Katy Perry And Dr. Luke’s Pop Magic Is Over Thanks To Sony

Becky Bain | November 8, 2011 11:45 am

Katy Perry’s long and fruitful relationship with hitmaking producer Dr. Luke appears to be over, thanks to a hot new deal in the producer’s favor. According to a piece in The New York Times, Luke will be given his own label under the Sony umbrella, Kemosabe Records, which is expected to become operational in January. The catch? He can only write and produce with Sony artists. And as Perry is part of EMI, it looks like Dr. Luke may be the one that got away.

Katy Perry and Dr. Luke’s collaborations on both of Perry’s albums have resulted in enormous hits — the duo were responsible for “I Kissed A Girl” and “Hot N Cold” off Perry’s debut One Of The Boys, and Luke wrote and produced five of the six singles off of Teenage Dream. (“Teenage Dream”, “California Gurls”, “Last Friday Night (TGIF)” and “E.T.” all hit #1 on the charts, with “The One That Got Away” currently vying for a similar fate.)

Since we don’t see Katy being let out of her contract with EMI anytime soon, this poses an interesting question about her Teenage Dream follow-up with Dr. Luke’s involvement. Will Stargate pick up the slack? Will she team up with David Guetta? Or go back to her guitar-strumming roots and release something a bit more subdued without Luke’s bubbling dance beats?

Earlier this year, rumors were swirling that the pair were fighting, and that Perry “got tired of his records, the same familiar sound, but mostly his attitude.” Other sources expressed concern about Katy’s future without her trusted producer: “A lot of people think that without Dr. Luke, Katy’s going to have a big problem. She’s not much of a songwriter or vocalist, and she’s gonna have to start from scratch. You can’t just bring in any producer to make magic.”

For those worried about his future with Ke$ha amd Britney, worry not — they’re both on RCA, which is owned by Sony. Whew!