Deluxe Celebrities

Katy Perry is really an original singer

Pop songstress Katy Perry promises that her first tour as a headliner won’t find her doing the typical concert presentation.
“I never just want to do the standard, come on,” Perry said, when asked about her show in a recent phone interview. “I think people are realizing that now with me.”

To say the least, Perry, appearing Tuesday at In the Venue in Salt Lake City, has quickly gained a reputation for being anything but the typical pop singer.

Yes, she may have a bouncy pop sound that’s not far removed from the likes of Gwen Stefani or Britney Spears. And Perry certainly has shown the kind of ambition and love for the spotlight that pop superstars have to possess to enjoy the attention that comes with their careers.

But Perry is nothing if not full of personality — and smarts. She’s vivacious and clearly shows a passion for life’s good times. Perry also has a delightfully skewed sense of humor.

She’s also refreshingly unguarded, both in her encounters with the media and in her music. By her own admission, she’s one of these people who doesn’t know how to censor her thoughts.

“I’m a very kind of come-out-with-it-kind-of-girl,” she said. “I just have no sift filters from my brain to my mouth.”

One prime example of that uninhibited nature and her somewhat left-of-center outlook is Perry’s chart-topping hit single “I Kissed a Girl.”

The song, of course, became a sensation during the summer, staying No. 1 on the “Billboard” magazine “Hot 100″ singles chart for seven straight weeks, while generating all sorts of attention, curiosity — and yes, no small amount of controversy.

The ironic thing is that Perry, when she first began pursuing a music career at age 15, would have seemed like one of the least likely women to write a song like that.

The daughter of parents who were both pastors, she grew up in a home where pop music was not allowed on the stereo and at that point had begun shuttling from her home in Santa Barbara to Nashville to make a Christian music album.

Her future in the Christian music scene ended, though, when her record company folded just after releasing her 2001 self-titled CD.

With opportunities emerging to work with writers/producers in the mainstream pop world, Perry began a five-year journey that finally culminated in a deal with Capitol Records and the release this past summer of her mainstream pop debut CD, “One of the Boys.”

The title song is a power pop gem that rides the kind of ascending guitar riff that would make Cheap Trick proud. “I Kissed a Girl” and “Hot N Cold” (a second single that recently went top five on Billboard’s “Hot 100″ chart), are both bouncy and fizzy, ready-for-dancing confections. Meanwhile, Perry shows a more tender and thoughtful side on the ballad “Lost.”

As for the live show that Perry promised would be unconventional, she was still formulating some ideas. But she hinted that she may have found further inspiration from a rather unusual outing just days before this interview.

“The other day I was in Germany and I went to a full-fledged drag show,” she said. “They [the models] would all come out in different, you know, from Cher to Destiny’s Child to Britney Spears, just kind of mockumentary style things. But they would have like quick changes, costume changes, and feathers and lights. It was so silly, but I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, if they can do it, I can do it, too.’ I mean, I want to have lights and feathers and a theatrical presence.”

Knowing Perry’s track record, don’t be surprised if that bit of inspiration finds its way into her real-life concert spectacle.

Katy Perry

When: Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.

Where: In the Venue, 219 S. 600 West, Salt Lake City

Tickets: $18 advance, $20 day of, available at Smith’s Tix locations (800-888-TIXX, www.smithstix.com)

Info: (801) 359-3219, www.inthevenue.com