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next day. We’d all go to Teddy’s, and I couldn’t believe how many lost people there were dancing the night away.” For a glimpse into her party girl days, Perry points to her album’s surprisingly moving power ballad “Lost” (“I’m out on my own again/ Face down in the porcelain/ Feeling so high but looking so low/ Party favors on the floor/ Group of girls banging on the door”). Read into it what you like. To make ends meet, she got a job working in the A&R department at Taxi, which had her (a bit ironically) listening to music all day, deciding whether a band had hit-making potential or not. It was while working there, during January of 2007, that Perry received a call from the then head of Capitol Records, Jason Flom, who had heard an old recording of hers and wanted to meet with her. From there, Perry’s rise was about as smooth sailing as could be -- she teamed up with Dr. Luke, a producer who had worked with artists like Kelly Clarkson and Avril Lavigne, and recorded an album. Capitol released the buzzy “UR So Gay” on iTunes in November of 2007, the even more buzzy “I Kissed a Girl” in May of ‘08 and when One of the Boys debuted in June, the album was an immediate hit; by February 2009 it reached certified platinum. “I’ll have a Red Bull and vodka,” Perry tells our waitress, before pausing a beat and coyly smiling. “Just kidding, I’ll have a Coke.” Perry likes to push