The Blue Origin space flight launched on Monday April 14, about 120 miles southeast of El Paso. The flight lasted 10 minutes and 21 seconds, going as far as the Kármán line, the internationally recognised boundary of space.

The flight carried a crew of six women including musician Katy Perry, philanthropist Lauren Sánchez, broadcast journalist Gayle King, former NASA rocket scientist Aisha Bowe, bioastronautics research scientist Amanda Nguyen and film producer Kerianne Flynn.

It was the first all-female space team in 60 years, hoping to encourage an interest in science for young women around the world – while also promoting Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space technology company, who plan to commercialize space travel for the rich.

Since its launch, the flight has sparked debate, with detractors questioning what exactly was to gain from the voyage.

Lily Allen let listeners hear her opinion during her ‘Miss Me?’ podcast with co-host Miquita Oliver.

In a video clip of the podcast, Lily says: “I just think it’s so out of touch we’re on the brink of a recession, people are really struggling to make ends meet, it just seems like things are hard at the moment.”

Miquita responds, saying that it’s “Not really the most appropriate time to send Katy Perry into space?”

Lily agreed, saying: “For absolutely no reason! It’s like we send people to space to discover things, for scientific reasons.”

Miquita then claims it was bad timing, as Lily questions the intention behind the all-female flight, saying: “And the fact that they’ve made it like some sort of feminist thing!”

Other celebrities have voiced their disapproval of the space flight. Emily Ratajkowski called out the mission in a Tik Tok video, calling it “end time s**t” and “beyond parody”.

@metroentertainment “I’m disgusted” In a TikTok video, @emrata slams Katy Perry and the all-women crew that set off on their Blue Origin space mission yesterday morning. Emily alludes to the mission being hypocritical after Katy mentioned how important it was to look after Mother Earth, with the trip having contirbuted to tons of CO2 emissions. Olivia Wilde and Olivia Munn have also shared their disapproval. Follow us for popular entertainment content and more #emilyratajkowski #emrata #model #katyperry #celebrity #space #blueorigin #popmusic #katycats ♬ original sound – Metro Entertainment

She spoke out against the motive for the mission and the company behind it: “That you care about Mother Earth and it’s about Mother Earth, and you’re going up in a spaceship that is built and paid for by a company that’s single-handedly destroying the planet?”

British TV personality Vicky Pattinson also expressed her frustration on social media, claiming that “This isn’t feminism”

“They want to distract you with this so you don’t focus on the fact that slowly, almost imperceptibly, women’s rights are being taken away.

“I don’t think we need to see a bunch of uber rich women fired into space in a schlong shaped space ship for 5 minutes… we need equal pay, access to reproductive healthcare, the right to vote, to feel safe, autonomy over our own bodies, the right to safe, accessible abortion.”

While there has been a sharp backlash to the voyage, its crew members stand proud behind their Blue Origin flight. In a conference following the ship’s landing, Gayle King said: “I feel that anybody that’s criticizing doesn’t really understand what is happening here. I’ve heard it, we’ve all heard it.”

“I hope that they will do a deep dive into what this represents. We can all speak to the response we’re getting from young women, young girls about what this represents,” she continued. “This is really a lot of work, what went into getting us up and getting us down.”

Lauren Sanchez also said “I get really fired up a little bit on this. I would love to have them come to Blue Origin and see the thousands of employees that don’t just work here but they put their heart and soul into this vehicle. Rocket scientists, engineers, all kinds of people, they love their work, and they love the mission and it’s a big deal for them.”

However, the Daily Mail have reported from insider knowledge that Katy Perry regrets “making a public spectacle” out of her space flight, adding that she “never expected this backlash” and is “disheartened” by the “uncalled for and upsetting” reaction.

The latest episode of Lily Allen and Miquita Oliver’s ‘Miss Me?’ podcast can be found on BBC Sounds, here.

