Katy Perry’s ‘Stress’ Over Album and Tour Reportedly Caused ‘Tension’ with Orlando Bloom: Sources (Exclusive)

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Katy Perry has been swamped on her Lifetimes world tour and is currently in Australia
The singer was “very stressed” over the reception her new music received, a source says, which caused “some tension” in her relationship with fiancé Orlando Bloom
“Orlando was understanding,” a second source tells PEOPLE

Katy Perry and Orlando Bloom’s relationship experienced strain amid the singer’s latest endeavor, but a source says her fiancé was there for her.

An insider tells PEOPLE, “Katy was deeply frustrated following the reception of her new album,” 143, which came out in September. “It made her very stressed. Orlando was understanding, but it did cause some tension.”

A second source adds of Perry, who is currently on her Lifetimes world tour, “She was also disappointed in some of the tour reviews. It’s put stress on their relationship.”

Despite any previous negative reviews, it hasn’t impacted the international shows, and the tour sold out three nights in Mexico, leading Perry to add an extra date. The current Australian leg is also completely sold out. She next brings the show to the US, beginning with a July 10 stop in Denver.

When she released her latest album, which the Lifetimes tour is supporting, Perry noted in a statement that her vision was to create “a bold, exuberant, celebratory dance-pop album with the symbolic 143 numerical expression of love as a throughline message.” (The album title 143 refers to the retro shorthand of “I love you” via pager communication.)

(Reps for Perry and Bloom did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment about the couple’s rough patch.)

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However, the “Teenage Dream” singer has been taking the negativity in stride. In February, she spoke to PEOPLE about the negative criticism she received for her album 143. “You shouldn’t read it when it’s good. You shouldn’t read it when it’s bad,” she said.

Perry, 40, added, “My therapist said something that really changed my life. What anybody thinks about you is none of your business. It’s what you think about yourself.”

She also said she created the album from “a real shift in my life when I became a mother, and I really tapped into that feminine divine energy. The messages on it are celebratory. They’re about love.”

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In conjunction with her new album, Perry set off on her Lifetimes Tour in April, less than a month after participating in Jeff Bezos’ all-female Blue Origin flight, which received criticism over its cost and its alleged impact on the environment.

Perry seemingly addressed the criticism during the opening night of the Lifetimes Tour, asking the crowd in Mexico City: “Has anyone ever called your dreams crazy?”

She then addressed the hurtful criticism in an Instagram post.

“When the ‘online’ world tries to make me a human Piñata, I take it with grace and send them love, cause I know so many people are hurting in so many ways and the internet is very much so a dumping ground for unhinged and unhealed,” the musician wrote in a comment on Tuesday, April 29,

Katy Perry in Mexico City in April 2025.Theo Wargo/Getty

Perry and Bloom, 48, have been together for almost a decade. They got engaged in February 2019 and welcomed their daughter Daisy Dove in August 2020.