News | Feb 11, 2022 02:34 PM EST

Watch our Audacy Check In with Katy Perry

By Staff Reporter

Between her massive Vegas residency and the release of her latest single "When I'm Gone," Katy Perry starts off her Audacy Check In by telling us, "I feel like I'm in a good place at the moment!"

When creating her PLAY universe and envisioning what her residency at Las Vegas's Resort World would look like, Perry tells us that her initial idea for the residency was never to be as whimsical as it is now. "It was a little bit more serious and then I had a real come to Jesus conversation with myself and my team."

(Photo : Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)

The "Never Really Over" songstress tells us that she thought specifically about who her audience is, particularly the audience attending her shows in Vegas. Katy took into account that many times people are in Vegas to "escape and party" so she wanted to create an atmosphere that matched the untamed energy that Sin City exudes.

However, Perry notes that her residency does not represent the "next era of me as an artist, it's not what I'm going to do for the next world tour when I go on tour, but it's perfect for Vegas!" She continues, "It's also perfect because it's a show that I could never tour. So I can take advantage of having the same stage every single night or being able to have really cool tech where you feel the music in your toes and at the top of your head."

When comparing touring to her residency, Perry notes that she is used to being "all over the place" but is glad to be "doing Vegas right." The artist explains that she is happy to be out there as a 37-year-old established artist, with a family, rather than a 21-year-old looking to party. Katy is well aware that she is providing the "rager" experience for her fans.

The Teenage Dream icon also tells us that she has family lineage connecting back to Las Vegas. "My aunt was a top showgirl, and my grandma was a seamstress for the showgirls, and my dad was a chauffeur," says Katy. "The very twilight zone part of it is that my aunt and my grandma worked for the casino called the Stardust Hotel, which was the hotel that was on the same grounds as Resort World was built!"

For Perry, she looks at her residency as a "right of passage" and a way to "access a whole new group of toys in the toy box, that you can't do when you're touring." She jokes, "I don't think there's a big enough truck out there that will fit a 30-foot toilet."

While in Vegas, Perry has found time to see a few shows from her fellow Popstar friends. Katy attended Lady Gaga's show and says, "I was really excited to see Adele's show. I'll still be there when she opens."

Aside from maintaining her busy Vegas schedule, Perry dropped her song "When I'm Gone" with Alesso at the tail end of 2021. Perry has loved seeing the reaction to her latest single and reveals, "I wanted to put it out right before I was going to take the stage again, just to like pump up the jams and the fans."

"We've had that song on the deck for over a year, and I'm really a feelings-based person. If I get the sensation every time I listen to something and it evokes a physical feeling I'm like 'okay great, let's still put it out. This hopefully still going to translate and people will like it.'"

Perry was excited to debut the track because she feels it's more of an "escapist, sexy song" which she tends not to release. Initially, Alesso had most of the track created, and he approached Perry for the collaboration. She shared, "it's just fun to step into other people's worlds. Like Alesso's world is a dance, DJ world."

Check out Perry's full Check In HERE!