Katy Perry was told to lie and say her new single is about Russell Brand, but refused.

The singer ended her 14-month marriage to the British comedian in December last year, and was horrified when it was suggested her latest track, 'Part Of Me', could be a bigger hit if she claimed she had only just written it.

She told MTV News: ''I wrote it two years ago, which is funny because everybody is like, 'God, it sounds so current'.

''Some people that I work with were like, 'You should just say you wrote it a couple of weeks ago'. I'm like, 'I'm not a douchebag, I'm going to tell the truth'.

''I wrote it two years ago when I was writing and recording 'Teenage Dream', [but] it didn't feel right on the record.''

Katy recently admitted her third album is going to get ''real f***ing dark'' and her lyrics will be more introspective than her previous records.

She added ''Well, my music is about get real f***ing dark. I'll be shoe-gazing. You'll never see my face because my hair is in my face.''