On Thursday, Oct. 17 Katy Perry tweeted to her 45 million Twitter followers, myself one of them, “…I've made ‘PRISM’ available to stream here until it goes world wide on TUESDAY.” Like many others, I followed the link. Once the page loaded, I started listening. "PRISM" begins with the already released single, “Roar.” Say what you will about this song, but I think its pretty classic Katy. It’s fun, it’s upbeat…and it’s already been talked about.
EASTERN STORYTELLING AND SOUND
The second song is an exotic tune called “Legendary Lovers.” The lyrics have a sort of Eastern storytelling structure, the sonic components feature a variety of Asian instruments, and she uses verbiage that I have frequently heard in my yoga class. Clearly this song is heavily influenced by her connection to India and Eastern ideology, one connection being her wedding that took place in northern India. This song is a great example of how this album is very true to her personal experiences. She has thoroughly done away with the Candyland and bubblegum vibe. She is showing us herself.
“Legendary Lovers,” like many of the others on this album — “Birthday,” “Walking on Air,” “Dark Horse” — is fairly sexual. Her last album, “Teenage Dream,” had sexual undertones, so yes, this is nothing new. Yet the material on this new album is much less inhibited. It seems that she has given herself permission to say whatever she wants, without feeling the responsibility to cloak the message.
BOLD spiritual LYRICS
In addition, she has also become noticeably bolder in her discussion of faith and God. Again, she has done this before on previous albums, but this time, Katy has made it undeniably clear that she is talking about God. Two songs on the album are even named with commonly-used Christian terminology: “By the Grace of God” and “Unconditionally.” The lyrics of both these songs discuss her love for and dependence on God. “Unconditionally” seems to be a voicing of her understanding of God’s constant and unshakeable love. As a person and as an artist, KP has taken a fearless approach with this body of work. She is authentic with her lyrics, daring in her musical choices and heroically transparent in her choice of subject matter. "PRISM" truly is a prism of Katy Perry’s soul, displaying vulnerable facets of her life, heart and spirit.
The ninth song on the album is entitled “Ghost.” The first lines of this song are, “You sent a text / It's like the wind changed your mind / We were best friends / But you hit send / And disappeared in front of my eyes.” If you’ve seen the Katy Perry movie, you know that this song is the literal story of Katy Perry and Russell Brand’s divorce. She is uninhibited. She puts it all out there.
PERRY ISN'T AFRAID TO BE VULNERABLE
The last song of the album is a track entitled, “Choose Your Battles.” Katy starts the song with these lines: “You are my hurt locker lover / Don't know when you'll blow / So I tip toe through your triggered mind.” Lyrically, as well as melodically, she communicates heavy emotions, with instrumentation that reflects her broken heart. It is one of my favorite songs on the album and is yet another example of her chosen vulnerability.
It seems that Katy is fighting to free herself from her past — a past that is riddled with broken relationships, struggles with depression and the pain that accompanies the loss of the will to live and create. Yet, through her journey of inner darkness, she emerges stronger and fiercer, with more freedom than ever before. This is the message of "PRISM."
