Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Dark Horse | Katy Perry feat. Juicy J

Rating: ★★★★☆

It's has only been one short month since the lead single from Katy Perry's upcoming album, Prism, was released, but now she's already prepping for another potential candidate to impact radio.

"Roar" was released in August and now, thanks to a joint promotion between Pepsi and Perry, a new song has been released early: "Dark Horse," which features Juicy J.

After just the first listen of "Dark Horse," I was left wondering why this wasn't chosen to be the lead single from the album, rather than the Sara Bareilles' rip-off that is "Roar." This new track blows the rest of Perry's discography out of the water (minus, "E.T.," perhaps).

The song relies on a trippy house beat with a heavy bass line that shakes every window of my car when I'm listening to the song through my car stereo. Perry slides in with a smooth, seductive tone, before belting out "Are you ready for, ready for / A perfect storm, a perfect storm? / 'Cause once you're mine, once you're mine / there's no going back" in the chorus, just before a house-style instrumental loop.

The only thing I really don't like about the song is the inclusion of Juicy J, who is not only irritating but also irrelevant. As he raps "Y'all know what it is. Katy Perry. Juicy J," I couldn't help but think, 'Ironically, I don't know what you are.' Instead, I've been listening to a fan-made solo edit version that I found on SoundCloud.

If "Dark Horse" is anywhere close to where Perry is going with Prism, I could go out on a limb and say that it will be significantly better than Teenage Dream. I doubt it will reach the same standard that I'm setting for Lady Gaga's ARTPOP or Lorde's Pure Heroine, but I'm sure it'll be sufficient for an artist like Perry.

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