Katy Perry is dangerously close to falling. Not because she's launching herself into the air with a harness like Pink, or clomping through a Heathrow terminal in a dozen-inch platforms, like Lady Gaga. This pop star's potential collapse is due to an unfortunate combination of sand, schmoozing and exquisite heels.

Listen to Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream' album

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At dusk on this squint-inducingly sunny, mid-June evening, Perry's handlers have transplanted a beach party scene, complete with parasols, inflated balls and a sprawling stretch of sand, to the posh New York event hall Espace. About 100 select members of the industry -- mostly radio programmers, but also Perry's Capitol Records team and the Norwegian production duo, Stargate -- have surrendered their cell phones for the price of hearing nine tracks from the singer's new album, "Teenage Dream." Most people are huddled by the open bar, and absolutely no one is going near the sand-except, that is, for Perry, who after setting up each track, traipses back and forth through the pit to greet those in attendance. For this simulated boardwalk bash, Perry's look of choice is a leopard-print Dolce & Gabbana dress, artfully applied makeup and daring peep-toes.

"I don't like sand in my stilettos," she pouts, referencing a lyric from her instant summer anthem, "California Gurls." She teeters back to her stool. "Whoever wrote that line deserves to be fired!"

Perry repeated this scene three more times that month, visiting Chicago, Atlanta and her home base of Los Angeles. Her mission: to shore up support for "Teenage Dream" two months before its Aug. 24 release, by wooing PDs with free cocktails, corn dogs, cotton candy and a first listen to several potential singles.

"We wanted to share the music with people who had been instrumental in supporting her career," says Greg Thompson, executive VP of promotion at Capitol. Thompson played Perry's co-host, shrugging and laughing when Perry introduced the title track by saying in her girliest voice, "I really wanted to call this album 'Teenage Wet Dream.' "

"We live in a world where we're operating on thin margins, and I don't know that a lot of artists are comfortable playing their music that far out," Thompson continues. "But it's important to get the gatekeepers of the world to start going, 'Man, I heard the Katy Perry record and I think it's nothing but hits.' "

RADIO STAR

Convincing a PD to play a Katy Perry song isn't exactly like pulling teeth. Her singles have so far proved worthy, starting with 2008's "I Kissed a Girl," an ode to bi-curiosity that spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and also reached No. 1 on the Mainstream Top 40 chart. The track has sold 3.8 million downloads, according to Nielsen SoundScan, a number eclipsed by Perry's next single, "Hot N Cold," with 4.4 million. Like "I Kissed a Girl," it also topped Mainstream Top 40.

"California Gurls" is the 25-year-old singer's third No. 1 on the top 40 chart, and since its release in May, it has sold 2.8 million downloads and reigned for six weeks on the Hot 100. It also broke the record for most weekly plays in the 17-year history of Billboard's Pop Songs radio airplay chart. During the tracking week of June 21-27, "California Gurls" clocked 11,816 plays among 132 panelists, according to Nielsen BDS-an average of 90 plays per station.

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A commercial coup, to be sure, but Perry is the first to admit that "Gurls" doesn't quite boost her artistic credibility. "I'm not saying, 'Oh, my God! "California Gurls" is a fucking genius opus!' " Perry says. "I just know what kind of card this summer needs, and that's the one I'm playing."

Perry is calling from Paris, where she's been promoting "Teenage Dream." She is snuggled up under a blanket because, she whispers, "it's just so comfy, and I want to give a good interview." In London just a few days earlier, she mastered the album's remaining tracks, and before jumping on this call she did more fine-tuning.

"I literally was just looking through the lyrics, making sure they're all head-to-toe, A-to-Z perfection because they're putting the copy in the actual booklet now . . . we're in the thick of it, people!" she says.

An opus "California Gurls" is not, but the song has broadened Perry's fan base well beyond the average top 40 listener. "[It reached] No. 1 on top 40, No. 1 on hot AC, No. 4 at rhythm crossover, it's climbing up the AC charts, and it's even showing spins at urban," Thompson says. "That is a game-changer when it comes to defining the audience for Katy Perry."

Perry and her collaborators aimed for that diversity while making "Teenage Dream," according to Chris Anokute, a former Capitol executive who helped sign Perry and A&R'd both this album and 2008's "One of the Boys." "We didn't want to shy away from her alternative roots, but we also wanted a record that stood up against the biggest artists on top 40 radio," Anokute says. "You're competing with Rihanna, Gaga and Beyoncé, and all these artists have songs that play on multiple formats."

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