More than 20 months after Katy Perry released her smash Teenage Dream album — and became one of the biggest pop stars on the planet — she's releasing it again, this time as a fully stocked Complete Confection, which ties up all the loose ends and, in a sense, brings this rather amazing chapter of her career to a close.
While stars reissuing their biggest albums is certainly nothing new, Perry's approach to the Confection certainly is: She makes no bones about the fact that this one is for both her die-hard fans and those still (somehow) contemplating joining her flock.
"This isn't a 'reloaded' album, it's not an album with eight songs that are new ... it's not my third record. It's my second record, with a face-lift," she laughed. "I don't want it to feel contrived or manipulated. ... I had the idea to do a reissue, like that one last 'wham-bam-thank-you-ma'am.' Like, 'Here's Teenage Dream, if you're on the edge of being a fan.' ... It's for that last push of, like, 'Jump in with me. Why not? You've already bought five songs, so you might as well complete your album!' ... But really, why I did it was because I know my fans always want more, so it's for the die-hard fan to have a nice, complete package."
And to that end, Complete Confection is packed with all the hits and remixes, not to mention a trio of unheard tracks, two of which are Dream holdovers and one brand-new song ("Wide Awake") she wrote and recorded in just two days as an added treat for her fans. It's also a setup for the next phase in her career, the upcoming "Part of Me" concert film. As Perry has proved time and time again, there's a true purpose behind everything she does these days.
"There were two songs that I had from Teenage Dream that I couldn't put on [the album] — 'Part of Me' and 'Dressin' Up' — and then I knew we were doing this re-release, so I was like, 'I've got to get into the studio, because I can't wait eight months to be able to put out this feeling that I'm feeling right now,' " she explained. "Because God knows it would take me another eight months to do another record. I couldn't do it on the fly; it just takes time to set up a record!
"So ... I had two days to write, and I wrote it with my regular crew — Dr. Luke and Max Martin and Bonnie McKee — and then I had two days to record, and it was literally like, I submitted the lyrics before I submitted the music, because it was like by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin that I put that song on the record," she continued. "But I have a film that's coming out in the summer, a concert documentary, behind-the-scenes, real in your face, and... not only did I write the song because I needed to flush that out of my system, but I wrote it for the film as well."
Will you pick up Katy's Complete Confection? Let us know in the comments below!