Katy Perry tries to be Pink and fails with “Wide Awake” performance at the Billboard Music Awards

Outside of her generally perfect pop tunes, Katy Perry always finds a way to fuck something up. Usually it’s her performances, which we were reminded of tonight with Perry’s ridiculous rendition of her latest single “Wide Awake” at the Billboard Music Awards.

Picture a really bad version of Pink‘s iconic Grammy performance combined with the corniest school play you’ve ever seen in your entire life, and you get “Wide Awake” live at the BBMAs.

Perry was wrapped up in a giant diaper swinging and spinning all over the stage with clouds and moons and stars floating around behind her. A Jersey Shore marathon has more taste than this garish display.

On the bright side, kudos to Katy for attempting a concept during her performance that actually somewhat matches the song. I still haven’t recovered from those bizarre blue-haired futuristic aerobics routines she did for “Part of Me”, so I’m pleased to see that the California Gurl has taken a shaky step in the right direction.

I just wish I could have seen Pink’s face during Katy’s performance. It’d be the biggest shade since Rihanna laughed at Britney during the 2007 VMAs.

This entry was posted on Sunday, May 20th, 2012 at 8:56 pm and is filed under Performances. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

  • Bbaker9371

    This is so embarrassingly bad…

  • Luke

    I wish people would realize Rihanna was laughing at the dancer on her table, not at Britney (hence why she’s looking up at the dancer). 

    Anyway- this performance was a mess. I like Katy but just no. and I bet this has Laurianne Gibson written all over it. 

  • theprophetblog

     DEAD at Laurieanne Gibson!

    If LG was responsible for this mess I am gonna laugh my ass off for a week straight!

  • Bthe1983

    I enjoyed it though, it was dreamy and the graphics in the background did make you feel  like you were flying through her dream-state with her. I think it was done well enough, she is by no means as athletic as P!nk was but she took an old idea and made it her own. She was pitchy in some areas but I adore this song. Kelly Clarkson’s “Dark Side”, katy perry “wide awake and Carrie Underwood “Blown Away” are introspective songs making a comeback??!! alanis-alternative waves come through! :) <3

  • http://twitter.com/feraltwirler feral

    Aww come on. It’s not that bad.

  • Shaniqua

    She took those background graphics from Smashing Pumpkin’s “Tonight Tonight” video

  • http://twitter.com/DeniseHuxxtable S☀L

    DEAD @ them showing people leaving at 2:13. How fitting

  • Hot_acid

    I love the song but the mixed, recorded vocal not this mess, she is getting worse with each performance. And this bish once said she could take on Christina Aguilera and kills Xtina with her church vocal. 

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dermot-O-Gorman/665377508 Dermot O Gorman

    should of been more simple…all that shit with her flying all over the place took away from the song

  • SerferTJ

    I think the worst thing about this performance was how NERVOUS she looked! Like, it didn’t feel rehearsed enough. I was scared for her! And them vocals were sh**, like always.

    Idk why they tried this concept with her, I mean, we’ll all compare her to Pink and she’ll NEVER be as good as her or that LEGENDARY Grammy performance.  I mean, she was upside-down, spinning in circles, 50+ft in the air, covered in water, HOLDING a mic, and STILL SOUNDED FLAWLESS!!!!
    Let’s all drown the thought of Katy out of our heads and watch Pink again…
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3stsDXki__U

  • Shady1

    It was terrible and as usual her vocals were shitty…did anyone notice the flying dancers “69″ing each other towards the end of the performance I was getting hard lol

  • iAmAwesome

    This performance was awkward as fuck! I just don’t know what to do with myself now?

  • http://twitter.com/_sexymrhyde smiley yo

    1 thing i have to say .. WTF WAS THAT 69ING ?!?!?!?!? OHMYGOD MY EYES

  • http://www.facebook.com/akie.koizora Akie Bertekad Cemerlang

    this performance is LOL all the way. i’d be more interested in watching Queen Britney clips her toe nails and eat them and shout I NEED MY STARBUCKS during live telecast of XFactor. that will be more soulful than this piece of shit. i bet Pink is crying so hard for embarrassment right after watching this.

  • http://twitter.com/AlbertFuentes Albert Fuentes

    Ugh. one of the worst performances of the night & her career. Those “vocals” were a mess. Still love her, but damn…

  • http://twitter.com/Melo_R0 Mel R

    Pink’s live game is so underrated. I forgot how beautiful and daring that performance was! 

  • Alex K

    Very awkward vocals…I can hardly even make out the melody of the song. O_o Why are so many award show performances so weak?

  • Alex K

    I must say that the set design is gorgeous, though. Very dreamy visuals.

  • BritneyLover

    Pink’s magical performance made me appreciate her “Funhouse” album and her artistry 1000% more…she totally shut it down!!!!!

  • BritneyLover

    Wow gorgeous set and concept! The vocals however…bitch ain’t Pink :)
    So glad she ditched her blue, Chucky-inspired wig though…

  • http://www.facebook.com/cameronjoelspargo Cameron Joel Spargo

    That was better than i was expecting

  • davidsask

    In latest Laurie Ann Gibson news if you want to rip on her, she must be slumming as she is now a judge in my county of Canada on Global’s Canada sings, a charity sing dance show. She judges alongside Vanilla Ice and Jann Arden, the last who deserves respect. Proph you should really do a whole article on that! 
    http://www.globaltv.com/canadasings/index.html

  • http://www.facebook.com/lucaswoodstock Lucas Oliveira Dantas

    uhg i hate katy perry. especially because she sucks but makes perfectly addictive and adorable pop tunes.

