Anna Ruth Ramos | Staff Writer

Famously-known for their outrageous and colorful styles – from their outfits to their lyrics – it’s undeniable that in 2016, Perry and Gaga have both come a long way since their early days. Both artists broke through the music scene at around the same time. It was the year 2008 and for Perry, it was her single “I Kissed a Girl” that put her on the map that spring. For Gaga it was that summer that her two singles “Just Dance” and “Poker Face” made rounds on the radio. With these two on air, weird became the new normal and pop music has never been the same since.

Katy Perry, born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson recently celebrated her birthday this past October 25. At the age of 32, Perry has had four studio albums with a fifth one underway, headlined the Super Bowl Halftime show, has her own fragrance line, guest-starred on hit TV shows (How I Met Your Mother and Saturday Night Live) and has starred in movies such as voicing blue smurfs in two movies of the same title.

Perry, who was first involved in music as a Christian artist, was born to minister parents was raised under a strict, religious upbringing. Glimpses of this part of her childhood was featured in her memoir-type documentary film called Part of Me. She’s been very vocal about straying away from the faith she grew up into but has said that she still believes in a higher power for accountability. “I still feel like I have a deep connection with God. I pray all the time,” Perry said.

As her current Twitter bio says, “it’s not where you came from, it’s what you grow into.” Perry, who has 93.8M (million) followers is the most followed person on Twitter. Period. This past summer, her new single, “Rise” was the official song of the 2016 Olympics. More recently and during the whole election campaign, Perry’s voice has been the loudest in supporting Democratic Presidential Candidate, Hillary Clinton – who she even dressed up as for Halloween.

Lady Gaga was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta to a Catholic family with a pre-dominantly Italian background in New York City. The recently turned 30-year-old singer is most famous for her electro-dance music hits like those of her second album, The Fame Monster: “Paparazzi”, “Alejandro”, “Bad Romance”. Now, Gaga is once again, under another evolution as the pink-hat wearing, piano and guitar-playing rock and country cowgirl with songs like “John Wayne,” “Grigio Girls” and “A-YO” on her fifth studio album, entitled JOANNE. She is also slated to headline for next year’s Super Bowl Halftime show.

Last year, Gaga tackled the world of acting and was one of the main stars of FX’s American Horror Story’s fifth season Hotel where she played a 111-year-old vampire called The Countess Elizabeth Johnson. This past January, she won the Golden Globe for Best Actress In A Mini-series or Motion Picture for TV for this role. “I wanted to be an actress before I wanted to be a singer, but music worked out first,” Gaga said in her thank you speech.

At the same time, with 64.2M followers, making her the 7th most followed person on Twitter, Gaga is sure just as influential as her counterparts in pop music and the industry. She considers herself a Christian even if she isn’t conservative. As once noted in her Born This Way song, “Yoü and I,” – “There’s only three men that I’mma serve my whole life, It’s my daddy and Nebraska and Jesus Christ.” Moreover, unlike Perry, Gaga considers herself religious and has once defended her faith, referencing Mary Magdalene’s washing of Jesus’ feet in response to an article saying artists who share Bible verses are still living “a lifestyle void of Christian value.”

While the public may consider both Perry and Gaga similar as “typical” pop-artists, both thriving in their weird and sexy appeal, they are still distinct in their own ways – almost as if at different ends of the pop-music spectrum. Perry is definitely more light, pop-py in a pink bubble-gum type of way with songs like “California Girls,” compared to a darker and edgier Gaga with hits like “Born This Way” and “Edge of Glory. Over time their albums definitely did show a lot more vulnerability. Perry’s last album PRISM had songs like “Unconditionally” and “By the Grace of God” and Gaga’s newly released JOANNE had “Million Reasons”, “Hey Girl” and “Angel Down” (a song about the passing of Trayvon Martin).

2017 ushers in a new era for this two pop queens. There’s Katy Perry’s rising to watch out for and Lady Gaga’s Joanne persona for America and the world to see and maybe, just maybe, a collaboration between the two and even a Grammy win for either or both.