On her worst job she ever had:
“I worked at this place called Taxi, Taxi Music, where I would sit with headphones and a computer, and I would listen to music that people would send in from all around the country so they could get a critique on it and how to make it in the music industry. So you have to imagine how depressed I was after not making it in LA after five years, knowing everyone in the music industry couldn’t get a break, and sitting in this cubicle, listening to the worst music I’ve ever heard. I would tell these people ‘Well you have to change these chords’ or ‘This is how you contact a record label.’ And I was just like, I cannot give these people hope. I had no hope [myself.]”
On what the record labels thought of her:
“They wanted me to be like someone else who was popular at the time, like Avril Lavigne or Kelly Clarkson. No offense to them at all, because they have their own lane, but I desperately wanted my own lane. It took five years to convince people to let me do it.”
On what her life was like before she made it big:
“It was five years of living in L.A. with no money, writing bad checks, selling my clothes to make rent, borrowing money. Just trying to keep up with the Joneses. It was super-draining, but I knew inside it was going to happen. I was at least going to get my chance. I always say, ‘Step up to the plate and swing.’ It was up to me If I was going to hit that ball and run.”
On being a role model:
“I think that [Miley (Cyrus) and the Jonas Brothers] set out to be role models, and I think, I at least hope they know what they’re doing. Because once you say you’re a role model, you’re under a microscope and everyone is waiting and watching for you to do something, you know? And then there’s this big pointing-of-the-finger thing. I mean, they have purpose being role models and having the promise ring thing. But it’s not for everyone.”
Katy’s Seventeen cover hits stands June 9th
[Jared
