Katy Perry - By the Grace of God - Still Brings Us Joy

Back in 2001, a young girl by the name of Katy Hudson put together a Christian rock record. It wasn’t well received, but many in the industry took notice of her songwriting and vocal skills. She was still raw, but definitely had potential. A few years later, she abandoned Christian music, and went on a seven year journey to become a pop star. It was hard, as no one seemed to know how to market the bubbly, silly Katy. By this time, she’d taken on the stage name Katy Perry (Perry being her mother’s maiden name).

In 2008, everything suddenly clicked for Katy. She had recently signed with Capitol Records who paired her up with pop songwriting legends, Max Martin and Dr. Luke. Out of this collaboration came a little song called “I Kissed a Girl.” It became the song of the summer. Two years later, her sophomore album, “Teenage Dream” again with the help of Martin and Dr. Luke was an even more massive success, with five tracks on it hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Then in 2011 everything sort of fell apart for Katy. Towards the tail end of what had been a rigorous and exhausting tour, husband Russell Brand wanted a divorce. He hadn’t been very supportive during her tour and it was clear that their relationship had been a bit rocky for a while, but Katy always did what she could to hide it. Her recent documentary, “Part of Me,” covered that story, but as it turns out, Katy was a lot worse off than people realized.

While Katy’s video for “Wide Awake” depicted her in a wheelchair at a hospital, which was meant to symbolize just how broken she was by the divorce, there is now new evidence that she actually became suicidal during that time. It was revealed today at the iTunes Festival when she performed the very sullen and solemn “By the Grace of God.” To think that the beautiful and incredible Katy Perry, who is perhaps the most positive person ever, would even THINK about ending her life is almost unthinkable.

An absolute stark contrast to the single she released last night “Walking on Air,” this track, “By the Grace of God” is about how Katy eventually became so monumentally depressed and hurt by Brand’s betrayal of her love and trust that she couldn’t bear to live any more. Fortunately, with the support of her family (namely her sister) and her legions of Katy Cats, she found the strength to continue, declaring that she would not ever let anything in the name of love destroy her.

Apparently, Katy was much closer to suicide than most had ever thought possible. It is truly by the Grace of God that we still have Katy, and perhaps, that we have the phenomenon that is Katy Perry, at all. Katy is an incredibly strong-willed woman, and if even she can be brought to the brink of wanting everything to end, it just shows just how a bad marriage or relationship can ruin anyone.

Although PRISM hasn't performed quite as well commercially as Teenage Dream, I don't think anyone expected that. Besides, her Prismatic World Tour is selling out. Katy continues to bring joy to millions every day with her silly antics and honest, down-to-earth personality. There are so many of us that are glad she stayed.

We love you, Katy! God bless you!