Katy Perry Explains Why She's Excited to Raise Her Daughter in a 'Different Way' Than She Was

As Katy Perry awaits the birth of her first child with fiancé Orlando Bloom, the singer says she is excited to raise her daughter in a "different way" than she was. Perry joked that she feels like she's been "pregnant forever" in a new interview with Entertainment Tonight, but shared the ways in which her own childhood has shaped the way she intends to parent her own daughter. Perry's parents, Mary and Maurice, were both pastors who brought her up in the church. The "Roar" artist originally started her singing career in church and first pursued gospel music before shifting to pop music.

"I am just excited to be able to raise her in a different way than what I was raised and to let her think for herself and have choices and discover and just lean into the magic in life and dress like whatever she wants to dress like for Halloween," Perry explained. "That is going to be really, really important. I was never allowed to go trick-or-treating or dress up, which is probably why I make up for it so much."

Perry, who announced she was pregnant in March, added she was "excited" to welcome her baby with Bloom, and feels like she has been betting as to which will arrive first, her daughter or new album Smile, which drops Friday. "I don't know who's going to come first, her or the record. We'll see what kind of headline she wants, if she wants to be the opener or the closer," she said with a laugh. "I have a feeling that she does not follow."

Perry is "packing it all in" before her album drops and she becomes a new mom, but she told ET she was grateful to not have to postpone the record until after the coronavirus pandemic. "I'm just grateful that I get to do it this summer. It's a summer record and it's full of hopefulness, it's full of light and joy and it's not just taking up space and noise," she said. "I hope that these songs which I wrote going through one of the darkest times of my life could be inspirational to anyone else that's going through whatever they're going through, because music has always been that for me."

While being a new mother will definitely be taking up a lot of her time, Perry isn't slowing down professionally, beginning to shoot Season 4 of American Idol on ABC this fall and making time for more music in her future. "A lot of people have asked me, 'Are you gonna, like, go away?' and I'm like, 'I mean, doesn't Beyoncé have, like, three kids and she's still putting out Black Is King? She is doing the best. Her whole life is amazing,'" Perry said. "I don't feel like you have to choose between what you love and what you love, and for me this doesn't feel like work. It feels like just something that really makes me happy. And I would hope that my happiness is [my daughter's] happiness and her happiness is my happiness."