Entertainment

A Nice Reminder Katy Can Actually Sing

by Alanna Bennett

There's nothing like a good stripped-down live performance by a pop star to remind her audience she's more than misguided cultural appropriation and just another not-Beyoncé. Such is the case with this live acoustic performance Katy Perry did recently of her single "Unconditionally" on Alan Carr: Chatty Man this weekend. It's nice of her to remind the world she's got pipes.

"Unconditionally," which we've discussed here before, is, like probably the majority of ballads in the world, about love. As Perry told MTV, "I love this song because not only can it be a romantic, intimate song, but it can be about the type of love that a mother has when she sees her first child, or best friends or partners...It's a transcendent love, it's not just relationship status."

In an album chock full of songs about Perry's divorce, the song is refreshing — and so is this performance. As Bustle's own Samantha Rullo put it in her write-up of the "Unconditionally" video, the whole thing is "A welcome departure from [Perry's] cotton candy roots." Cause, like, she's not dressed up as a geisha and there are no whipped deserts flying out of her nipples. Progress!