On Friday, a clip of an interview with Katy Perry posted by 102.7 KIIS FM has her fans and Billie Eilish’s laughing. In the TikTok post, Perry talks about how she once passed on a chance to work with Elish and then lived to regret it.
The moment came soon after Eilish’s 2016 debut single “Ocean Eyes” started climbing the charts. After Perry performed for the small crowd, she did a little Q&A portion, sharing that back then, someone had “sent me an email one time that [said],’Hey, check out this new artist. I’d really like us to work with her, because she was working with me for Unsub [Records].”
Perry continued, “It was a song called ‘Ocean Eyes,’ and it was just a blonde girl. And I was like, ‘Meh, boring.’”
The blonde girl was Eilish, who has since had many different hair colors. Perry now admits this was a “huge mistake, big mistake.”
She then joked, “Don’t let this hit the internet.”
Of course, it has, and people are enjoying the story. Since 2016, Eilish’s star has only risen higher. She has now won seven Grammys, a Golden Globe, and an Oscar. Her sophomore album Happier Than Ever hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 in 2021. And the stars have since become friends, with Perry even making an appearance on Eilish’s Apple TV+ documentary The World’s a Little Blurry.
In a scene where the pair are at Coachella, Perry tells Eilish, “My fiancé who doesn’t listen to modern music, he’ll only play you in the car all the time.”
She goes on to hug the younger pop star, adding, “Congrats, I’m so proud of you. I wanted to say, this is going to be wild for 10 years. If you ever wanna talk… ’cause it’s a weird ride.”
Aimée Lutkin is the weekend editor at ELLE.com. Her writing has appeared in Jezebel, Glamour, Marie Claire and more. Her first book, The Lonely Hunter, will be released by Dial Press in February 2022.
