Katy Perry is still talking about her long-standing feud with Taylor Swift. The “Chained to the Rhythm” singer opened up about her beef with her fellow pop star in a new interview with NME.
Perry, 32, explained why she chose to address the much-publicized rivalry with Swift, 27, during her recent Carpool Karaoke appearance. “Well, James Corden makes me and the whole world feel very safe,” she told the website. “No one has asked me about my side of the story, and there are three sides of every story: one, two and the truth.”
The “Roar” songstress said that she wishes she could brush things off, but she’s not perfect. “I’m not Buddha — things irritate me. I wish that I could turn the other cheek every single time, but I’m also not a pushover, you know? Especially when someone tries to assassinate my character with little girls,” she said, reusing Swift’s words from when she accused Kanye West of “character assassination” last year. Continued Perry: “That’s so messed up!”
The feud began in 2013 when Perry hired backup dancers from Swift’s tour. In turn, the country singer-turned-pop star hired one of Perry’s longtime songwriters, Max Martin, to write the 2014 hit “Bad Blood,” which sources told Us Weekly at the time was about Perry.
Perry said she’s not bitter that Martin helped Swift pen a track. “I can’t speak for him, but he didn’t know [who “Bad Blood” was about],” she told NME. “I’m not supposed to tell him what he can and can’t do. I’m very fair; I’m super-duper fair and I’m not one of those people who’s like, ‘You can’t do that because I don’t like that person.’ Just, like, you do you, make your own choices.”
The Smurfs voice actor had nothing but nice things to say about Martin. “I love Max,” she continued. “I’ve been working with Max my whole career. I’m not his mother and he was fine before I met him, you know what I’m saying? He’ll be fine continuing.”
As previously reported, Perry — who has a song coming out with Swift’s ex Calvin Harris — told Corden in May on The Late Late Show Carpool Karaoke Primetime Special that the conflict was over three dancers. “Honestly, it’s really like she started it, and it’s time for her to finish it,” she said. “I tried to talk to her about it and she wouldn’t speak to me. I do the right thing any time that it feels like a fumble.”
Swift, for her part, has tried to stay out of the drama. “She honestly wants no part of this, that’s why she avoids talking about it,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in May. “She doesn’t want to engage.”
