Mixtapemotions

“Roar” by Katy Perry, Saturday, August 13, 2022

Teenage Dream was Katy Perry‘s marriage album. Perry, along with her songwriting team of Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Et. al. wrote the songs as the singer was dating British comedian Russell Brand. Perry and Brand were married less than two months after the release of Teenage Dream in a Hindu wedding ceremony in India. But Perry’s teenage dream soon became a nightmare, with the couple separating 14 months after the marriage, Brand calling off the marriage via text message. 

I USED TO BITE MY TONGUE AND HOLD MY BREATH. The documentary film Part of Me shows a heartbreaking scene in which Perry has just found out that her marriage is over. Not even one album cycle had passed, and Perry’s marriage had dissolved. The single “Part of Me” was released on Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection

expanding the album cycle until she released Prism in October of 2013. But Prism isn’t a morose break up album. Starting with the anthemic “Roar,” an arguably more powerful track than Teenage Dream‘s counterpart “Firework,” Prism is a balanced album in dealing with Perry’s past traumas. That being said, Prism lacks the cohesion of its predecessor, feeling like an imitation or a variation on the near perfect form Teenage Dream set. Perry has yet to follow up the magic on Teenage Dream with Prism’s follow up, Witness experimenting more with the formula but with even less cohesion.

I STOOD FOR NOTHING, SO I FELL FOR EVERYTHING. “Roar” uses clichés and mixes metaphors, but between the lines, the song hints at some of the adversity Katy Perry faced throughout her career. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Perry said that she felt that there was a time in her life when she “didn’t stand for anything” so she “fell for everything.” Of course listeners can look to Perry’s career leading up to this interview, first as a Christian singer then as an emerging talent marketed to Alternative markets, and finally her ascent to pop superstardom to look for moral compromises. The conservative Christians judged Perry every step of her way. In an interview last year with Inside the Studio Podcast last year, Perry talked about finding a new moral compass after no longer believing in the teachings of the Bible she grew up with. Morality is also overcoming the patriarchy in the entertainment industries imposed as formulas for female success. “Roar” is Perry waking up and taking the reins of her own success, shrugging off the mistakes of the past.