Katy Perry Learned How ‘Resilient’ She Is While Filming Tour for New Concert Movie: ‘Last Year Was Really Hard’

‘Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour – Live from Paris’ will hit theaters and IMAX on Wednesday, Sept. 2 for a limited time

Katy Perry is coming back to the big screen.

The superstar’s new concert film, Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour – Live from Paris, will hit theaters and IMAX on Wednesday, Sept. 2 for a limited time. The movie gives fans a behind-the-scenes peek at her hit 2025 Lifetimes Tour, as well as her entire performance, filmed over two nights in Paris last fall.

The world tour — Perry’s first in seven years — kicked off in April 2025.

“I got to go over five continents and 91 shows all around the world. It was just a reconnection with my fans and to sing along and to create that energy in that third space, which is so important to feel like you’re a part of something or a community; that’s what sports is, that’s what music is, that’s what church is,” Perry, 41, tells PEOPLE.

“There’s an incredible energy when everyone is singing the same song, when you’re standing next to a stranger, because a lot of people don’t even say hi to the person that’s making their coffee. But then you get into a musical space under the same roof and you’re sweating with a stranger and you’re singing together … There’s a unity that is really felt. That was really important me to tap into that and to reconnect with fans, to make new fans.”

The tour had come after she’d faced a harsh reception to her most recent album, 143.

“A lot of people said I couldn’t do it and gave me a lot of flak — and I did it. Some people are like, ‘Cringe, cringe, cringe,’ ” she says. “But I’m living my f—ing life to the fullest!”

Still, “The One That Got Away” singer admits there were challenges on tour. Perry was on the road, in Australia, when reps for her and ex-fiancé Orlando Bloom, 49, confirmed last July that they had split; the pair share daughter Daisy, 6.

On the road, she learned just how “resilient” she is, Perry says. “This is my gift. And I learned how to step back into my purpose. It took a while — a few years — for me to get there. I had to put [touring] on pause. I was really looking after my daughter, there was the pandemic, and it’s not easy to do a world, a proper world tour.”

“Not every day was easy. Look, last year was really hard,” she says. “And I just persevered. I just kept going forward.”

With the tour in her rearview, Perry is relishing the blessings she found along the way, including boyfriend Justin Trudeau, whom she met ahead of a stop in Montreal. (The former Canadian prime minister, 54, was on hand to support Perry at the concert film’s Tribeca Festival premiere in June, where they made their red-carpet debut.)

“It was amazing to come out of it and feel triumphant and really showing up for my fans,” she says, “and I got some great gifts along the way.”

Katy Perry: The Lifetimes Tour – Live from Paris is in theaters Wednesday.

For more on Katy Perry, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.

Via: People