Katy Perry Pop Video Analysis

Katy Perry has always been an idol for many young teenage girls, mainly aged 14-17 year old's. These teenagers may want to refer Katy as a role model, or even like a big sister or friend. She reflects many of her music videos along the lines of reality and making people feel positive about themselves. She relates some anxieties that young girls may have and overcomes their problems by using specific lyrics within her music videos. Katy is someone that young girls can look up to, admire, want to be and to look sexy but not in a threatening way. 


One of Katy's first biggest hits was "Hot and Cold" in 2008. This music video shows her being stood up at the alter but however makes it very comical and makes everyone laugh at her. There are scenes where she goes after the man and rips off her wedding dress and runs bare foot to chase him. At the end of this music video it has been shown that he was day dreaming about what would happen to him if he says "no". This can influence the power of women and show that they can be strong as well as men can be. Relating to Goodwin's 5 characteristics, Katy has many dance routines all through this music video, although she is a solo singer, she has back up dancers to support her. The lyrics are illustrative as the music video relate to the fact he is 'Hot and Cold' by always changing his mind. Katy's music videos are all very wacky and may relate to a few others of her videos. She develops a motif by creating herself to look like a particular image, here the image is seen to be a rowdy bride being left at the alter. There are parts in this music video where she has seen to look sexy, however not in a way that she is showing off some female parts that make females feel awkward whilst watching. Katy looks sexy in this music video for herself, not for the audience. This music video has not related to any other intertextual references due to this being her first music video. 





Katy has conducted many music videos that show that she is not afraid to show other people that she can look ugly as well as beautiful and shows that not all famous women are beautiful all the time. Her music video "Last Friday Night (TGIF)" in 2010 relates to the fact that teenagers at a certain age seem to feel insecure about their looks. Going through high school not looking like the rest of the 'pretty' girls can be very upsetting and in a way embarrassing. This music video shows that she was ignored throughout high school by the popular kids and was not invited to any parties because of what she looked like. This music video has very good mise-en-scene and it is created to look like a mini film. The establishing shot at the beginning of the video shows that it is a wealthy american location and that many people have the space to have parties. The music video is shown her to be wearing braces around the head, glasses, dungarees and reading books, which may stereotype as a 'nerd' in which why she has not been invited to this particular party by the rest of the people in her school. Her friend transforms her from being the school 'nerd' to the school 'hottie'. Although she still has braces and odd colours shoes, it shows that she is still her normal self, just got done up in a way shes beautiful. It shows her being noticed by people she was ignored by when she looked a certain way. 



In my opinion Katy's most powerful video of hers was "Firework" in 2010. This music video is very effective in the way the music video and the lyrics have been constructed to make it very illustrative. The lyrics indicate that no matter what you think of yourself, just let yourself go and do what you want to do and don't be afraid of who you are. There are lyrics within the song that relate to people being upset and depressed about how they look or for who they are. The music video of this shows a very positive message to empower young people who may have anxiety about themselves. It shows a story of three different people and can relate to them all not being happy about who they are, however after seeing the fireworks that Katy let off, they immediately get the impression that thats who they are. Being a 'firework' can relate to letting yourself go and showing your true colours. All three storys within the music video all let themselves go. The girl who is very insecure about her weight at a party will not get into a swimming pool because she is embarrassed, after seeing the fireworks she builds up the courage to not be worried about what other people think of her. Also with the girl that has cancer, it looks as if she has locked herself in her hospital room from everyone to not show herself as she has no hair. She feels the fireworks inside her 'igniting' and realises that she can be missing out on so much fun because she is afraid of what she looks like. There is also another scene where a boy is very upset about questioning his sexuality, he lets lose and kisses a boy and finds out that its for the best. the overall look on this music video and the lyrics all make everyone seem very positive in the way they think about themselves. This music video has many special effects that enable to show the feeling inside them when letting go, the visual effect of fireworks occur on them to make them feel happy about themselves. 




Katy Perry changed the way she was shown in her music videos and her lyrics when she started dating Russell Brand in late 2010. Katy made a song called 'California Girls' which shows her in a few scenes being nude and very sexy for her new boyfriend. Katy has changed her appearance and the way she is in music videos, may be the fact that she is too comfortable that she has a boyfriend. The mise-en-scene in the music video is seen to be very girly and cute, which does not relate anywhere to her older music videos. This music video is very contradicting because it is based along a fake world that she is living in. This music video has alienated all of her young fans as they were very let down by her. It appears that she is looking for mens attention in this music video than any other by showing clips of her nude which can relate to the notion of looking. 




When Katy split up with her boyfriend Russell Brand, she realised what she became when she was with him. She came to a conclusion that she had to apologise to her fans for how she was acting whilst she was with him. To gain back her fans she came out with a new song called "Wide Awake" in 2012 which shows at the beginning of the music video, a clip of a final scene from California Gurls. It shows all the film crew clapping and cheering at her for creating a great music video. She then heads to the dressing room to take off the character that she was in the California Gurls music video. The reason behind this is to show her fans that this person was not the real her and that she is leaving the past behind her and moving on. The costume and makeup for the "Wide Awake" music video is greatly different compared to California Gurls. Her makeup in this music video is more powerful, in a way that she does not look like a Barbie Doll. In the same way her costume is very long and covers most of her skin whereas the costume in the California Gurls music video is the opposite showing a lot of skin. This music video is very illustrative as it relates back to how she was left heart broken, but had the power to move on. It shows a firework shooting from her chest into the dark sky (which is a reference to "Firework"), the scene hints that no matter what she struggles through, she always keeps that "spark" inside that pushes her forward. In the following scene, the walls open up to reveal a little girl in a pink cardigan, a blue collared floral dress, and a pink ribbon in her hair. Perry approaches the little girl, their hands touch, and a glow surrounds them magically, with the "young Katy" and the "old Katy" coming face to face. (A reference to "The One That Got Away" with the meeting between the two Katys.) A "Prince Charming" appears riding a unicorn, and flatters Perry but crosses his fingers behind his back, signalling that he is untrustworthy. This scene is related to her ex Russell Brand. Katy was in love with him and thought he was ideal for her, unfortunately their relationship ended on a bad note with Russell saying he didn't love her in the first place, which relates to the crossed fingers. The little girl is later identified as Katheryn (the younger Perry) by the license plate on her pink bike (a reference of pink bike from "Hot n Cold"); she walks away into a neighbourhood (similar to the one in "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)"). Perry returns to her dressing room, now wearing another outfit, this time recognised as the peppermint dress from her California Dreams Tour. She opens her fist, revealing a butterfly that flies away and sparkles as it leaves. The camera pans to a stage where Perry stands on a rising platform, and sings the beginning bars of "Teenage Dream".



Katy released a new song in 2013 called "Roar" which also relates to the meaning of both "Firework" and "Wide Awake" as it shows the concept of self empowerment, positive messages and that you don't need men in life to be happy. The music video shows Katy being stranded in a jungle with a man who tends to be more interested in his looks than anything else, this can be referred back to Russell Brand in which he is very vain. It shows a scene of the men being attacked by a tiger which shows that he is not so masculine as it seems as he cannot look out for himself. The music video is very humorous and shows that she is not afraid to take the mick out of herself. The special effects in this music video are a very high production in the same way as "Firework". The lyrics are again illustrative to show power within women and that you don't need men. In this music video her costume becomes quite sexy, however she is being sexy for herself as there are no men in the jungle, it shows that you can be sexy for yourself let alone a man. There is a scene towards the end of the music video where she makes the tiger calm down and shows the animal that she is powerful, unlike the way the man dealt with the situation, it shows that women have power too.