"Roar" is a song by American singer Katy Perry. It was released on August 10, 2013, by Capitol Records as the lead single from her fourth studio album, Prism (2013). Perry co-wrote the song with Bonnie McKee and its producers Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut. It is a power pop song containing elements of arena rock and lyrics centering on standing up for oneself and self-empowerment.
To promote the song, Perry performed under the Brooklyn Bridge at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards, on The X Factor Australia in October 2013, at the Sydney Opera House also in October 2013, and on the German TV show Schlag den Raab in November 2013. Grady Hall and Mark Kudsi directed the song's music video, which features Perry trying to adapt to the jungle and taming a tiger after surviving a plane crash. The song was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.
The song was a commercial success, topping charts in Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Lebanon, New Zealand, Scotland, Slovenia, South Korea, the United Kingdom, and the United States. By the end of 2013, "Roar" had sold over 9.9 million units (combined sales and track-equivalent streams) globally according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI). "Roar" has sold 6.6 million copies in the US, over 1 million in the United Kingdom, and was Australia's best-selling female song of the year with 560,000 copies sold within that time. When "Roar" was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Perry became the first artist to have three Diamond-certified singles in the country, the others being "Firework" and "Dark Horse". In February 2020, the music video for "Roar" reached 3 billion views, becoming the first female-centered video to reach the milestone in YouTube's history.
Production and composition
The song was mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios. "Roar" was recorded in four other studios: Luke's in the Boo, Playback Recording Studio and Secret Garden Studios, all located in the state of California, as well as MXM Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. Perry co-wrote the song with Bonnie McKee and its producers Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut. All its development took place in March 2013. McKee told MTV that "Roar" is "kind of a 'pick yourself up and dust yourself off and keep going', female-empowerment song" and "kind of an epiphany song." Perry said she wrote the song after undergoing therapy, saying she was "sick of keeping all these feelings inside and not speaking up for myself".
Musically, "Roar" is a power pop song that features elements of arena rock. Throughout the song, Perry "flexes diva-like vocals", singing the lyric "Hey!" several times in a way resemblant of The Lumineers. The song's instrumentation is composed of "pounding" pianos and "booming" bass drums. According to the sheet music published by Alfred Music. on Musicnotes.com, "Roar" is composed in the key of B major and set in a time signature at a moderate tempo of 90 beats per minute. Perry's vocal range spans from the low note B3 to the high note E5, while the music follows the chord progression of B–Cm–Gm–E. The song shares the theme of empowerment with Perry's single "Firework". Perry described the track as a song speaking about standing up for oneself.
Release
Perry announced "Roar" would be the first single from Prism with the release of a video teaser featuring the singer burning a blue wig. More video teasers were released onto YouTube, showing Perry at a funeral with a coffin decorated with the singer's famous pink and white pinwheels dress, and entering a recording booth while dressed with a "throwback" jacket featured in the single's cover art, which was revealed on August 8, 2013. It features a tiger print border around Perry, who wears a blue Japanese silk sukajan jacket, with the image of a tiger printed on its back. On the same day of the song's digital release, a lyric video for it, produced by Joe Humpay, Aya Tanimura, Tim Zimmer, and Tuan Le, was released onto YouTube. It primarily shows Perry doing daily activities such as eating breakfast, going to the bathroom, and taking a bath while texting the lyrics of "Roar" to friends. Some words are substituted with various Emoji characters. It was target of plagiarism accusations by music producer Dillon Francis, who felt it copied the concept of instant messaging from his video entitled "Messages".