As far as reasons for skipping the Met Gala go, Katy Perry‘s might be the best.

As celebrity after celebrity walked the carpet at the 2024 Met Gala on the first Monday in May, many were watching and waiting for the “Hot N Cold” singer, 39, to make her grand entrance, only to realize she would not be in attendance again this year.

In an Instagram post, the American Idol judge shared AI photos of herself in gowns matching this year’s theme, “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” alongside an explanation of her absence from this year’s event.

“couldn’t make it to the MET, had to work,” she wrote, hilariously and succinctly summarizing her absence. One of the AI-generated images shows the singer in a long ballgown with flowers embellishing the skirt and shrubbery at the bottom, while another sees Perry in a metal corset with greenery falling from the bottom and creating a skirt and tail.

In the carousel, Perry also posted photos of one fan waiting for her outside the Met Gala, herself in the studio singing, and a text from her mom, in which she had to explain that the pictures circulating social media were AI-generated.

“Ha Feather! Didn’t know you went to the Met,” the text from her mom read. “What a gorgeous gown, you look like the Rose Parade, you are your own float lol.”

Perry, via text, replied to her mom, “lol mom the AI got you too, BEWARE!”

Sadly, it looks like fans will have to wait another year to see the singer back on the Met Gala carpet, despite Perry having some of the most iconic looks of all time from the event, including her 2019 cheeseburger and chandelier outfits and her 2018 angel wing getup. For her last appearance in 2022, she kept things more reserved and sleek in an Oscar de la Renta black and white one-shoulder gown.

Prior to announcing on Instagram that she would not be at the NYC event on Monday, Perry spoke with ET just hours earlier at the American Idol red carpet, where she played coy when asked if she would be on a red-eye to New York in order to make it to the Met.

“This is my Met Gala. This is my garden party,” Perry told ET. “Here I am, transformed, the butterfly you have been waiting to see.”

While the show and the hosts had the night off on Monday, the singer seems to be intently focused on new music and finishing out her run as a judge strong. Perry announced her departure from American Idol after seven seasons earlier this year, and is intending to step away at the end of the season.

As for her replacement, her fellow judges, Lionel Richie and Luke Bryan, have pitched big-name singers like Kelly Clarkson and Meghan Trainor to take Perry’s seat in the coming months.

“Finding someone to replace Katy with a sense of humor, it’s gotta be fun but no ego because we’re gonna insult each other so much,” Richie recently shared.

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