Prism, Katy Perry’s third studio album, lives up to its name.
She is transparent, unabashedly putting herself on display and pouring her heart out through her music; and in doing so aiming to refract the light she has now found in herself, and dispel it onto others.
While her previous albums are speckled with bubblegum pop hits, Prism shows a matured, introspective side of Katy. Perry may have traded in her candy blue wigs and cupcake bras for deeper, more meaningful tracks with ubiquitous messages of self-empowerment and self-love.
The pop superstar does not disappoint with chart-toppers; anthems that you’ll want to blast through the speakers. But the record could also double as a memoir for Perry: as she transcends listeners and takes them on a rollercoaster through her ups and downs of being both an international music icon and a human being coming out of one of the darkest periods of her life.
While the record is filled with both infectious dance tunes and ballads, the lyrics are infused with more than just the ideal of partying and dancing the night away last Friday night. Motivational powerhouse, and first single, “Roar,” instructs listeners to use their voice, and not be afraid to be their own person. Half Rocky-inspired ode to the champion, half Queen of the Jungle battle cry, “Roar” puts Perry back at the top of her game with the “eye of the tiger, a fighter, dancing through the fire.”
Perry is still the California Gurl we know and love, and the album is speckled with pop anthems that are signature Katy Perry. “International Smile” could be a condensed autobiography of Perry’s life as of late – with fun lyrics chronicling the titular girl who is “so in demand” with “passport stamps, she’s cosmopolitan.” And the super-fun party-girl is back in “This Is How We Do,” an ode to the nights spent buying bottle service with rent money, the mornings spent in last night’s dress, and the hours spent with your girlfriends singing Mariah Carey-aoke.
But Perry is no longer on cotton candy cloud nine in “Ghost.” It’s “Wide Awake” part two for the “Teenage Dream” songstress who chronicles her divorce from comedian Russell Brand – down to the text message that he sent her to call it quits. Perry laments on his vanishing act, but how she managed to see through his façade and become a stronger, better person for it. The sigh of relief from Perry is almost tangible and audible through her track – the lyrics gushing out of Perry after keeping them bottled in for so long.
Her latest single from the album, ballad “Unconditionally,” is allegedly inspired by her on-again, off-again, on-again flame, John Mayer; and sees a newfound hopeful Perry in a committed relationship where there is no fear now and she can be free. She preaches acceptance of the others’ flaws and “dirty laundry” as the key to freedom and while the song hinges on slow, sad even, notes at times, you can’t help but feel optimistic, and with the song’s fairy tale themed music video, that Perry has at last found her Prince Charming to love unconditionally.
Two of the records’ stand-outs, “Dark Horse” and “Walking On Air,” blend the most musically . “Walking On Air,” a disco throwback vibe, is one of the rare glimpses of being happy and carefree, and so blindingly in love the whole world feels like a utopia that defies gravity. In “Dark Horse,” Perry teams up with rapper Juicy J for a self-empowering, self-assured track where Perry challenges her lover to make her his Aphrodite, but mockingly quips that he has no idea who he is falling for.
But one thing can be sure – Perry is no dark horse in the music industry, and Prism further solidifies her place as one of the principal Princesses of Pop.