Before she was a firework, before she was a household name, Katy Perry was Katy Hudson (her birth name), a struggling christian rock singer with one full-length LP to her name, and that's about it. Of course, a decade later, she'd go on to pump out some of the most bumpin' tracks that pop music had to offer. But before that, Perry—still floating around aimlessly in the bargain bin at the record shop—popped into the studio to provide a guest vocal on a track for San Diego Christian nü-metal die-hards, P.O.D.
The unlikely pairing came as a result of the need for a female vocalist for the track "Goodbye for Now," while P.O.D. was recording their album Testify (2006), and some good, ol' fashioned alignment of the stars.
"[Katy]’s lovely," P.O.D. vocalist Sonny Sandoval told the San Diego Union-Tribune back in 2018. "She did a video with us, she recorded on our record – we were recording a record with Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette) at the time, and she was kind of his protege. We were saying 'Man, this song would really sound nice with some beautiful female vocals over the top,' and he said 'I have the girl'."
Indeed, he did, as we all know what Perry went on to do later in her career. But before she blew up, she still had time to link up with P.O.D. once more—this time on the live performance show CD:USA—for a rendition of "Goodbye For Now." Let's just say the fashions of the day have aged…… well, I guess? Oh, the 2000s.
But, in all seriousness, whether she's a pop starlet or not, there's no doubt that Perry is a powerhouse vocalist with plenty of range. Who knows, maybe Katy will go nü-metal on her next LP!
While I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for that, you can check out the P.O.D./Katy Perry jam sesh just below.
