A surprisingly substantively subversive song from Katy Perry:
LYRICS:
Are we crazy
Living our lives through a lens
Trapped in our white picket fence
Like ornamentsSo comfortable, we’re living in a bubble, bubble
So comfortable, we cannot see the trouble, troubleAren’t you lonely
Up there in utopia
Where nothing will ever be enough
Happily numbSo comfortable, we’re living
in a bubble, bubble
So comfortable, we cannot
see the trouble, troubleSo put your rose-colored glasses on
And party onTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmAre we tone deaf
Keep sweeping it under the mat
Thought we could do better than that
I hope we canSo comfortable, we’re living in a bubble, bubble
So comfortable, we cannot see the trouble, troubleSo put your rose-colored glasses on
And party onTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmIt is my desire
Break down the walls to connect, inspire
Up in your high place, liars
Time is ticking for the empire
The truth they feed is feeble
As so many times before
They greed over the people
They stumbling and fumbling
And we about to riot
They woke up, they woke up
the lionsTurn it up, it’s your favorite song
Dance, dance, dance to the distortion
Turn it up, keep it on repeat
Stumbling around like a wasted zombie
Yeah, we think we’re free
Drink, this one’s on me
We’re all chained to the rhythm
To the rhythm
To the rhythmdid some research online to find out the hidden messages behind the video…
0:22 — Comments on everyone’s obsession with social media
0:30 — Cotton candy shaped like atomic bombs
0:42 — Katy pricks her finger, showing that even if everything appears perfect, it isn’t what it seems
0:48 — Roller coaster separated by gender, enforcing a heteronormative lifestyle
1:07 — An amusement park rides depicts houses falling, referring to the housing market crash
1:20 — Everyone’s obsession with social media gratification
1:30 – The sign says 1984, a possible tie to the novel 1984 which depicts a dystopian society where people are constantly monitored
1:37 — Katy’s male counterpart gets a much higher validation score for doing the same thing as she, a woman, does
1:46 — ‘There’s No Place Like Home’ ride throws people back over a fence – an obvious allusion to Trump’s immigration ban/wall
1:50 — The ‘Bombs Away’ ride shows a flurry of falling bombs
2:15 — ‘Inferno H20’ seems to comment on the world’s dependence on oil and its impact on not only the environment but also our own bodies
2:39 — A hamster wheel that a white man seems to successfully navigate proves incredibly difficult for a black man and an Asian woman who both fail
2:50 — Katy is the only one able to see passed the ‘Nuclear Family’ video being played to see the darker truth behind it
3:46 — Katy successfully beats the hamster wheel; hope for the future?
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