Benjamin Booker on Having the Same Album Title as Katy Perry: ‘What Are You Going to Do?’

On Monday (May 15), Katy Perry revealed the title of her upcoming fifth studio album: Witness. Back in the beginning of March, though, bluesy rocker Benjamin Booker shared not only that his sophomore album would be titled Witness, but also dropped the title track as well.

“Witness” is a soul-infused track that features Mavis Staples and sees her and Booker repeatedly question, “Am I gonna be a witness?” With the song’s release, Booker offered a lengthy explanation of its inspiration and concluded the note by saying, “‘Witness’ asks two questions I think every person in America needs to ask. ‘Am I going to be a Witness?’ and in today’s world, ‘Is that enough?'”

On the day that news of Perry’s album title broke, Booker was in good spirits, telling Billboard he had heard almost immediately. “The first thought was, ‘Uh, does Katy Perry know who I am?!’ But my second thought was, ‘Oh well, what are you going to do?’ There’s room for both of us to have the same album title,” he says, although he goes on to admit he’s curious as to what inspired Perry to land on that name.

“I wonder what her reasoning for her album title is, and I wonder if… nah, she doesn’t know who I am. That’s impossible,” he says. “But if she’s out there and wants to reach out, we can have a nice chat about the title Witness.”

Booker’s album is out June 2, while Perry’s arrives on June 9.