How Katy Perry's latest pop video 'Roar' reinforces her brand identity and reflects her personal life

Katy Perry has many pop videos and the target audience that she is trying to reach is teenagers but mainly girls. She is clearly trying to show the role of 'Big Sister' by trying to inspire younger girls. This is clearly shown in one of her music videos 'Firework'. The music video shows many different examples of that people in the world shouldn't be hiding away their true feelings. In the video, there are kids who are worrying about problems but then by the end of the video, they overcome their fears. The idea of the video is to show a positive image to the audience in saying that "You can be yourself". A common thing with Katy Perry's videos is that they don't have a low budget at all. She doesn't waste any expenses to try to prove her point and become a big role model.

But before Firework, Katy Perry was seen as a more sexual and desirable female. California Girls one of her prior videos, shows her off as a sexy type of fantasy image. It could also be said that when the video was produced, she was going through a 'Miley Cyrus' phase because she was conveying the image that she is a young and attractive woman. While this technique definitely worked, a couple of years later she was then married to Russel Brand. Although Russel was married to Katy, he believed that it wasn't enough and that the romance was basically none existent. He has even quoted that he had to think of other women while they were married because the spark had gone. This then caused them to split up and become divorced; which then inspired her next song. This song explains all of Katy Perry's emotions as she explains "You made it so sweet, until I woke up on, on the concrete". This shows how she realizes the mistakes that she has made by marrying Russel and she has woken up to the light. In the song however, there are signs that she is already over Russel while talking to a stage hand as if she is flirting with him but then become friendly at the end of the conversation. There are many references throughout the song which explains the trials she has had to endure after the break up.  One reference in the song is where there are men with bulls for heads. I think that this symbolizes that she had a mental breakdown as in this section she was in a wheelchair but then breaks free with, I presume, a young version of herself called Katheryn. In the last elements of the song, she comes to a clearing to meet her 'Prince Charming' on a unicorn. The unicorn is a pure creature of imagination which also means that the Prince Charming is also an illusion (Russel Brand). To make matters worse and more obvious, the 'Prince Charming' crosses his fingers when they meet which means that he doesn't actually love her at all and hope that the relationship falls apart.

Now we come to the conclusion and analysis of Katy Perry's recent video 'Roar'. Like the previous video 'Wide Awake', there are also references about her previous relationship with Russel. In the song lyrics she clearly states "You held me down, but I got up. Already brushing off the dust". I believe that this means that Russel was holding her down but now she sees the mistakes that she has made and that she is completely forgotten about him. The costuming and effects for this video is seen to be very productive, so again she hasn't wasted any expenses. I think that she is trying to get back to her original target audience of teenage girls but at the same time showing an image that she is available because of the costume she is wearing.