How Katy Perry’s ‘Tight, Sexy’ Dress Inspired a Britney Spears Hit
Although they both make music in the same genre, Britney Spears and Katy Perry generally aren’t associated with one another. What some fans don’t know is that Perry inspired one of Spears’ biggest hits. Here’s how Perry wearing a tight dress influenced a major pop hit.
The mastermind behind Katy Perry, Britney Spears, and Kesha songs
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Bonnie McKee is a singer who turned to songwriting following the release of her 2004 debut album. She’s worked with Perry, Kesha, and Rita Ora. McKee recalled “It kept going up step by step by step where the names kept getting bigger and the sessions started getting more real.”
She has also worked with Spears. She feels her songs for Spears are very racy. “Britney Spears is just all sex, all day. It’s like, how many sexual innuendos can I come up with?”
How Katy Perry influenced ‘Hold It Against Me’
In 2013, The Hollywood Reporter asked McKee which song she was most proud of. Alongside Perry’s “Teenage Dream,” she named Spears’ ”Hold It Against Me.” She said the latter “was a happy accident. It was actually inspired by Katy because I was writing with her at the time and I went in the other room where I was working on Britney in between.”
McKee said Perry “came into the room in some tight, sexy little dress and I jokingly said, ‘Damn, Katy if I told you you had a nice body would you hold it against me?’ I was like, ‘Bingo!’ and I wrote that song.”
The Hollywood Reporter ask McKee if Spears was aware of Perry’s influence on the song. “I don’t think so. I never actually got to meet Britney when we worked on the album, which is funny because I’m singing a lot of it. But she knows who I am, and she’s been really sweet about praising me.”
Why Katy Perry didn’t sing the song
In his 2011 interview with Rolling Stone, the song’s co-writer, Dr. Luke, said “Hold It Against Me” was initially intended for Perry. “We might have played it for her, but it definitely wasn’t a Katy Perry record. We had it for a while.”
Luke added “I wanted to make sure it didn’t sound like everything else I’ve done. I brought it into [the producer] Billboard, and he just killed it. It can be hard in the verse, and the bridge is super, super hard, but the chorus is super-pop. You can play that chorus acoustically on a guitar and it’s still going to sound great.”
John Ivey, the program director for KIIS in LA, also felt the song fit with Spears’ oeuvre. “It feels like a really obvious, easy-to-listen-to first single You hear all those little parts that are so Britney – ‘here’s the video-breakdown-dance part of the song.’ That’s what my listeners love about her.”
Great artists influence other great artists. Perry has influenced other pop stars through her music. She also influenced another pop star’s song simply by wearing a certain dress. Regardless, she helped inspire one of Spears’ best tracks.
Also see: Katy Perry’s Most Popular Song Is Not What You Think
