"I don’t sing like that": Katy Perry embraces the meme with a hilarious take on her viral “Thinking of You” lyrics

Katy Perry is no stranger to being an online punching bag, but during the opening night of her Lifetimes tour in the U.S., she made it as clear as day that she has heard the jokes, and she doesn’t mind playing along on her own terms.

The pop icon’s performance at Houston’s Toyota Center on Wednesday night was tinged with viral commentary, both from her and about her. One of the standout moments came during her 2008 ballad "Thinking of You," a song that has recently met its resurrection on TikTok thanks to exaggerated lip-syncing videos poking fun at Perry’s supposed over-pronounced singing.

Clad in a scintillating and body-hugging white dress, Perry played the guitar as she performed arguably one of her greatest hits. But mid-performance, the songstress gazed at her fans as they sang the currently viral verse. She said:

“I'm not going to do it.”

Despite the protest and the audience chuckling with her, she dove straight into the lines:

“You're like an Indian summer in the middle of winter, like a hard candy with a surprise center.”

Only this time, she mirrored the TikTok memes, complete with her over-the-top facial expressions. But just as she hit “candy with a— ”, she stopped abruptly and declared:

“I don't sing like that.”

By mimicking the suddenly-famous delivery of "Thinking of You," Perry left it to TikTok to decide if she was mocking the mockery or turning the joke on herself.

Katy Perry speaks out following the backlash over her Blue Origin trip, reflects on “what is real and what is important to me”

Katy Perry’s "Thinking of You" performance came just a week after her public response to criticism over her Blue Origin voyage — a history-making all-female spaceflight. On her Instagram page, the singer responded with a thoughtful reflection:

“When the ‘online’ world tries to make me a human Piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed.”

She went on to assure her fans that she is doing well:

“Please know I am ok, I have done a lot work around knowing who I am, what is real and what is important to me. My therapist said something years ago that has been a game changer, ‘no one can make you believe something about yourself that you don’t already believe about yourself’ and if I ever do have any feelings about it then it’s an opportunity to investigate the feeling underneath it…”

Perry continued:

“What’s real is seeing your faces every night, singing in unison, reading your notes, feeling your warmth. I find people to lock eyes and sing with and I know we are healing each other in a small way when I get to do that.”

Perry isn’t bowing out. If anything, her Lifetimes world tour seems to be her way of reclaiming the narrative. Not by dodging the criticism, but by dancing through it — meme-style.

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