Katy Perry - E.T. ft. Kanye West

What this video is

Released March 31, 2011, the 'E.T.' video arrived at the apex of Katy Perry's Teenage Dream commercial supercycle — the album would become the first since Usher's Confessions to send four different singles to #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Kanye West remix, featuring two verses rapping about extraterrestriality, was serviced to radio February 16, 2011, and the video's production represents the convergence of…

Why it matters

A landmark in early-2010s electro-pop visual culture, 'E.T.' demonstrates the genre's ambition to absorb cinematic sci-fi spectacle into the music video format. It represents peak-era Katy Perry maximalism and a notable hip-hop/electro-pop crossover at a moment when Kanye West's cultural capital…

The director

Italian-Canadian director, photographer, and artist born 1965 in Pescara, Italy; raised in Hamilton, Ontario. Studied painting and illustration then photography at the Ontario College of Art and Design. Began as fashion photographer before transitioning to…