It’s a whole new ballgame for Katy Perry, as the “Roar” singer is confirmed as the headline performer for the AFL Grand Final.
The U.S. pop star will perform this September at the imposing Melbourne Cricket Ground, the venue for the Australian Football League’s showpiece event.
On Thursday, July 25 the league announced her appearance at the grand final, confirming weeks of speculation.
“The sound of millions of Aussies roaring at the same spectacle, I’d like to hear that,” she says in a promo, a reference to the code’s “I’d Like to See That” campaign in the ‘90s. “100,000 passionate fans roaring at the mighty MCG,” says adds in the clip posted by the AFL, “I can’t wait to hear that.”
The AFL’s big day is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 28.
It won’t be the first time Perry has performed at the MCG for a major sporting event. In March 2020, just days before the pandemic shut borders and venues everywhere, Perry sang at the final of the ICC Women’s T20 World Cup, an abbreviated format of cricket.
Whether she wraps her head around Aussies rules’ unique gameplay and terminology remains to be seen.
Perry is, of course, on the musical comeback trail. Earlier this month, she dropped “Woman’s World,” her first new music since 2020’s Smile, which reached No. 5 on the Billboard 200.
The song serves as the lead track to her upcoming, long-awaited dance-pop album, 143, which is code for “I love you” and is due to arrive on Sept. 20. “Woman’s World” hasn’t set the charts on fire. The track bowed at No. 63 on the Billboard Hot 100, one of her 36 appearances on the tally, and No. 47 on the Official U.K. Singles Chart.