Katy Perry has supersized her blockbuster AFL Grand Final performance today by wheeling out Australian pop icon Tina Arena for a live collab, as an estimated one million footy fans watched the pre-game performance live on the tele.
The two superstars came together mid-set to perform a mashup of two of their biggest respective hits live at the MCG; a rocked-up version of Perry’s 2008 breakout tune ‘I Kissed A Girl’ and an EDM-inflected rendition of Arena’s 1994 smash ‘Chains’. You can suss some of the footage below.
Katy Perry & Tina Arena Perform ‘I Kissed A Girl’ / ‘Chains’ At AFL Grand Final
Katy Perry was reportedly paid a cool $5 million for her five-song pre-game set, which also included her new single ‘Gorgeous’ plus past hits ‘Firework’, ‘Teenage Dream’ and even ‘Roar’, despite suggestions that the latter song could be interpreted as favourtism towards the Brisbane Lions (lol, yep seriously).
Sadly but also unsurprisingly, much of the fan and media commentary around the pair’s live collab has devolved into trying to pit the two women against each other.
“Not sure of the wisdom of having Tina Arena singing with Katy Perry, I think Tina won the vocals!” one viewer commented.
“I’m not going to lie, Tina Arena sounds better than Katy Perry has been,” another added.
“Laughing at how Katy Perry upstaged Tina Arena on Tina’s own song Chains with the vocals (as they were trying to sing together), and then pretty much Katy goes ‘bye now Tina’ and waves her off,” commented a third.
Ugh mates, can we just not?
Anyway, it comes after Perry teased the collab on Seven’s Sunrise program earlier this week, revealing that her AFL performance would also feature “a surprise performance of a favourite Australian artist” that she “look[s] up to” but was “sworn to secrecy” from revealing.
How sick that one of the biggest popstars on the planet earth idolises one of our own.
ICYMI Katy Perry will be back on our shores next June for a fully-fledged arena tour. You can suss those details here.
Further Reading
Katy Perry Adds More Shows To 2025 Australian Tour
Tina Arena Slams Lack Of Pandemic Support For Australian Arts Industry: “We’re Done”