Katy Perry Responds to Recent Criticism Over New Image: ''I'm Not a Con Artist''

With a bold new haircut (a switch inspired by her desire to distance herself from the larger-than-life persona that made her famous), a different sound she's dubbed her era of "purposeful pop" and a 96-hour live stream event that had many scratching their heads in disbelief, Katy understands where the criticism is coming from.

"Every day when I think I know something, the universe shows me that I need to learn another lesson," the international pop star told The New York Times in a revealing profile. "So I stand here today, more so than any other day, saying I know nothing. I literally know nothing."

The 32-year-old is defending her reinvention, explaining that by cutting alcohol out of her life and attending group therapy sessions with her family, she's set out on a much more productive path. Perry shared, "I feel very empowered [and] extremely liberated, liberated from the conditioning of the way I used to think, spiritually liberated, politically liberated, sexually liberated, liberated from things that don't serve me."