Katy Perry may have been the artist who introduced the world to the awful, awful, awful song “Roar,” but these days she’s looking to prove that there’s a sharp, political mind behind all of that cheery pop. Granted, she’s not making full-on protest songs like a modern-day Woody Guthrie, but she definitely recognize that there’s some bad stuff going on in the world and she wants her fans to be aware that this bad stuff is definitely not cool. It’s not quite Miley Cyrus bringing a homeless guy onstage at the VMAs, but at least it’s probably better than whatever Taylor Swift is doing.
Anyway, Katy Perry’s political awakening popped up in the recently released video for her song “Chained To The Rhythm,” which sees her visiting a retro-futuristic-ish amusement park that isn’t quite as idyllic as it seems. The song is basically about people being “happily numb” and “living in a bubble, bubble” without ever really addressing why that’s bad or what the alternative is, and the video underlines that point by showing people excitedly running on hamster wheels or happily fitting themselves into 1950s-style gender roles. Also, Perry goes in to smell a rose at the beginning of the video and pricks her finger on a thorn, which is about as unsubtle as every lyric in that awful “Roar” song, but at least it gets the point across.
Like we said, it’s not groundbreaking stuff, but it’s definitely saying something, and if it convinces even one kid to wake up and start questioning the world they’re presented with then it’s done its job.