Dua Lipa: livestream crying sml

Katy Perry’s Twitter account was hacked tonight, and not just to spew vile nonsense on behalf of the pop star. The hacker also released a song.

On Monday night, Katy Perry’s verified Twitter account, with 89 million followers, started tweeting shoutouts and slurs, clearly not the work of Perry herself. The tweets were deleted shortly after.

The only hint to who did it was a tweet from Perry that said to follow the accounts @sw4ylol, with the hashtag #hackersgonnahack, implying that the new account, created on Saturday, is the public face of the hacker.

The account lists its location as Romania.

Katy Perry's Twitter Was Hacked — And the Hacker Leaked an Alleged New Song

Source: Twitter
But sw4ylol wasn’t done with just the first few, vile tweets from Perry’s hacked account. Later on Monday night, near 9 p.m., he tweeted out a link to a song called “Witness 1.3” from an account called named “slut.” Here’s the soft, airy pop song:

The SoundCloud account, which has been uploading remixes for years, could also be a hacked account.

As for “Witness 1.3,” the vocalist doesn’t sounds precisely like Perry, but the track could be from a songwriter — many of Perry’s hits come to her written entirely or partially by songwriters like Bonnie McKee or Max Martin.

This could account for the “1.3,” which could be a version number for the song in progress.

We will update with this story with more information as it becomes available.

The singer used a new Variety profile to speak out against unauthorized releases of her music.

SZA on leaks: “When people leak my songs, they ruin them”
SZA. Photo by Jacob Webster.  

SZA is one of the most popular artists in the world, and some portions of her fanbase are particularly internet savvy.

This combination has made the R&B star a target for hackers to illegally obtain and leak her music, either to paying customers or for internet clout.

In a new Variety profile, she revealed how leaks hinder her creative process.

“When people leak my songs, they ruin them,” SZA told the magazine.

“Then it’s not mine anymore; it’s actually yours. It’s something unfinished that you decided was ready to be shared.”

Leaks of her music, sometimes done to force SZA to officially release new songs, have the opposite effect on the artist. “It’s like, ‘Fuck you. Now I’m not releasing it.’

Play your leak, but you’re not gonna bully me into dropping music. I’m now embarrassed by this less-than-correct version that you put out.

You’ve sent me into a weird space creatively when you could have just waited for me, but you’re selfish.”

While it’s unlikely that SZA’s thoughts will stop anyone from actually leaking the music, they may give new context to anyone who listens to the stolen songs. Read the full profile here.