Prepare to bear witness to a Katy Perry-less pop music landscape...at least for a little while. The "Swish Swish" singer announced in a new interview that she's taking a break from the stage and studio, noting she's had a busy few years, to say the least.

During a chat with Footwear News, Perry noted that she's still very much in love with her chosen career path, but is less inclined to compete with her peers for top pop-spot.

“I’m not going to go straight into making another record,” she said. “I feel like I’ve done a lot. I feel like I’ve rung the bell of being a pop star very loudly, and I’m very grateful for that. I love making music, I love writing. But I don’t feel like I’m a part of a game anymore; I just feel like I’m an artist. I don’t feel like I have to prove anything, which is a freeing feeling.”

Still, Perry does have some lingering insecurities about the performance of her most recent LP, which she told Vogue Australia in July performed less powerfully than she hoped it would.

"I have had bouts of situational depression and my heart was broken last year because, unknowingly, I put so much validity in the reaction of the public, and the public didn’t react in the way I had expected to...which broke my heart," she said.

Perry added that eventually, she enrolled in a week-long healing program to try to rid herself of negative thoughts.

“For years, my friends would go and come back completely rejuvenated, and I wanted to go, too. I was ready to let go of anything that was holding me back from being my ultimate self," she said. “Music is my first love and I think it was the universe saying: ‘Okay, you speak all of this language about self-love and authenticity, but we are going to put you through another test and take away any kind of validating blankie. Then we’ll see how much you do truly love yourself.’ That brokenness, plus me opening up to a greater, higher power and reconnecting with divinity, gave me a wholeness I never had. It gave me a new foundation. It’s not just a material foundation: it’s a soul foundation.”

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