With stories of lip-synching decisions running rampant everywhere, it’s great to hear that the Queen of Pop Katy Perry steered clear of such antics. Personally selected by the First Daughters, the Grammy-nominated singer headlined last Saturday’s ‘Kids Inaugural Concert’ with an impressive four song set. Serving as the only vocalist with an actual “set”, Katy brought fun and quality #live performance vocals to the soiree for the younger generation who support Obama. The singer effortlessly belted four of her multi-platinum singles, with each performance building to the penultimate inspirational moment from the entire weekend – a 2013 live vocal of her smash hit “Firework”. Watch Katy’s moving set below:

“Teenage Dream”

There’s a maturity in her high notes here that hasn’t been present in any of Katy’s live performances to date. I especially love the lyric change “we drove to Washington and got drunk on the beach” even if there aren’t any beaches in the Capitol. 2:53 finds Michelle rocking out to Katy’s high-note – a candid moment in American (and music) history.

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“Wide Awake”

The way that Katy sings “Wide Awake” shows just how passionate she is about her songwriting. Beginning at 1:20, Katy brings soul to the pop ballad, which also respectfully ranked high on both the Hot 100 and R&B charts. The ad-libs starting at 3:04 command the Inaugural stage perfectly, and makes for one of the best live vocals of the song to date.

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“Part Of Me”

As a Katy fan, I’ll be honest – the high notes on “Part Of Me” is her biggest performance challenge. Instead of hitting the notes, she chose a huskier route with a more improvised approach – to much better results. The spin at 1:30 is #quintessentialkaty and the 8-counts at 2:08 are both special moments, and it’s this cuteness in her lack of rhythm that makes me a huge fan of hers.

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“Firework”

You can tell this vocal really moved the crowd as the camera shows the joy in all the kids’ faces. While the performance does its best to inspire youth across the nation, she gets a slight criticism for the #girls bouncing around the stage. 3:21 finds Sasha and friends smiling and dancing with each other, proving the true power of Katy’s live vocals.