THE LIFETIMES TOUR
UK
October 2025

Presale Tickets 20 Nov
General Onsale 22 Novhttps://t.co/VoZK5zdJ18

xx pic.twitter.com/ajzugBQdWh

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) November 18, 2024

  Katy Perry recently released her album “143” which peaked at number six on UK charts. The album contained the singles “Woman’s World” and “Lifetimes” which failed to achieve high positions in the charts, unlike Perry’s previous songs. “Woman’s World” received negative reviews from critics and fans alike, who criticized the shallow feminist message of the song. Overall “143” failed to reach Perry’s previous levels of fame.   In fact, she has five number one songs on UK charts and two number one albums. Her albums “Prism” and “Teenage Dream”, released in 2013 and 2010, both spent a week at number one in the UK and contained iconic singles such as “Teenage Dream”, “The One That Got Away”, “Roar” and “Firework”. Her earlier songs defined a generation, with music videos reaching 4 billion views.         Perry has toured across Europe multiple times throughout her career. First playing in small venues like Water Rats and Scala. She also played at King Charles’s coronation, in Windsor, performing her hit songs “Roar” and “Firework”.   Because she started playing in such small venues, Perry decided that this tour should do something to preserve those places that, every year, contribute to giving places to smaller artists to perform and to begin their rise to fame. The singer in fact announced that, for every ticket sold, £1 will go directly to the support of grassroots venues.   Perry is set to hold Christmas performances in multiple places this upcoming December. Besides New York and Philadelphia, she will be taking part to London’s Capital Jingle Ball on the 12 of December, alongside Perrie Edwards, Coldplay and many more exciting acts.   

JINGLE BALL SZN IS HERE! Time to make it a Cozy Little Christmas, New York and Philly! Tickets are on sale now at https://t.co/U2YvCcJp9D #iHeartJingleBall pic.twitter.com/eTUAfZpW3q — KATY PERRY (@katyperry) October 4, 2024

For her “Lifetimes Tour” she will be playing Ovo Hydro in Glasgow, AO Arena in Manchester, Utilita Arena in Sheffield,  Utilia Arena in Birmingham and O2 Arena in London.

Tickets will be available on presale tomorrow, November 19. Check out Katy Perry’s tour here and find outlaw to get tickets via presale.

The coronation has been a controversial event at best, with multiple artists including Adele, Elton John, Harry Styles and The Spice Girls all declining to perform at the Coronation Concert, set to take place on 7th May 2023. Excuses ranged from scheduling conflicts to simply “no comment“, sparking discussions around the popularity of the Royal Family and what it would mean for the PR of the celebrities who seemed to be in support of the Royals.

Whilst Nick Cave was not invited to perform at the Coronation Concert, he did attend the coronation itself. Cave’s newsletter, The Red Hand Files, included his defense of his acceptance of an invitation.

He wrote, “I am not a monarchist, nor am I a royalist, nor am I an ardent republican for that matter; what I am also not is so spectacularly incurious about the world and the way it works, so ideologically captured, so damn grouchy, as to refuse an invitation to what will more than likely be the most important historical event in the UK of our age. Not just the most important, but the strangest, the weirdest.”

Cave went on to attempt to define his relationship to the Royals, saying, “When I watched the Queen’s funeral on the television last year I found, to my bafflement, that I was weeping myself as the coffin was stripped of the crown, orb and sceptre and lowered through the floor of St George’s Chapel.”

He continued, “I guess what I am trying to say is that, beyond the interminable but necessary debates about the abolition of the monarchy, I hold an inexplicable emotional attachment to the royals – the strangeness of them, the deeply eccentric nature of the whole affair that so perfectly reflects the unique weirdness of Britain itself. I’m just drawn to that kind of thing – the bizarre, the uncanny, the stupefyingly spectacular, the awe-inspiring.”

A fan wrote to Cave, saying, “Nick Cave going to the coronation??! What would the young Nick Cave have thought of that?!” with Cave replying, “as for what the young Nick Cave would have thought – well, the young Nick Cave was, in all due respect to the young Nick Cave, young, and like many young people, mostly demented, so I’m a little cautious around using him as a benchmark for what I should or should not do. He was cute though, I’ll give him that. Deranged, but cute.”