  • Jawrsche

    I will never understand why she refuses to lip sync.  I mean, I kinda respect her for actually singing live, but…holy shit, it’s just so awful.

  • nonminti

    whahaha,Katy you’d better avoid acrobatic numbers in the future.I get the idea to make it beautiful and dreamy but the only thing which was properly sung/said was “I’m wide awake”… I don’t like to feel embarrassed for others but with Katy it happens too often :/

  • Bobs

    I thought of Pink and Glitter in the Air immediately.   But I loved the visuals in the background and how the whole thing played out as an aerial performance.   Sleep, dreams, all that BS.  IT was good.

  • Sasha

    I really cannot stand this poor excuse for a singer. She is awful at everything she is supposed to be able to do. What is she being paid for? Cringe-worthy!

  • Popblock

     It was better than watching her just stand there.. but my god her voice. Dr. Luke really does a lot of work on her records, and I’m not talking about production.

  • Justin

    She should’ve just stood there with her guitar. Don’t try to do big performances unless you have a solid vocal technique.

  • Justin

    I was actually rooting for when she released Teenage Dream cause she sounded good in most performances of California Girls and Teenage Dream. now she’s getting worse. UGH this bitch is so stupid

  • http://www.facebook.com/thebLainekelley BLaine Kelley

     when the hell did she say that?!
    footage please

  • http://www.facebook.com/thebLainekelley BLaine Kelley

    when i first saw this performance online i thought the vocals were surprisingly solid given the fact that she was spinning etc, but after reading all these comments perhaps i was out of it becuz yall make it sound like she was shittier than normal (which is saying something!) LoL.

    ,,,regardLess, the concept of the performance definitely failed and came across as dull as watching paint dry.

    *goes to re-watch/Listen*

  • http://www.facebook.com/thebLainekelley BLaine Kelley

     re-watched it.
    she just always sucks live and so i expect crap from her.
    therefor, when she sang as bad as normal while spinning, swinging, etc i found it surprising solid…which just means she delivered a -10 performance instead of a -20 (mind you the scale is 0-10, LoL)

  • XF

    The big Dr. Luke productions, she can’t pull them off live. In her heart, she knows she is an acoustic singer (live performances of Thinking of You and The One That Got Away come to mind) but the bubblegum pop songs are what sells – and that’s fine and dandy, if only she were actually able to sing them outside of the studio

  • http://www.facebook.com/akie.koizora Akie Bertekad Cemerlang

    some people would say “at least she is singing live, not like Britney…”

    BITCH PLEASE! if you want to sing live and sounded like someone is tearing your vagina using hot forks, you should stick to miming.

  • Jona Franscius

    holy fuck,
    its NATURAL voices,and its not that bad .
    Not every singer can sing a slow high note (Chorus). + swinging.
    cause she’s a singer, she sell her voice
    but britney, lipsync . definitely a dancer. she sell her body
    nuff said

  • http://www.facebook.com/akie.koizora Akie Bertekad Cemerlang

    stop being delusional. all of her performance sounded like this shit. i never say she can’t sing, coz i like her acoustic performance. but what’s the point on trying this kinda material and sounded shit singing live? at least Britney can dance. even in her zombified state right now she still dance better than Katy. selling body? tell that to the girl that burst cream out of her titties. just saying.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Trevor-Szuba-Schneider/100000290157462 Trevor Szuba-Schneider

    this was ALSO a wonderful performance and song.

  • mimifan

    britney > katy. nuff said

  • mimifan

    this is so painful to watch!

  • Adrian

    Damn this could have been amazing if her vocals were stronger. I loooovvvveee the song and the stage set takes it to another level

  • Nicky

    rihanna didn’t laugh at britney at the 2007 vma’s, she was laughing (and clearly staring) at the stripper dancing on her table. i’m so tired of people still saying that 5 years later. anyway this performance was awful. why is she wearing a dress worn by her great great great grandmother in the 1800′s?

  • Blah

    Come on Proph, i don’t agree. This was a nice performance, not as good as Pink’s but her vocals weren’t as shaky as they used to be. She didn’t match the record vocals but she didn’t go out of tune either. And the visuals weren’t that bad, they were naive. Katy’s themes are always a little fairytale and child-like.

    LMFAO at “It’d be the biggest shade since Rihanna laughed at Britney during the 2007 VMAs.”

  • Blah

    i actually thought she sang better than she used to… not perfect but not bad either.

  • sunflower

    I agree! Thank god I am not the only one.Get this STUPID ass song off of my radio! I have no cd player and I love listening to my top 40 station until everyone once in a while a stupid , over played song like this one comes on and I have instant road rage. This feels like the song “No Air” where I almost popped a vessel in my brain because it was the DUMBEST AND MOST RETARDED SONG EVER AND THIS WIDE AWAKE IS RIGHT THERE WITH IT! If this is you wide awake, katie, for the love of god, go back to sleep