When Katy Perry released her newest album, “Chained to the Rhythm” on February 10th, and Joachim Kapuy, publicist for the annual summer dance festival, ImpulsTanz in Vienna, noticed that it looked extremely familiar. Frederik Heyman, the illustrator who created the male figure for the 2011 ad campaign of ImpulsTanz, had created a feminine version for the cover of Katy Perry’s new album.
But when Kapuy saw Katy Perry’s new cover bearing a female version of the illustration, he checked the rights for Heyman’s work just to be sure. Now in retrospect, whether or not Heyman created the first version directly for the festival, Kapuy couldn’t say. Kapuy told METROPOLE “We have the rights to the illustration for the 2011 ad campaign, nothing more.” But despite the legal correctness of it all, the similarity in uncanny, with no public comment so far from Katy Perry’s team regarding whether or not they were aware of the previous version. ImpulsTanz has taken this all with a sense of humor. Their facebook post highlighting the similarity exclaimed: “ImPulsTanz first, Katy Perry second!”
By the way, Perry’s song Chained to the Rhythm is worth a listen and watch. It has clear political overtones, a fantastic beat and an oversized hamster eating cake. If you haven’t seen it yet, enjoy.
