Katy Perry Performs On ‘Letterman’—And Live On The Web!

Becky Bain | August 25, 2010 7:57 am

Katy Perry performed songs from her new album Teenage Dream on the Late Show with David Letterman last night and sat down with Dave for a chat. She started off doing a run-through of her career and engagement to Russell Brand, but it wasn’t long before the nighttime host pulled out Rolling Stone, flipped it open to a provocative (read: topless) pic of the quotable pop singer and asked, “Now what’s God got to do with that?” Watch below!

Letterman was making reference to the the fact that the article is called “Sex, God & Katy Perry.” “That’s side boob,” she said of the photo. “That one’s for you!”

But Katy fans didn’t have to wait for the Letterman show to air to see her in action. As a gift to her fans (and anyone who likes to see her bounce around a stage in revealing outfits) on the day of her album release, Perry staged a special performance was broadcast live online before the Letterman show. She opened with “Hot N Cold” and a jazzy version of “I Kissed A Girl” (the same rendition from her Unplugged album), then followed up with her current single “Teenage Dream.”

Katy rocked “Teenage Dream” again for the television audience:

Katy’s Late Show gig capped off all the live appearances, interviews, iTunes singles and colorful wigs that had been steadily leading up to the release of Teenage Dream. And—no surprise—the set of tunes was the talk of the Internet yesterday.

Here are just some of the reviews we rounded up for the candy-coated pop LP:

Vulture, which calls Teenage Dream an “ecstatically, enjoyably, endearingly hollow” album, highlights the most “awfulsome” (that would be “awful” and “awesome”) lyrics. They post Katy’s feisty track “Peacock” in its entirety.

The Chicago Tribune is hatin’ on this California gurl, giving her album one out of four stars. “The Frankenstein-like productions—the latest gleaming, assembly-line product by usual suspects Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Tricky Stewart and Stargate, among others—sap the music of personality, presence, surprise.”

Entertainment Weekly enjoyed the album just a bit more, giving the album a B-. “Beneath the fruity outfits and fart jokes, Perry is clearly serious about the business of hit songcraft; that doesn’t make Dream nearly cohesive as an album, but it does provide, intermittently, exactly the kind of high-fructose rush she’s aiming for.”

Rolling Stone thinks Katy managed to top her stellar debut, One Of The Boys. “Teenage Dream is the kind of pool-party-pop gem that Gwen Stefani used to crank out on the regular, full of SoCal ambiance and disco beats. It’s miles ahead of Perry’s breakthrough disc, One of the Boys, with her clever songwriting boosted by top-dollar pros.”

MTV is asking if Teenage Dream is the best second album in pop history. (Other notable contenders: Britney Spears’ Oops… I Did It Again and Justin Timberlake’s FutureSex/LoveSounds. We’d also like to throw Lily Allen’s It’s Not Me, It’s You and Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black in the running.)

Neon Limelight is more concerned with what Katy’s wearing to promote her album—and, surprise!, it’s all extremely tight.

And as for Katy’s celeb friends, we know @adamlambert is loving her new tunes: “New KatyPerry album is ridiculous!!! Peacock!”

As for us, we’re totally digging Katy’s sophomore popgasm. Are you?