Prior to attending, Cave’s final comment on the matter was “So, with all that in mind, I am looking forward to going the Coronation. I think I’ll wear a suit.“

Nick Cave was one of many celebrities in attendance, including Katy Perry, Lionel Richie, Dame Emma Thompson and Dame Judi Dench.

My #idol set is a little different today #CoronationConcert pic.twitter.com/827k7Lq9hw

— KATY PERRY (@katyperry) May 8, 2023

Lionel Richie says he feels like ‘kid at Christmas time’ ahead of the coronation concert, adding that the performance will be ‘a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’

Latest: https://t.co/gELyhGXZyw pic.twitter.com/0Rk8jPEdWZ

— Sky News (@SkyNews) May 3, 2023

The celebrations are set to continue until 8th May, culminating in The Big Help Out. Further details can be found here.

Perry originally drew criticism of cultural appropriation for her 2014 ‘This Is How We Do’ music video, which sees her eating watermelon and styling her hair with cornrows, telling Mckesson how it was a friend of hers that made her realise.

“She told me about the power in black women’s hair and how beautiful it is and the struggle,” Perry said. “I listened and I heard and I didn’t know and I won’t ever understand some of those things because of who I am. I will never understand, but I can educate myself and that’s what I’m trying to do along the way.”

Perry also mentions the time she tried to appreciate Japanese Culture, referring to her 2013 American Music Awards performance where she dressed up like a geisha stating “I did it wrong, and I didn’t know that I did it wrong. until I heard people saying I did it wrong. It takes someone to say out of compassion, out of love ‘Hey, this is what the origin is’.”

You can watch Katy discuss the issue below.

Katy Perry acknowledging her mistakes regarding cultural appropriation, this is extremely respectable of her pic.twitter.com/RkvIhEnXxX

— ㅤ (@touchnick) June 11, 2017

This week also saw Katy Perry speak about personal mental health issues during a real life therapy session broadcasted on her witness worldwide four-day live stream. Speaking with Dr. Suri Singh, the pop star talked about the pressures of being a pop star, and a woman constantly in the public eye. Introducing the therapy session by talking about her childhood, Perry became tearful as she spoke of how she feels when she is ‘Katheryn Hudson’ her given birth name rather than her pop star alias ‘Katy Perry.’  “I’m really strong as Katy Perry, sometimes I’m not as strong as Katheryn Hudson..”

Perry also discussed topics such as her battle with alcoholism and depression, telling Dr. Singh how she wrote a song about suicide and that she felt “ashamed” that she had those thoughts in her head. You can watch the video on Perrys’ Youtube channel here.

Perrys’ four-day live stream also saw her take yoga classes, cook with Gordon Ramsay, react to online videos and bond with RuPaul, and much more, all now also available to watch on her official YouTube Channel.

Such news has followed emerging news concerning the feud between Swift and Perry; Perry recently confirmed rumours of such a dispute to James Cordon and also told NME that Swift is attempting to ‘assassinate [her] character’. Additionally, Perry’s song ‘Swish Swish’ has been rumoured to be a thinly-veiled attack on Swift with lyrics referring to her as ‘selfish’ and a ‘sheep’. The dispute appears to have arisen when a member of Swift’s team left to join Perry on tour.

However, whereas such a move has widely been considered as a petty marketing tool designed to undercut a fellow artist, many have pointed to the practical necessity of such a move. Ultimately, online streaming distribution helps to determine the chart positions with the Top 200, and 1989 has been at a disadvantage since its release by being excluded from the world’s largest streaming services. Following the reintroduction of Swift’s music onto music streaming services, 1989 sold 1,903 copies in the U.S. but received credit for 6,061 album sales, thanks to 1.6 million streams on Apple.

