pop comeback has been rocky so far, but the backlash she's received on social media over her recent high-profile album bookings seems a little unfair.
It was finally announced this week that Perry is set to make a comeback with a controversial new song.Women's WorldThey are set to headline the AFL Grand Final in September this year.
Any Australian, AFL fan or not, will know that this is a good thing, but to people in other parts of the world the announcement was greeted with a comical mix of confusion and ridicule.
Pop culture news account Pop Crave tweeted yesterday that “Katy Perry will headline the Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment for the 2024 Toyota AFL Grand Final on September 28” and got a huge response from people outside Australia who had never heard of the event before.
One person claimed, “Gaga = Olympics, Katy = unknown fictional event,” and compared Perry's booking to that of Lady Gaga, who is scheduled to perform at the Paris Olympics opening ceremony tomorrow.
“What do you mean?” asked more than one person, many people in fact.
“What kind of unknown sporting event is this?”
“I googled the incident and I still think they made it up. How is that possible?”
“This is a far cry from opening a car dealership,” declared another.
They continued to troll Katie with tweets quoting her.
“I don't think anyone has ever heard this story.”
“I… this isn't the Super Bowl.”
“There have been bigger falls from the top, but I think this one is one of the most embarrassing.”
“You used chatgpt to create the event title.”
Another declared Perry's grand final appearance as proof that her “career is over”.
It's true that Perry's musical comeback hasn't gone as smoothly as planned so far. The song and video for Woman's World were met with a barrage of criticism on social media, and failed to make it into the Top 40 in the US, UK and Australia.
But Perry could be on the charts as an AFL Grand Final headliner. The event is consistently the most-watched TV show of the year, attracting 2.465 million viewers last year. Recent musical headliners include rock legends KISS, British pop star Robbie Williams and The Killers.
Not bad for an “unknown fictional event.”
It’s not the first time overseas, particularly in the US, have expressed dismay at Australian stadium events in recent months. Taylor Swift’s Eras tour visited Melbourne earlier this year, performing at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground, where Katy is also set to perform.
Aerial photos of the MCG (capacity: 96,000) and surrounding areas circulated on social media, leading many Yankees to ask: Where do you all park?
Many of Swift's American followers were puzzled to see the stadium surrounded by parks and train stations instead of endless parking lots.
