Katy Perry aims for fireworks at Grammy Awards on CBS

By Jay Bobbin © Zap2it

It’s hard to top the musical year Katy Perry has had, but winning a Grammy — or four could help her do just that.

The energetic, rule-bending superstar has a quartet of nominations in the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, which CBS televises from Los Angeles’ Staples Center on Sunday, Feb. 13. Perry’s bids all stem from “Teenage Dream,” up for album of the year; she says her Grammy performance is likely to incorporate a medley of her hits from that release, including the title track plus “California Gurls” and “Firework.”

“I’m so grateful to be nominated anytime,” Perry says.“I’ve never won a Grammy, but I feel like,‘Oh, they know that I exist’ ... and that’s a really great feeling.This year has been a bit different.With the nomination for album of the year, it feels like they’re recognizing my whole body of work and recognizing me as a whole person, and not just for my face. It’s nice.

“I love all the love I’ve gotten from the different award shows,” adds Perry,“but with the Grammys, it’s such a different situation, The people voting for you are other artists and producers and songwriters, people who are in the grind of this industry and understand its ins and outs and successes and failures. It’s like your friends picking the team captain in dodgeball, and they pick you first.”

Eminem leads the nominees in this year’s Grammys with 10 nods, followed by Bruno Mars (who has recorded his own take on Perry’s “California Gurls”) with seven, then several other acts with six each: Jay-Z, Lady Antebellum and Lady Gaga.

Perry’s other nominations

“the filet mignon of nominations,” she enthuses — are for best pop vocal album of the year (“Teenage Dream”), best female pop vocal performance (“Teenage Dream”) and best pop collaboration with vocals (“California Gurls,” with Snoop Dogg).

“What I set out to do in making this second record was to reconnect with the reason I made the first,” Perry explains of her follow-up to the album “One of the Boys,” which put the singles “I Kissed a Girl” and “Hot n Cold” on the charts.

“That was me going to Santa Barbara (Perry’s California hometown), shedding the skin of celebrity and going to the root of my feelings. I tried to reach deep inside and say some things that I thought would relate to other people on a mainstream level.”

Indeed, Perry stresses, “I really enjoy being on the same level as other people. I never want to be above anyone, and I don’t think I am. I feel like people can come up to me and think of me as somewhat a girlnext-door type. I always want to be approachable.”

That certainly will be what Perry aims to achieve for much of the remainder of 2011, since touring will be foremost in her career. She launches her “California Dreams” concerts in Europe the week after the Grammys, with the North American leg set to begin in early June in Atlanta; designed to be as interactive with the audience as a concert can get, the bill also will include Robyn and Marina & the Diamonds.

Thanks to that itinerary, Russell Brand can expect to do a lot of flying, too.The British actor-comedian (“Forgetting

Sarah Marshall,”“Get Him to the Greek”) became Perry’s husband in October, and she believes her work schedule serves her personal life completely.

“I always plan things maybe eight months to a year in advance,” she says.“You have to have something like a summit to plan the next year, so that you can avoid a lot of non-planning.

“I really believe that if talent meets timing, it can breed success, but you always have to be prepared.When I was searching for that big break, I would go out to dinner or be with my friends, and someone would call and say a producer wanted me to come and meet with him. I’d be like,‘Well, I guess I’ll just leave.’ I was always prepared for that moment.”

On the heels of a week when she made a guest appearance on the CBS sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” and contributed “Firework” (as sung by Lea Michele) to Fox’s“Glee,” Perry clearly has attained wide acceptance that she’s enjoying.

She recognizes that her current Grammy nominations are additional symbols of it.

“It’s been a long road to this place, and I knew I was going to have to take it,” reflects Perry, who was dropped by two major labels before scoring success.“If you put out a song like ‘I Kissed a Girl,’ you have to know that you’re not always going to be everyone’s favorite. People are going to consider you a one-trick pony, but I knew I had other aces in my deck of cards that I could play later on. It was just about showing people the different dimensions of me.

“Many of those who used to be critics are now fans,” Perry concludes.“That feels good.”