"That was so insane," 23-year-old Perry said during an interview with LiveDaily. "I always tell everybody I broke out in hives because I was so excited. She definitely one-upped my life. She took it to the next level."

The "next level" includes a song high on the iTunes chart: Perry's latest single, "I Kissed a Girl," hit No. 2 and earned a No. 1 ranking for pop singles. Her debut album, "One of the Boys," hits shelves June 17. ("UR So Gay" appears on the 2007 EP of the same name.) Although Madonna's kudos played a hand in Perry's success, Perry isn't willing to attribute all of it to the Material Girl.

"It's been a multiple amount of things," Perry said. "We dropped the EP in November. It was already getting that Internet buzz and blog buzz of people either hating it or loving it."

"One of the Boys" is a culmination of five years of hard work for Perry. She was signed and dropped by Island and Columbia. Her friends and her parents, she said, were starting to question if pursuing a music career was the right move for her.

"My friends were like, 'OK you're delusional.' My parents were like, 'I don't know if this is going to happen for you. We keep putting money into your account for Trader Joe's. It started getting a little bit old.'"

Now signed to Capitol, Perry is finally quieting the doubters.

"It's so weird because it's hitting so fast and I'm so happy. I'm ready to go. But people, if they take the time to look at the back story, there's a long one. That's true for a lot of new artists these days. In the music industry, nothing's stable."

For "One of the Boys," Perry worked with a dream team of producers and songwriters, including Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and super-producer/songwriter Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette), as well as Dr. Luke and Max Martin of Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears fame.

"Everyone really brought it," Perry said. "I worked with a lot of people. In that amount of time, I had the opportunity to work with literally anyone I could convince, honestly. I worked with amazing people.

"I worked with Dave Stewart in London. That was amazing. He's an icon himself with Annie Lennox; Glen Ballard who is the man of all men. He's the man responsible for one of the most influential records of my life-- 'Jagged Little Pill.' He's the one who brought me from my hometown of Santa Barbara at 17 to Los Angeles, took me under his wing and developed me and challenged me to write a song every day."

For this summer, the challenge is going to be to tackle the Warped Tour heat every day. But she said she'll handle it fine.

"I'm sure it's going to be a hot summer. I'm a little scared but I'm prepared to wear little or nothing and Converse."