It's no secret that Katy Perry's pop comeback has been rocky so far, but the negative social media reaction she received for her latest high-profile performance seems a little unfair.
This week it was finally officially announced that Perry, who is on his way to a comeback with his controversial new single,Women's worldwill be the headliner at this year’s AFL Grand Final in September.
Every Australian, AFL fan or not, knows this is a great performance, but in other parts of the world the announcement sparked a hilarious mix of confusion and derision.
“Katy Perry will headline Telstra Pre-Game Entertainment at the 2024 Toyota AFL Grand Final on September 28,” pop culture news account Pop Crave tweeted yesterday, prompting some wild reactions from people outside Australia who had never heard of the event before.
“Gaga = Olympics, Katy = unknown made up event,” one person insisted, comparing Perry's booking to that of Lady Gaga, who is scheduled to perform at the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics tomorrow.
“The what?” asked more than one person – many, in fact.
“What kind of obscure sports ball event is this?”
“I googled the event and I STILL think they made it up. How is that possible?”
“This is a step away from opening car dealerships,” another explained.
And so they went on to make fun of Katy in the following tweets:
“I don't think anyone has heard of it.”
“I… this isn't the Superbowl, is it?”
“There have been bigger falls from the top, but I think this is one of the most embarrassing.”
“You all used chatgpt to make up an event title, huh?”
Another even declared Perry's booking for the Grand Final as proof that her “career was over”.
It's true that Perry's musical comeback hasn't gone quite according to plan so far – both the song and video for “Woman's World” were panned on social media and missed the Top 40 in the US, UK and here in Australia.
But headlining the AFL Grand Final could boost Perry's chart success: the event is regularly the most watched television program of the year, attracting 2.465 million viewers last year. Recent musical headliners have included rock legends KISS, British pop star Robbie Williams and The Killers.
Not bad for an “unknown fictitious event.”
This isn't the first time in recent months that people overseas – particularly in the US – have expressed their bewilderment at an Australian stadium event. Taylor Swift's “Eras” tour was in Melbourne earlier this year, where she performed at the same venue Katy will be performing at – the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Aerial photographs of the MCG – which has a capacity of 96,000 spectators – and the surrounding area that circulated on social media raised a question among many Americans: Where does everyone park?
Many of Swift's fans in the US simply couldn't imagine the sight of a stadium surrounded by parkland and a train station instead of endless parking lots.
