Has Katy Perry Just Put Politics Back Into Pop?

Are we about to enter a new era of protest song?

There aren’t many mainstream stars these days that we can rely on for a good anti-establishment, pro-rights tune. Gone are the lyrical days of the Bob Dylan’s and Marley’s. The charts are entirely saturated with love songs in one form or another. The only people we want to take to task are exes. So it comes as a surprise that there’s a ripple being made by a most unlikely figure…

Katy Perry performed at the Brits last night and no one missed the admittedly strange homage to the US and UK leaders. As she sang, she was joined on stage by two massive skeletons dressed as Trump and May. Some are saying the link is tenuous at best, but it’s easily identifiable. The outfits exactly match those of the two officials at their first meeting. However, whilst topical, the Brit performance isn’t why she caught our attention.

The song itself is actually a lot less candy-coloured fun or teen angst than Perry’s usual endeavours. Gone are ballads about being yourself and wide-eyed wonderlands, the new hit ‘Chained to the Rhythm’ is actually kinda dark and, dare we say it, political. Check out the full lyrics here, but you can see the parallels to politics both in the US and abroad.

The lyrics speak to an audience too comfortable in their lonely utopian bubble, who are blind to the coming strife and troubles. Perry sings about a world full of zombies with rose-tinted glasses for whom nothing is enough. The line ‘yeah we think we’re free’ hammers it home for her audience back in the land of the free.

The rap is where the usually tame singer lets it all loose. Katy Perry was extremely supportive of Hillary’s campaign, performing for her democratic rallies, and her disappointment shows. Rapper Skip Marley covers it all, from ‘breaking down walls’, to greed and rioting. He aims straight at politicians or ’high place liars’, who feed a ‘feeble’ truth to an empire on borrowed time. Suddenly those skeleton puppets don’t seem so ambiguous.

So it’s never going to have the kudos and credibility of Dylan et al., but it marks a shift in the pop polemic. For those disappointed in Lady Gaga’s politically neutral (though arguably not) half time show at the Super Bowl, it’s nice to see that others are stepping up to the plate. Add to this the even more loaded video for ‘Chained’ and we’ve got a Trump protest song on our hands.

Like her or not, Katy Perry is an idol for many young women and it’s good to see her make a stand, however small. For someone so vocal for the Democrats, it’s important she doesn’t go quietly into the good night in light of their loss. Instead, she’s making a stand by putting her politics into her pop. It can only be a positive thing.

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