Katy Perry Performs ‘Wide Awake’ for the First Time in Mid-Air at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards

Katy Perry performed her brand new single ‘Wide Awake’ for the first time at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards, doing so while suspended from a swing in mid-air. Some might say Katy was soaring to new heights.

Her set up reminded us of Pink‘s show-stopping performance at the 2010 Grammys, where she sang while hanging from a trapeze and while soaking wet.

While dry, Perry’s staging also mimicked the lyrics of her song, about crashing from the high and letting go of a relationship which is now ending. Ahem, Russell Brand anyone?

Perry, looking like a princess or a bride with her snow white dress, complete with a cameo around her neck, which furthered the song’s association with her impending divorce, descended from the sky, tied to two other swings. She performed amid makeshift clouds, since, you know, the lyrics are “Falling from cloud nine / Crashing from the high.”

To her credit, Perry was suspended for the entirety of her performance. At least she wasn’t lip syncing like other performers this evening – we won’t name names, but it was obvious if you were paying attention, um, cough, Breezy. But this most definitely was not Perry’s best vocal showing. Her voice was shaky and a bit out of key in parts. We’ll forgive her, though, since it’s such a gorgeous song.

Perhaps the fact that she made like an acrobat while singing and was moving back and forth in a precarious position caused her to be distracted and was the reason her vocals left something to be desired. Still, the song is emotionally resonant and there’s no way we can’t think it had something to do with her split with Brand, given the lyrical content.

Regardless, the performance left an impression.

Watch Katy Perry Perform ‘Wide Awake’ at the 2012 Billboard Music Awards