Katy Perry and Taylor Swift: How pop's biggest feud was mended

Katy Perry has opened up about the behind-the-scenes manoeuvrings that saw she and pop rival Taylor Swift go from bitter enemies to "trusting" friends.

Perry spoke about her new-found friendship with Swift in a candid interview with Kyle and Jackie O this morning, confirming she sent the first olive branch — literally.

"It was a process. I sent her a literal olive branch and a note apologising for my part in all of it when she started her Reputation tour," Perry said.

In May of last year, Swift shared the gesture with her Instagram followers as she opened her US tour, the note reading in part:

"Hey Old Friend — I've been doing some reflecting on past miscommunications and hurt feelings between us. I really want to clear the air."

Perry also wrote in the note she was "deeply sorry". She told Kyle and Jackie O it had seemed like the right time to reach out after years of frostiness.

"I just thought she was about to embark on something new and big and needed the support. And truly as I was finishing my (tour) I realised how much in common we have. Maybe there's only five other people in the world that can have the same type of conversations and understand where we're coming from. We should celebrate our commonality and friendship and be there for each other," she said.

Months passed before Perry had another opportunity to make amends, this time in person.

"I started seeing her around, like at the Oscar parties when she was accompanying her boyfriend (The Favourite actor Joe Alwyn). I just went up to her and I was like, 'Hey. It's been a long time. I think we've grown up a little bit. I just want to say that I'm sorry and I'm really here for you, I love you and I hope that we can be friends in the future'.

"We started talking a little bit and … trusting each other. Because it's about trusting," Perry said.

From there, Swift got Perry's phone number and texted her with a "really cool idea". She invited Perry to her house, baking her "delicious" cookies and introducing her pop rival to her beloved cats.

And that's how Perry ended up in Swift's You Need To Calm Down music video, the unlikely pair shocking fans with a friendly embrace while dressed as a hamburger and fries.

Perry said she was relieved to have buried the hatchet with her most famous foe.

"I trust her and she trusts me, and we'll see each other in the halls of the music industry and not avoid each other. We'll embrace. It's amazing we've had this opportunity to change, and I hope other people can learn from it too," she said.

The Swift/Perry truce ends one of music's most explosive feuds, with the two singers trading bitter barbs in recent years. Swift even penned a hit single, Bad Blood, about their falling out.

Perry told host James Corden during a 2017 episode of Car Pool Karaoke that "honestly, it's really like she started it, and it's time for her to finish it".

During that same interview, Perry confirmed the feud started when the pair fought over backing dancers.

"It's about backing dancers. It's so crazy! OK, so there are three backing dancers that went on tour with her tour, right? And they asked me before they went on tour if they could go, and I was like, 'Yeah, of course. I'm not on a record cycle, and get the work, and she's great and all that. But I will be on a record cycle in about a year, so be sure to put a 30-day contingency in your contract so you can get out if you want to join me when I say I'm going back on'. So that year came up, right? And I texted all of them — because I'm very close with them — and I said, 'Look, just FYI: I'm about to start, I want to put the word out there'. And they said, 'All right, we're going to talk to management about it'. And they did. And they got fired. And I tried to talk to her about it, and she wouldn't speak to me.

"It was a full shutdown, and then she writes a song about me, and I'm like, OK, cool, cool, cool, that's how you want to deal with it? Karma!"

Elsewhere in her interview with Kyle and Jackie O, Perry reflected on the relative failure of her last record Witness as she touted comeback single Never Really Over.

She had previously admitted, as an artist quite used to scoring number one singles with ease, the underperformance of her last album had made her re-evaluate what success meant to her.

"I haven't always hit the mark. I've had some really important, balancing, humbling moments in the past few years that have taught me lessons about what makes you happy. What does make you happy — having a number one song? Or happiness in your mental health or family?" she asked.