Fleetwood Mac legend Stevie Nicks has revealed that she offered pop star Katy Perry some typically no-nonsense advice when she apparently complained about the “internet armies” of her fellow singers.
Perry was notably involved in a long-running feud with Taylor Swift, with the pair seemingly taking swipes at one another on social media and in their music, including Swift’s 2014 single “Bad Blood”. They have since repaired their relationship, with each publicly supporting one another at events over the past year.
In a cover interview for Rolling Stone, though, Nicks recalled Perry fretting about “the internet armies of all the girl singers, and how cruel and rancid they can be”.
She apparently responded: “Well, I wouldn’t know because I’m not on the internet.”
When Perry asked the “Landslide” singer who her rivals were, she gave her a “steely” look and responded: “Katy, I don’t have rivals. I have friends. All the other women singers that I know are friends. Nobody’s competing. Get off the internet and you won’t have rivals either.”
The exchange reportedly took place around a decade ago at the Corinthia hotel in London. Nicks spoke about it previously in a 2022 interview with The New Yorker: “I said, ‘You are Katy Perry, you’re who you are, you do what you do and you’re great at it.’”
She continued: “I’m Stevie Nicks, I do what I do and I’m great at it. We don’t have rivals. That’s just ridiculous.”
When Perry apparently told her about the “Taylor Swift army [and] the Katy army”, Nicks interrupted her to say: “You just have to walk away from that. Don’t carry that around in your mind because then they’re winning this game.”
Perry seemed to take the advice to heart, as she spoke about switching off from social media in her speech accepting the Video Vanguard Award at the MTV VMAs last month.
Praising “the amazing” young artists who are “operating with confidence, agency, vulnerability and authenticity”, she offered a similar view to Nicks.
“I learnt how to block out all of the noise that every single artist in this industry has to constantly fight against, especially women,” she said.
“I just want to say with my whole heart, do whatever it takes to stay true to yourself and true to your art. Turn off social media. Safeguard your mental health. Pause. Touch grass. And do what you were born to do, just like I was born to do this.”
Perry’s latest album, 143, was released in September.
In the same Rolling Stone interview, Nicks predicted what would have transpired if she hadn’t undergone an abortion 40 years ago.
