Katy Perry covers the March issue of Elle in conjunction with her Super Bowl extravaganza and Billboard cover. The Grammys are coming up in a few days, so this must be the week of Katy. She’s nominated for both “Dark Horse” and Prism.

This Elle cover is muted but quite pretty. Katy’s wearing a Giambattista Valli top and skirt with Chanel and Graziela Germs jewelry. Elle notes how Katy chose to wear her own nose ring. The interview was rather extensive (for Elle) and lasted three days in Australia. The journo, Amanda FitzSimons, calls Katy “eloquent, intensely likeable, and smart.” I won’t call Katy dumb, but she seems much more savvy than smart. She’s a shrewd businesswoman, which is more valuable than simply being smart. Here’s some excerpts.

On total control: “In my show, I am boss daddy. I am boss mommy. They call me Boss. Everything goes through my eyes; I call all the shots, 100 percent of it. With the NFL, I have to be accountable to several levels of red tape. There are many committees I have to go through for my costumes, the budgets of my show, every interview—everything, I have to report to somebody. So I am no longer the boss; I have to relinquish that control. We love this opportunity, but once you decide you’re gonna do the Super Bowl, you’re gonna have no f***ing life for six months. It is the biggest thing. Anyone that’s ever done it has been scared sh*tless. You stay off the Internet for the five days afterward.”

On her contemporaries: “Oh my God. I’m such a big Beyonce fan. Beyonce just put out a video! You’ve got to see this video I was like, Finallllly. Finally I see you. I don’t see some propaganda version of you. I see you. I relate to who you are.”

On being a pop star: “It is a hundred times harder a dream than the dream that I dreamt when I was nine … You think you signed up for one thing, but you automatically sign up for a hundred others. And that is why you see people shaving their f***ing heads.”

If pop stars were in a soap opra: “You’ve got to name someone the villain, someone the princess, someone the mom-, the dad-type–you know there always have to be characters. As pop figures, we’re all characters. And the media uses that. Who is the sweetheart, who is the villain? You know. Taylor’s the sweetheart. Kanye’s the villain. That’s the narrative.”

[From Elle]

Now there’s a dig against Taylor. Katy’s calling her frenemy out for playing the role of the cutesey sweetheart, and that’s the best Katy can do. The silly feud is alive and well, but don’t tell Kanye he’s the villain. He’d be flattered. Did you catch the “propaganda” remark about Beyonce? Ouch.

Photos courtesy of Elle & WENN