Candy Queen Jackie Sorkin Reveals What It's Like To Work With Katy Perry - Exclusive
"Candy Queen" star Jackie Sorkin can count what seems like an infinite number of celebrities as her clients, having worked with Kylie Jenner, Demi Lovato, Ashley Tisdale, Justin Bieber, Paris Hilton, and Oprah over the years. Hollywood Reporter says she once even made a Tiffany & Co. boutique out of candy for Rihanna and her niece. But, working with Katy Perry, she says, was something else. "It was one of those moments where, it's like when I met Oprah, same thing, I was like, 'Why am I here?'" Sorkin recounted in an exclusive interview with Mashed. "[It was] really special, really special."
Out of all those she has worked with, Sorkin added, "Katy Perry is truly the only other 'candy queen' that can be 'candy queen.'" It's not hard to see her point. Not only has Sorkin transformed candy from the object of innocent five-year-old's daydreams to a wildly desired pop culture phenomenon fit for all ages — but so has Perry, with the concepts for her album "Teenage Dream" — a time they worked together. As Sorkin attested, "What I still love about her, is just the fun [and] the whimsy. She took candy, I think, the way I do. You just make it modern-day cool, but relatable and really fun, and light and silly. ... And she's really playful, [like] when she has on a bikini top squirting out whipped cream from her ta ta."
Jackie Sorkin tells the tale of going inside Katy Perry's recording studio
The "Candy Queen" admitted she divides her celebrity clients into two main categories — either "really posh and super fabulous," or "quirky and funny and just like a little out of this world." Katy Perry, however, occupies another lane altogether as Sorkin found out when she first stepped into Perry's recording studio, a day she isn't likely to forget any time soon.
"It was on Sunset [Blvd.] in this incredible dark, moody recording studio. And I remember she had a hoodie on, and I was like, so this is how they make albums," Sorkin recounted to Mashed, the "Candy Queen" also recalling how she was pregnant at the time with her son, Christian. ("I worked up until the moment I was in labor and the doctor said, 'Put your laptop away!'")
Sorkin admitted of the fateful meeting that she was "just trying to be cool," explaining that it was her job to design a "really cool display" while Perry recorded her album. Later, she came up with a portrait of Perry as a candy queen that the star used on her tour. "I think [it was] the record label or someone on her team who was like, 'We need to surround her with candy,'" Sorkin added. "I'm the nerd who was like, 'I brought all your candy, Katy.'"
Sorkin's latest conquest is equally as impressive, creating a life-size candified holiday home, which you can watch her build in Hulu's four-episode special, "Candified: Home For The Holidays." And for everyday reminders of life's sweeter side, follow Sorkin on Instagram.