Small Details You Missed In Katy Perry's 'Swish Swish' Music Video

Katy Perry knows just how to score points with her fans. After she dropped her Taylor Swift diss track "Swish Swish," she released a star-studded music video featuring some of the internet's most popular memes. With so much packed into a 6-minute feature, it's easy to miss the details that make this video such a hit. Read on to discover all the small, must-see moments.  

It's no secret that conspiracy theorists think that Perry's a member of the secret society known as the Illuminati. Though her membership remains unconfirmed—as does the existence of said club—quite a few symbols, such as the all seeing eye, associated with the hush-hush social group can be found throughout Perry's discography and past music videos such as "Dark Horse," reported The Atlantic. However, in "Swish Swish," Perry makes use of a different Illuminati symbol: the pyramid.

In the beginning of the video, Perry sits atop a pyramid of basketballs, for no clear reason other than because that she can. The pyramid soon falls apart—but let's not worry about what that could mean for her alleged Illuminati connection.

Perry wastes no time roping in internet celebrities for her music video—the first being that #NuggsForCarter kid. For those who don't remember this guy's claim to fame: college student Carter Wilkerson tweeted at Wendy's (yes, the popular fast food chain) and asked, "How many retweets for a year of free chicken nuggets?" Wendy's Twitter account responded, telling him he'd need an absurd "18 million" retweets. 

According to Forbes, after begging for retweets, Wilkerson was able to achieve his goal—hence, the cameo of Wilkerson chowing down on the set of "Swish Swish."

But what even the most eagle-eyed fans may not have noticed is that Perry's beloved dog is sitting on Wilkerson's lap! And just what is Perry's pup's name, you ask? Nugget. It all comes together.

In the basketball-themed video, Perry plays on the Tigers, making an obvious connection to her past video for "Roar." Her opponents, on the other hand, are the Sheep. But don't expect to see any cute, cuddly creatures. The team's mascot is actually a wolf wearing the hide of a sheep—quite literally, "a wolf in sheep's clothing."

As fans may remember, Perry once tweeted, "Watch out for the Regina George in sheep's clothing," which many believed to be in reference to Swift, the singer's pop star rival, who told Rolling Stone that a certain celebrity (read: Perry) had stolen dancers from her during a tour.

The two have had a nasty feud ever since. Though Perry's claimed to be over the drama, it would seem that the singers still have bad blood, at least if Perry's Sheep reference is any indication. (Not to mention, check out Swift's video for the clapback track "Look What You Made Me Do.")

Viewers will recognize a ton of celebrities—of varying degrees of fame—throughout Perry's video. Former Saturday Night Live star Molly Shannon plays the hopelessly incompetent Tigers coach. Brooklyn Nine-Nine's Terry Crews stars as the angry muscle-head coach of the Sheeps. Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (aka "The Mountain" from Game of Thrones) makes an appearance as the captain of the opposing team.

Real-life sportscasters Bill Walton and Rich Eisen provide commentary on the big game, while YouTuber Christine Sydelko, Glee actress Jenna Ushkowitz, Stranger Things' Gaten Matarazzo, model Dexter Mayfield, and viral sensation Russel Horning (better known as "Backpack Kid") poorly run the court on Perry's team.

Other faces you might recognize are the stars of Netflix's female wrestling series GLOW, the West Hollywood Cheerleaders, bodybuilder Iris Kyle, hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut, New England Patriot Rob Gronkowski, basketball pro Karl-Anthony Towns and Instagram-famous dog Doug the Pug.

Take a close look at the Tigers' stats. They're full of little jokes and references relating to each specific team member. Gaten Matarazzo's stats note that he hails from Hawkins, Ind. and attended Hawkins Middle School. Fans of Netflix's Stranger Things will surely recognize Hawkins as the name of the town in which the series is set.

Christine Sydelko's card, on the other hand, lists her hometown as "Made in Texas," a reference to the vlogger's uniform T-shirt that bears the similar phrase, "Don't Mess With Texas."

As for Perry, her card mentions that she's a "Miley Cyrus impersonator," which appears to poke fun at Perry's short blonde 'do that many have compared to Cyrus' hairstyle.

As evidenced by all of the internet-famous faces spotted throughout her video, Perry's a pretty big fan of the ol' world wide web. And, as such, she's made sure to include a couple popular memes in her "Swish Swish" video.

Notice the crowd's signs featuring a crying Perry? Well, they're a reference to the Crying Jordan meme that featured a teary-eyed Michael Jordan. Since the internet got a hold of the picture, the meme's been used everywhere—even to mock Jordan after his college basketball team, the North Carolina Tar Heels, lost a championship game, reported Hollywood Life. It also plays into the video's apparent homage to the movie Space Jam, starring none other than Jordan himself.

Perry also did her own take of the Shooting Stars meme, which has featured people, animals, and cartoons falling through space to the tune of Bag Raiders' "Shooting Stars." According to NYMag, that phenom started with a reddit user who made a video titled "Fat man does amazing dive."

The rest is history.

While there were plenty of big name cameos in Perry's video, one of the most surprising appearances is made by Kathy Beth Terry, Perry's persona in her music video for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)." While Terry isn't played by Perry this time around, the character is still a welcome addition to the cast of "Swish Swish," especially given her familiar denim vest, tape-wrapped glasses, and dental headgear.

And, just like "Last Friday Night," "Swish Swish" also features a dance number in conjunction with the popular Ubisoft game Just Dance.

Perry's social media followers may remember that, ahead of the "Swish Swish" video release, she teamed up with DanceOn to launch a dance competition with the prize being a role in her music video. Fans were told to upload a video of their choreography to select platforms with the hashtag #SwishSwishChallenge.

While the contest ended on July 12, 2017, the winner was kept a secret until the release of the "Swish Swish" video—during which dancer Amanda LaCount made her debut. She can be spotted toward the end of the video during the big celebration scene.

After a video like "Swish Swish," we can't wait to see what Perry whips up next.