Katy Perry knows just how to score points with her fans.
After she dropped her Taylor Swift diss track "Swish Swish," she released a star-studded
music video featuring some of the internet's most popular traditions.
But with so much packed into a 6-minute feature, it's easy to miss the details that make this
video such a hit.
Here are some of the must-see moments in Katy Perry's latest music video.
The secret society
For years, conspiracy theorists have suspected Katy Perry might be a member of the secret
power society known as the Illuminati.
She has regularly fueled those rumors by expressing an interest in joining the fabled hush-hush
group, constantly wearing things with eyes on them, and layering her videos with its
most recognizable symbols just for fun.
So any time a new Katy Perry video comes out, fans start using their own big eyes to search
for Easter eggs related to the Illuminati, and with "Swish Swish," she didn't disappoint.
In the beginning of the video, she can be seen sitting atop a pyramid of basketballs,
which is a pretty direct reference to the Illuminati icon.
And with that, the suspicion about her allegiance to the covert cult lives to see another day.
The nuggets
Perry wasted no time roping in internet celebrities for her music video—the first being that
NuggsForCarter kid.
For those who don't remember this guy's claim to fame, college student Carter Wilkerson
became a viral sensation after asking the fast food chain Wendy's how many retweets
it'd take to get free chicken nuggets for a year.
The price, the company responded, would be 18 million retweets.
And while he didn't get that far, he did rack up enough engagements to break a Twitter record
and earn his free food.
So, that's why you can see him chowing down in "Swish Swish."
And as a bonus, Carter got to hang out with Perry's own pup whose name just so happens
to be Nugget.
That's hardly a coincidence.
And Carter wasn't the only web celeb to make the team, either.
The winner's circle
Perry's social media followers may remember that, ahead of the "Swish Swish" video release,
she'd teamed up with DanceOn to launch a dance competition for a spot in her video.
Fans were told to upload a video of their choreography to select platforms with the
hashtag #SwishSwishChallenge.
The winner was kept a secret until the release of the "Swish Swish" video—during which
dancer Amanda LaCount made her debut.
She can be spotted toward the end of the video during the big celebration scene.
That's a buzzer-beater for the ages.
The familiar faces
Perry called on a few other famous friends to join her in the "Swish Swish" video, too.
Her teammates in the vid include YouTuber Christine Sydelko, Glee actress Jenna Ushkowitz,
Stranger Things star Gaten Matarazzo, model Dexter Mayfield, and viral sensation Russell
Horning, better known as "Backpack Kid."
Meanwhile, former Saturday Night Live star Molly Shannon plays the hopelessly incompetent
Tigers coach, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Terry Crews appears as the angry muscle-head coach
for the Sheeps.
Captaining the other team, too, is "The Mountain" from Game of Thrones, with real-life sportscasters
Bill Walton and Rich Eisen coming in to provide commentary.
Other faces you might recognize on the court are the stars of Netflix's female wrestling
series GLOW, the West Hollywood Cheerleaders, bodybuilder Iris Kyle, hot dog eating champion
Joey Chestnut, New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski, basketball pro Karl-Anthony Towns and Instagram-famous
dog Doug the Pug.
Making things even more interesting is the team trivia contained in some of these appearances.
If you look closely at the Tigers' stats, they're full of little jokes and references
relating to each specific team member.
Gaten Matarazzo's, for instance, notes that he hails from Hawkins, Indiana, which is the
setting of Stranger Things.
Christine Sydelko's card, on the other hand, lists her hometown as "Made in Texas," which
is a reference to the vlogger's uniform T-shirt that bears a similar phrase.
As for Perry, her card mentions that she's a "Miley Cyrus impersonator," which appears
to poke fun at Perry's short blonde 'do that many have compared to Cyrus' hairstyle.
The memes
As evidenced by all of the internet-famous faces spotted throughout her video, Perry's
a pretty big fan of web culture.
So, she made sure to include a couple popular memes in her "Swish Swish" music video as
well.
Notice the crowd's signs featuring a crying Perry?
Well, they're a reference to the Crying Jordan meme that featured a teary-eyed Michael Jordan.
It also plays into the video's apparent homage to the movie Space Jam, which stars none other
than Jordan himself.
Perry also did her own take of the Shooting Stars meme, which has featured people, animals,
and cartoons falling through space to the tune of Bag Raiders' "Shooting Stars."
Considering her Super Bowl performance spawned her own shooting stars meme, this seems like
some expert trolling on Perry's part.
The throwback selfie
While there were plenty of big name cameos in Perry's video, one of the most surprising
appearances is made by Kathy Beth Terry, Perry's persona in her music video for "Last Friday
Night."
While Terry isn't played by Perry this time around, she's still recognizable for her familiar
denim vest, tape-wrapped glasses, and dental headgear.
And, just like "Last Friday Night," "Swish Swish" also features a dance number in conjunction
with the popular video game Just Dance.
The wolf
The reference that's most likely to have people talking is her dig at Taylor Swift.
In the basketball-themed video, Perry plays on the Tigers' team, which is an obvious connection
to her past video for "Roar."
Her opponents, on the other hand, are the Sheep.
But they're not the cute farmyard versions of animal.
Their mascot is actually a wolf hiding in sheep's clothing, which is probably a reference
to something she'd said about Taylor Swift in the past.
As fans may remember, Perry once tweeted out, "Watch out for the Regina George in sheep's
clothing" as a digital diss about Swift, and the two have had a nasty feud ever since.
So, it looks like Perry's claims about being done with the drama were premature; these
singers still definitely have bad blood.
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