Katy Perry

The process of getting ready for the stage, with or without a pole, is no different from prepping a fine meal.

The bouncing hamster head over the lyrics is a big clue who this miniature meal is being prepped for in this first taste of Katy Perry's new music.

Not many billionaires out there, but there's even fewer people who can lay claim to a VEVO video with over one billion views.

Katy Perry's "Dark Horse" video enters that rare stratosphere, joining Justin Bieber "Baby" as one of only two videos to pass the billion mark.

If this music biz thing doesn't work out for Katy Perry, I'd say she could probably made a decent living by performing at birthday parties — so long as she doesn't use this video as her work reel. The video for "Birthday" operates in the tradition of Bad Grandpa and Punked, with Katy in serious disguise as horribly incompentent birthday entertainers. We get the animal expert who likes to eat mice and let the animals crap all around the kids, an elderly stripper who makes Robin Byrd look hot, a Bar Mitzvah comic who makes Bruce Vilanch seem cutting edge (I kid), and much more.

And lest you're worried that Katy ruined all these parties, I'm sure they're more than thrilled to be involved in what's likely to be a smash... and those kids with the awful facepaintings don't seem so annoyed when she reveals her true identity.

Lest you think Katy Perry has gone all Cake Boss on us, guess again: All the cake creations on display were made and captured (and eaten?) at Duff's Cakemix.

Also: Who would want cake for their Birthday, even if it's "just" a lyric video?

Nearly 50,000 people have signed a petition for YouTube to removed the Katy Perry "Dark Horse" video because:

At 01:15 into the video Dark Horse; a man is shown being burned, whilst wearing a pendant (also burned) forming the word 'Allah', which is the arabic word for God.

Such goes to show, that blasphemy is clearly conveyed in the video, since Katy Perry (who appears to be representing an opposition of God) engulfs the believer and the word God in flames.

Got that?

Three thoughts:

1. If you have to cite timecode and circle the object in question (see above) to make people notice, then you're likely calling way more attention to it than necessary.

2. Have Rick Ross and the Maybach Music Group also started a peition since their medallion is also clearly present?

3. There are 1.6 billion Muslims around the world. 50,000 is less than .004% of them. 

Love is like a bucking bull. Hang on, enjoy the ride, be prepared to fall.

Director Sophie Muller interesperses that visual motif with intimate one-on-one performance between real life couple John Mayer and Katy Perry.

May these two be the next Ira Kaplan and Georgia Hubley. Unless you're a fan of breakup albums like Shoot Out The Lights...