Close encounters with Katy Perry

STACEY Sy with Katy Perry

How far would you go to meet Katy Perry? Would you join a contest? Buy bottles of perfume? Wait for hours? For these two big fans, meeting their favorite pop star became a dream come true.

Chasing Katy

I wanted to meet Katy Perry when she visited Manila in 2009. This time I made sure I didn’t miss the chance to meet her up close. I stalked all Katy Perry fan pages on Facebook and other social networking sites. When my sister told me there would be a meet-and-greet during the launch of her perfume, I did everything to get the details. I bought Purr perfumes for myself, my sister and my friends.

I couldn’t sleep the night before the meet-and-greet. I was so excited that I would finally see Katy, talk to her and hug her. On the day of the event, I woke up early and arrived at SM Mall of Asia at 1:30 p.m. and waited for my sister and friends. We were allowed to enter the venue at around 2 p.m. My knees were shaking, my hands were ice cold. We waited for three and a half hours for our turn to meet Katy. I didn’t have lunch yet, I was so hungry and thirsty. We were not allowed to have pee breaks, too. And because we were standing for hours, my feet, legs and shoulders started to hurt. When Katy finally arrived, everything went away. I didn’t feel any thirst, hunger or body pains. When it was finally my turn to go onstage, she said “Hi, how are you?” She shook my hands. She signed the box of my perfume. I also asked her to sign my shirt and she did! Katy was very nice and she’s very pretty! She looks like a doll. She also signed my sister’s CD and my brother’s Polaroid photo. I exited the venue with a big smile on my face. My dream came true!  Stacey Sy, Contributor, Philippine Daily Inquirer

Purr-fect

KRISTINE Teo with her sister and Katy Perry

To see Katy Perry perform live and to meet her in person were two of my biggest dreams. I took the opportunity to join Smart’s Katy Perry Fanatic contest. I had to submit a photo of myself dressed like her so I chose my graduation ball picture because I was wearing a dress similar to Katy’s People’s Choice Awards 2010 dress. Whoever gets the number of votes on Facebook wins so I asked my friends to vote for me. My mom, sister and relatives did the same.

During the last hour of the voting period, even though I was leading, I was really nervous. Tears welled up in my eyes when the fan placing second was just down by 7 votes. 11:59 p.m. struck and the voting period was over. I won the contest! I was overjoyed. My friends congratulated me and I thanked them for their support.

On the day of the concert, my sister and I, along with 25,000 other fans, had to wait for what seemed like forever. The very long wait was very, very worth it. The concert was amazing! My sister and I danced and sang at the top of our lungs from her first song to her last

After the concert, my sister and I rushed to the meet-and-greet tent. We waited for a little while. When we entered the tent, Katy was there with a few other people, Purr (her cat mascot) and a photographer. I remember my sister saying, “Oh, my god” a lot of times, and I was completely starstruck and speechless. We couldn’t believe that Katy Perry was standing right in front of us! She approached us and introduced herself and Purr, and we introduced ourselves. We shook hands and we asked her for an autograph. She signed one item for each of us—my iPod case and my sister’s meet-and-greet sticker.  My sister and I hugged her and Purr. Katy was just the sweetest person ever!  We had a photo-op, and finally, we said our good byes. We thanked her with huge smiles on our faces. Everything was purr-fect! Kristine Teo, Contributor, Philippine Daily Inquirer