When Katy Perry’s “Roar” came out, most of us didn’t believe that she had truly laid her “Teenage Dream” days to rest like it seemed she did in her teaser videos prior to “Roar.” After listening to “Dark House,” it is obvious that this was the change in style that she was alluding to.
At first, “Dark Horse” is difficult to take in. It’s not the follow up to “Roar” like we expected. She’s not unknown for adding in some techno to her songs, but in Dark Horse she really drops the beat. “Dark Horse” is a powerful song that’s not quite as catchy as “Roar,” but it really exemplifies her singing talent.
“Dark Horse” is a song about how, at first, you may think dating Perry is just playing around, but when you fall for her, you’ll be falling fast and hard. For me, this is how the song worked. At first I thought it was OK, and then it suddenly pulled me in and made me fall in love with it.
Perry, sponsored by Pepsi and MTV, ran a Twitter campaign to let fans votes for the next single to be released. “Dark Horse” beat “Walking on Air” with 64 percent of the votes.
For those who haven’t quite fallen in love with it yet, just give it some time. Perry has a way of writing and performing songs that seem odd in the beginning, but in the end we all find ourselves singing along. In the songs, which Perry co-wrote, it is obvious that she is pouring her own heart and feelings into these songs, which she co-wrote. “Dark Horse” is a perfect example.
The lyrics of the songs are captivating. She uses the analogy of a dark horse to show just how abruptly love can hit you. It has a beautiful chorus followed by a pause and then a change in the beat.
The only real con to this song is the rap. Juicy J’s freestyle sounds sloppy and thrown-together. Kanye West was a much better feature in “E.T.”. Luckily, Perry’s fans don’t follow her for the rap artists she features, but for her own talent.
Over all this song deserves a B+. Perry sounds great and does a great job of switching up her pop girl genre, though the rap really brings down the quality of the song. The song also hasn’t had the same roaring popularity of her previous single (no pun intended).
Perry’s new album, “Prism,” will be released on Oct. 22. Hopefully it hits us like a dark horse the way this new single did. You can see the full list of track names and a description of the songs here.
Listen to “Dark Horse” on YouTube by clicking here.
Photo links: http://www.muumuse.com/2013/08/katy-perry-reveals-2-new-prism-tracks-vote-pepsi.html/