See Katy Perry As A ‘Pizza Face’ Teen In Rare Footage [Video]

Katy Perry wasn’t always a candy-coated pop tart or a grill-wearing Queen of the Nile.

Before Katy Perry created her menagerie of colorful stage and music video characters, she was just an awkward teen whose outfits looked like a blend of ’90s rocker chick style and the conservative clothing the Duggar girls wear on 19 Kids & Counting. The dark blonde musician also sang religious songs and went by her real name, Katy Hudson.

You can see the singer’s old look and hear her wail while banging on a guitar in some recently-released throwback footage. According to Uproxx, Jim Standridge shared the rare look at Katy Perry’s early days on Vimeo. The footage is from 2001, and it was taken at a small venue in Portland, Oregon. Pamplin Music’s Red Hill Records sublabel had just signed Katy Hudson, and Standridge was shooting an electronic press kit for the label. He pointed out one thing about Katy Perry that hasn’t changed over the years.

“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.”

Katy Perry is clearly comfortable in front of the camera — she even cracks a joke about her less-than-clear skin after talking about how conceited she is.

“I usually put loads of makeup on because I’m a pizza face. Would you like pepperoni or cheese?”

Katy’s acne obviously gave her grief as a teen, but she would later turn her tendency to break out into a lucrative deal with Proactiv skincare. In the lengthy video, Perry also complains about having to repeat the ninth grade. It turns out that she didn’t need no learnin’ to become a huge success. “I’m specially skilled in other places,” she says. However, as The Inquisitr previously reported, Katy Perry is still bothered by her bad education. At least members of the “best Christian bands” used to hang out with her and laugh at her jokes.

Katy Perry almost sounds like she’s already filming a Behind the Music special at one point.

“Everyone thinks I’m like, a superstar — you know, like a rock star. But that’s not how I am at all. I’m just some little kid from California who plays the guitar and sings, and I write what I think needs to be written.”

Katy also talks about death, not being deep, and missing her parents. She tears up and sniffles while talking about her family.

“You know when you hate your parents so much you miss them?”

After becoming one of the biggest pop stars in the world, Katy Perry would talk a lot about her Pentecostal minister parents. During an NPR interview, she talked about growing up under their strict religious regime.

“I was raised in a super-sheltered atmosphere where we didn’t watch anything besides Trinity Broadcasting Network — which was called TBN — or the Fox News channel. I was never allowed to call deviled eggs ‘deviled eggs’; I called them ‘angel eggs.'”

During a Marie Claire interview, Katy Perry also talked about how her religious views have evolved.

“I don’t believe in a heaven or a hell or an old man sitting on a throne. I believe in a higher power bigger than me because that keeps me accountable… I’m not Buddhist, I’m not Hindu, I’m not Christian, but I still feel like I have a deep connection with God. I pray all the time—for self-control, for humility.”

Are you glad that Katy Perry gave up on becoming the next Amy Grant to start singing about kissing girls?