In other Taylor Swift related news, accounts have emerged of the artist’s infamous Best Female Video acceptance speech at the MTV VMAs; whilst speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, former MTV chief Van Toffler has described how Swift was ‘crying hysterically’ following Kanye West’s interruption on stage. This incident appears to have prompted another feud with a fellow musician after the rapper released his song ‘Famous’, which featured the lyric “I feel like me and Taylor might still have sex, Why? I made that b—- famous.”

Katy Perrys’ tour dates can be seen below:

May 23: Germany Cologne LANXESS Arena

May 24: Belgium Antwerp Sportpaleis Antwerp

May 26: Netherlands Amsterdam Ziggo Dome

May 29th: France Paris AccorHotels Arena

June 1st: Switzerland Zurich Hallenstadion

June 2nd: Italy Bologna Unipol Arena

June 4th: Austria Vienna Wiener Stadthalle

June 6th: Germany Berlin Mercedes-Benz Arena

June 8th: Denmark Copenhagen Royal Arena

June 10th: Sweden Stockholm Ericsson Globe

June 14th: UK London The O2

June 18th: UK Birmingham Barclaycard Arena

June 19th: UK Sheffield Arena

June 21st: UK Liverpool Echo Arena

June 22nd: UK Manchester Arena

June 24th: UK Glasgow The SSE Hydro

June 25th: UK Newcastle Metro Radio Arena,

Katy Perry is also performing at the One Love Manchester benefit concert this weekend, raising money for the victims of the terror attack that took place on 22nd May during Ariana Grande’s Manchester date of her Dangerous Woman tour.

Perrys’ fifth studio album Witness drops worldwide on the 9th June 2017.

The top British earner(s) position was taken by One Direction despite Zayn Maliks departure from the band to persue a solo career alongside the announcement of solo careers being taken on by all members at some point. The popular boy-band still managed to come in second place this year by earning $130 million in 2015 due to their November release of their fifth studio album “Made in the A.M” and their “On The Road Again” Tour. They are joined by fellow Brits Calvin Harris ($66m), Fleetwood Mac ($59.5m), The Rolling Stones($57.5m), Ed Sheeran ($57m), Elton John ($53.5m) and Paul McCartney ($51.5m) on the 2015 list of highest paid musicians.

Dr Dre makes the most significant change as he drops from the top of the list to the bottom; still in the highest-paid musicians though. In 2014, Dre’s $620 million figure broke records for the highest amount by a musician ever to make the Forbes list – due to the sale of headphone maker Beats (which was co-founded by Dre himself) to Apple for $3 billion. However this year his total earnings of $33 million has dropped him down to joint 28th.

Katy Perry and One Direction have proved that in this day and age, records are not what brings the money in but it is in fact the Live Performance sector which brings in the big dough. Katy played 126 shows this year in her touring period, more than any other artist in the top 10, nevertheless, all the musicians in the top 10 managed to perform in at least 20 concerts in the past 12 months.

2015 Earnings for Top Paid Musicians
1 Katy Perry $135 m
2 One Direction $130 m
3 Garth Brooks $90 m
4 Taylor Swift $80 m
5 The Eagles $73.5 m
6 Calvin Harris $66m
7 Justin Timberlake $63.5m
8 Diddy $60m
9 Fleetwood Mac $59.5m
10 Lady Gaga $59m
11 The Rolling Stones $57.5m
12 Ed Sheeran $57m
13 Jay Z $56m
14 Beyoncé $54.5m
15 Elton John $53.5m
16 Toby Keith $53m
17 Paul McCartney $51.5m
18 Michael Buble $45.5m
19 Jason Aldean $43.5m
20 Luke Bryan $42.5m
21 Kenny Chesney $42m
22 Bruno Mars $40m
23 Drake $39.5m
24* Foo Fighters $38m
24* Tim McGraw $38m
25 David Guetta $37m
26 Florida Georgia Line $36.5m
27* Jimmy Buffett $36m
27* Tiesto $36m
28* Maroon 5 $33m
28* Dr. Dre $33m

*Asterisks denote joint place with equal salaries