Sia lauds Katy Perry's transformation: 'I hide behind my wig, while she is out there taking bullets'

Katy Perry is busy promoting her latest album Witness, but is equally keen to let the world see her personal transformation. The singer attributes the 2016 US presidential election for opening her eyes to issues and helping her find her true self.

"The reality is that I was retriggered on the election," she said in a recent interview with The New York Times. "I was retriggered by a big male that didn't see women as equal. And that had been, unfortunately, a common theme in my upbringing."

Having being brought up in a strict religious household led by parents who are Pentecostal pastors, Perry believes she now feels liberated from the constraints that previously led her to a "dark place".

"I feel very empowered," she added, "extremely liberated, liberated from the conditioning of the way I used to think, spiritually liberated, politically liberated, sexually liberated, liberated from things that don't serve me."

A major part of her transformation is to do with her sexuality. "I used to be scared of intimacy, I used to use my sexualisation as attention, I used to over sexualize myself because that was the only way I knew how," she confessed.

The 32-year-old is well aware that sexism is a major issue with the music industry and finds comfort in turning to fellow songstress Sia to find common ground on the subject. The Cheap Thrills singer herself has commended Perry for "challenging old held beliefs about herself".

"They would prefer you to make cute pop and to stay in your lane," Sia wrote in an email message. "I hide behind my wig, while she is out there taking bullets for the rest of us... the less brave... you know?"

Much of the Chained To The Rhythm singer's internal makeover is reflected in Witness World Wide -- a 96-hour YouTube livestream she participated in to promote the new album. She has no qualms allowing her transformation to be used as a promotional gimmick, but clarifies that the changes do not announce the death of the 'old Katy'.

"I didn't kill her, because I love her, and she is exactly what I had to do then," she said. "And I'm not a con artist, I didn't con people, like, that was just me. And this is me now."