In 2001, before she was the first female artist to have five No. 1 singles on one album, Katy Perry was Katy Hudson, a teen Christian rock singer far from being the ebullient pop star we know today.
It was around that time that cameraman Jim Standridge had the chance to spend some time with the singer to shoot an electronic press kit for her record company.
Standridge just rediscovered this footage, and edited it down from 90 minutes to highlight some scenes of the future star at around 17 years old, fiddling with her hair, performing in front of a small crowd in Oregon, crying over her parents, and calling herself a "pizza face."
Standridge wrote:
The other day I was cleaning out some old footage in my office and found 90 minutes of raw footage I had totally forgot about. ... I quickly put together a short edit of the experience with Katy. Funny how she spent so much time messing with her hair…. In the present day her hair changes color and style in every photo shoot, music video and performance…. I think Katy has grown into an amazing entertainer and woman. Enjoy.
"Everyone thinks I'm like a superstar ... but that's not how I am at all. I'm just some little kid from California who plays the guitar and sings," Perry says at one point.
In another moment, the current most followed person on Twitter gets emotional talking about her parents.
And don't miss the denim trench coat.
"I usually put loads of makeup on before the show, because I'm a pizza face," she also tells Standridge.
After her debut album sold only 200 copies, the singer-songwriter abandoned Christian rock, changed her name and style, and seemingly never looked back.
h/t Uproxx