Maybe they’re in love, or maybe they’re just having a fling. Whatever is going on, Katy Perry and Justin Trudeau have become the most unlikely celebrity couple since Pete Davidson and Kim Kardashian, Nicole Kidman and Lenny Kravitz or Tom Cruise and Cher.

That’s according to a lengthy analysis in the London Times about what the pop singer and the former prime minister of Canada could possibly have in common and why they have come together at this point in each of their lives.

Perry and Trudeau’s decision to make their supposed public debut as a couple, arriving at a Parisian strip club Saturday night holding hands, only adds to the “bizarre” nature of the relationship and its curious timing, as writer Hilary Rose noted. The situation is likely to seem even more bizarre to some people, after a video was released Tuesday, showing Perry picking up a birthday cake presented to her by her Lifetimes Tour backup dancers and smashing it on the ground.

Perry, 41, and Trudeau, 53, first sparked romance rumors over the summer when they were spotting dining out together in Montreal, while the pop star was in Canada to perform as part of her Lifetimes Tour. Following that date, Trudeau began “pursuing” the Grammy nominee, a source told People. “They have an easy connection. She finds him attractive,” the source said.

A Canadian political source told People Tuesday: “This relationship is already fairly serious and definitely moving in that direction. They are very much a couple and have been seeing each other as often as possible.”

One connection they seem to share is that neither the handsome politician nor the pop princess are necessarily at the top of their game, in terms of their careers or their popularity, according to Rose. So, excited headlines about a blossoming romance between them certainly creates a narrative that distracts from all the negative news each has grappled with recently.

“It’s been a tumultuous year for them both,” Rose wrote. She also quoted a Canadian publicist who said: “I think it elevates both their brands, for very different reasons, to be seen together. It’s a really great brand and reputational move.”

The month before Perry dined with Trudeau in Montreal, she announced the end of her years-long engagement to actor Orlando Bloom, with whom she has a five-year-old daughter, Daisy Dove. Meanwhile, Trudeau’s 18-year marriage to Sophie Grégoire Trudeau, the mother of his three children, ended two years earlier.

Perry, who established herself as a “sassy, cheeky, fun, cute, sexy and smart” performer, with such albums as “California Girls” and “Teenage Dream,” hit a career setback this past year with the lackluster response to her Lifetimes tour and to her latest album, “143,” her first in four years. Critics described her musical comeback as “tacky and cringeworthy,” while Bay Area News Group critic Jim Harrington said that her sold-out Lifetimes show at Chase Center in San Francisco in July was still “bloated and convoluted,” with an attempted storyline that is “pretty much a mess from start to finish.”

Perry’s attempts as relatability also failed her when she signed onto Lauren Sanchez’s all-female Blue Origin space ride, with her, Sanchez and Gayle King all calling themselves “astronauts” and trying to hype their 10-minute adventure as a  feminist triumph. Critics instead derided it as “space tourism” for the uber-wealthy and a PR stunt on behalf of billionaires Sanchez and Jeff Bezos. Perry especially faced backlash for her dramatics on the ride, singing “It’s a Wonderful World” and kissing the ground upon landing. Bloom reportedly thought the stunt was a stupid idea, while Perry admitted that the public reaction had left her “battered and bruised.”

Meanwhile, Trudeau saw his political career “end in humiliation, roundly rejected by his party and his fellow Canadians,” Rose wrote. Trudeau, former leader of the Liberal Party, comes from political royalty: His father, Pierre, was Canadian prime minister in the 1970s and 1980s, while his mother, Margaret, was a famous socialite who regularly danced at Studio 54 and dated Jack Nicholson and Ryan O’Neal.

During his decade as prime minister, Justin Trudeau was a rising political star on the global stage, hailed by American Vogue as one of the sexiest men alive because of his charisma, hopeful political message and “feminist” leanings. But his political star plummeted as his administration was beset by concerns that he had failed to deliver on his big promises. Canada also faced cost-of-living increases and inflation that contributed to election upsets around the world in 2024, according to Rose and to the BBC. 

“Once people turned on him, they turned hard,” Marci Surkes, Trudeau’s former policy director said, according to Rose.

Since resigning as prime minister and giving up his seat in Parliament earlier this year, January, Trudeau is reportedly spending more time with his children, 11 to 18, while giving some speeches on behalf of Liberal Party colleagues. It also seems like his schedule has opened up so that he could potentially follow Perry around the world as she continues her tour through December.

“When she first hung out with Justin, she wasn’t looking to date but they stayed in touch,” a source told People. Again, Perry’s sources have insisted to People that she and Trudeau have a surprising amount in common, that the attraction is real and that she’s not interested in any kind of P.R. stunt.

Indeed, Rose said it was reported elsewhere that Perry is keen to keep the romance “low-key” and not publicize it. Still, she, or her team, has found ways to publicized it, with her people sharing revealing tidbits with the media. “Katy is really into it. They’ve spent a lot of private time together,” one source said, according to Rose.

And, this past weekend, the paparazzi knew to find Perry and Trudeau at the Crazy Horse Paris cabaret. They were there to celebrate Perry’s 41st birthday, and photographers were there to capture them leaving the club, looking glamorous and very much like a new global power couple.