Katy Perry Is No Longer in on the Joke

There are few things worse than an overly self-serious pop star—a singer so subsumed by fame and ego that she can no longer appreciate the glorious frivolity of the genre—but that’s never been Katy Perry’s problem. Perry, who is thirty-nine, first topped the Hot 100 in 2008, with “I Kissed a Girl,” a dumb and awesome song about a quasi-transgressive, ChapStick-assisted smooch. “I Kissed a Girl” evoked Gary Glitter, the Playboy Mansion, mid-career Madonna, and the blasé confessionalism of old Sassy magazine headlines; it was a sly and winking début, especially for an artist who had previously released an album of soaring Christian rock. “I kissed a girl just to try it / I hope my boyfriend don’t mind it,” Perry demurred.