To have that anchor finally makes me feel really whole now
On a summer night in Spain, Katy Perry transformed a concert stage into a theater of the heart, using a prop phone and the names of famous former loves to draw a clear line between who she was and who she has become. The gesture — declining calls from Diplo, John Mayer, and Orlando Bloom before joyfully accepting one from Justin Trudeau — was less a stunt than a public declaration, the kind of moment that reminds us how we sometimes need an audience to say the things we've already decided in private. At forty, Perry seems to have found what she called an anchor, and she chose a festival stage in Santiago de Compostela to let the world know it.
- A giant onstage smartphone became the night's most talked-about prop, flashing the names of Perry's most famous exes as she performed 'Never Really Over' before thousands in Spain.
- Each declined call — Diplo, John Mayer, Orlando Bloom — carried its own weight of history, from brief flings to a years-long engagement and a daughter now five years old.
- The crowd erupted when the screen shifted to 'JPJT,' Justin Trudeau's initials framed by a Canadian flag and a red heart, and Perry accepted with unmistakable delight.
- The stunt landed as more than theater: Perry and Trudeau had just been photographed kissing at a Santa Barbara picnic days earlier, approaching their first anniversary.
- At the Tribeca Festival earlier in June, Perry had already told a magazine she was 'very in love' and felt, for the first time, truly whole — the concert simply made it official in neon.
Katy Perry stood onstage at the O Son do Camiño festival in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and turned a hit song into something more personal. As she performed 'Never Really Over,' a giant prop smartphone began lighting up with incoming calls from her romantic past.
The first name to appear was Diplo, the DJ she had briefly dated in 2014. Perry declined with exaggerated nervousness, covering her eyes and walking away. Then came 'JM' — John Mayer, her on-and-off partner for nearly three years — met with a firm raised hand. Next was 'OB,' Orlando Bloom, the actor she had been engaged to and shared a daughter with, five-year-old Daisy Dove. Their split had come just a year earlier, in June 2025, after nearly a decade together.
Then the screen changed. 'JPJT' appeared — Justin Pierre James Trudeau — alongside a Canadian flag emoji and a red heart. Perry pressed accept without hesitation, and the crowd roared.
The moment reflected a relationship that had been quietly deepening for nearly a year. Perry and the former Canadian Prime Minister were first spotted together in Montreal in July 2025, and after months of privacy, went public in December. In June, they made their red carpet debut at the Tribeca Festival, where Perry spoke openly about the change he had brought to her life. 'I feel like a more grounded person,' she said. 'I am very in love.' She described herself as someone who reaches for the cosmos and finally found an anchor to make her feel whole.
Days before the concert, the two had been photographed together at a picnic in Santa Barbara. The onstage phone call, then, was not merely a bit — it was Perry, in front of thousands, making plain where she had landed.
Katy Perry stood onstage in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, on a Thursday night in June, performing one of her biggest hits from 2019, and turned the moment into something else entirely: a public reckoning with her romantic past, delivered with a wink and a smile.
The 40-year-old singer was headlining the O Son do Camiño festival when she introduced a prop—a giant smartphone displaying incoming calls. As she sang "Never Really Over," the screen lit up with names from her dating history. The first call came from Diplo, the DJ she had briefly dated in 2014 after meeting him at Coachella during a pause in another relationship. Perry hit decline repeatedly, covering her eyes and walking away from the phone with exaggerated nervousness. Years earlier, on a late-night talk show, she had ranked Diplo last among her exes in a bedroom performance ranking—a comment Diplo had taken in stride, joking on social media that he'd won the "bronze medal in the sex Olympics."
The phone buzzed again. This time the caller ID read "JM"—John Mayer, whom Perry had dated on and off for nearly three years between 2012 and 2015. She turned back toward the phone, raised her hand in refusal, and backed away. Another call followed from "OB," Orlando Bloom, the actor she had met in 2016 and been engaged to for years. They had a daughter together, Daisy Dove, now five years old. Perry and Bloom had split in June 2025 after nearly a decade together, though they had reconciled once before, in 2018, after a brief separation.
Then the screen changed. A new caller appeared, labeled "JPJT"—Justin Pierre James Trudeau—accompanied by a Canadian flag emoji and a red heart. Perry's expression shifted. She pressed accept with unmistakable enthusiasm as the crowd cheered.
The onstage moment crystallized a relationship that had been building for nearly a year. Perry and Trudeau, the former Canadian Prime Minister, had first been spotted together in July 2025, dining at a restaurant in Montreal. Days later, Trudeau attended one of her sold-out concerts in Canada. They kept things private for months before going public in December 2025. In June, they made their red carpet debut together at the Tribeca Festival, where Perry premiered her concert film. At that event, she spoke to a magazine about how the relationship had changed her. "I feel like a more grounded person in so many aspects of my life," she said. "I am very in love." She described herself as someone who flies high, touches the cosmos, and sometimes needs an anchor. "To have that anchor finally makes me feel really whole now," she added.
Just days before the Spanish concert, Perry and Trudeau had been photographed sharing kisses during a picnic in Santa Barbara, California, as they approached their one-year anniversary of first meeting. The onstage rejection of her exes and acceptance of Trudeau's call was not a subtle gesture. It was Perry, in front of thousands of people, declaring where her heart had landed—and making clear that the past, however famous or complicated, belonged to the past.
Citações Notáveis
I feel like a more grounded person in so many aspects of my life. I am very in love.— Katy Perry, speaking to People magazine at the Tribeca Festival
A Conversa do Hearth Outra perspectiva sobre a história
Why did she need to do this onstage? Why not just keep the relationship private?
Because she's a performer. This is how she processes her life—through spectacle, through the stage. And maybe because the exes had been so public, so documented, that the only way to truly move forward was to make that movement public too.
But doesn't it feel a little cruel to Bloom, Mayer, Diplo? They're real people.
It's playful, not cruel. She's not saying anything she hasn't said before—the Diplo ranking was years ago. This is her saying: I'm happy now, and I'm not looking back. That's not cruelty. That's clarity.
What does it say that she's with Trudeau specifically? A politician, not another musician or actor?
Maybe it says she needed something different. Someone grounded, as she put it. Someone outside the industry. After a decade with Bloom, after years of on-and-off with Mayer, maybe she needed someone who wasn't part of that world.
Do you think this lasts?
I don't know. But the fact that she's willing to declare it so publicly, so joyfully, suggests she believes it does. That's what matters right now.