"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 in March 2013 with Bonnie McKee and its producers Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut. "Roar" was recorded that month at Luke's in the Boo in Malibu, California, Playback Recording Studio in Santa Barbara, California, Secret Garden Studios in Montecito, California, and MXM Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. The track is a power pop song containing elements of arena rock and lyrics centering on standing up for oneself and self-empowerment.
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. "Roar" was the fifth-best-selling single worldwide in 2013 according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), and has since gone on to sell 15 million copies. "Roar" has sold 6.6 million copies in the US, over 1 million in the United Kingdom, and was Australia's best-selling song of the year with 560,000 copies sold within that time. It was also the seventh best-selling single of the entire 2010s decade in Australia. It is certified five times diamond in Brazil, two times diamond in Australia, fifteen times platinum in the US, and Diamond in Canada and France. 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".
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. It has reached over 4 billion views on Vevo. The song was nominated for Song of the Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, and won two People's Choice Awards for Favorite Song and Favorite Music Video. In 2015, Perry would perform the song at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show in Glendale, Arizona.
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. Musicnotes published this song in the key of B major in a time signature with 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. 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".
The first video teaser for "Roar" was released on August 2, 2013, along with an announcement that the American release was scheduled for August 12 with a subsequent release to mainstream radio on August 13. However, the song debuted two days earlier than expected by leaking on August 10. The UK release was originally scheduled for September 8, but on August 30 Perry announced the release date would be moved up to September 1.
Critical reception
Miriam Coleman from Rolling Stone appreciated the song's "easy poppy beat" and its "repeated refrains", factors she believed contributed to make the song a "determined note for the new album". James Montgomery of MTV News described it as "one of the more perfect pop songs to come down the pipeline in quite a while". Gerrick D. Kennedy from Los Angeles Times also gave a positive review, classifying "Roar" as a "sweet, poppy confection with a bit of bite". Melinda Newman from HitFix saw the song as a "great change of pace" for Perry, whilst Andrew Hampp from Billboard believed it to be a return to the style of her album One of the Boys, but criticized its tempo and its lyrics that "rarely rise above easy clichés and rhymes". Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine described the song as "more of a yelp than a roar".
Accolades Awards and nominations +Name of award, year listed, category, and result Award Year Category Result Ref. Capricho Awards de Gato Nacional 2013 International Hit Digital Spy Reader Awards Best Song The Official Number One Awards Number One Single The Official Specialist Number One Awards Number One Singles Downloads The Official Vodafone Big Top 40 Number One Awards Number One Award Queerty Awards Anthem of the Year Vevo Certified Awards Vevo Certified Award Vevo Certified Award details: ARIA Number One Chart Awards 2014 Number One Single Year-End Number One Single ASCAP Pop Music Awards Most Performed Song Billboard Music Awards Top Hot 100 Song Top Digital Song Top Radio Song Top Streaming Song (Video) Grammy Awards Song of the Year Best Pop Solo Performance MTV Video Music Awards Japan Best Video of the Year 2014 MTV Video Music Awards Japan: Best Female Video Myx Music Awards Favorite International Video Nickelodeon Kids Choice Awards Favourite Song NRJ Music Awards International Song of the Year People's Choice Awards Favorite Song Favorite Music Video Premios Juventud Favourite Song, Not in Spanish Radio Disney Music Awards Song of the Year 2014 Radio Disney Music Awards: RTHK International Pop Poll Awards Top Ten International Gold Songs Super Gold Song Webby Awards Online Film and Music Video CMT Music Awards 2015 Performance of the Year 2015 CMT Music Awards: RIAA Diamond Awards 2017 Diamond Song Award Now That's What I Call Music! Awards 2018 Song of the Teens Spotify Awards 2023 Billion-Play Award MTV Video Music Awards 2024 VMAs Most Iconic Performance QQ Music 2025 20th Anniversary Top Western Songs
Listicles +Name of publication, year listed, name of listicle, and result Publication Year Listicle Result Entertainment Weekly 2013 Best Songs of the Year 5th Google Most Googled Songs in Australia 5th Most Googled Song Lyrics in Australia 6th Rolling Stone Best Songs of the Year 18th Billboard 2017 Best Empowerment Songs Placed HuffPost Best Women's empowerment Songs Placed Oprah Daily 2022 12th Glamour UK 2023 8th Paste Best Number One Songs of 2013 5th Rolling Stone 2025 Best Max Martin Songs 37th Time Out Best Inspirational Songs 14th
Plagiarism allegations Upon the release of "Roar", many accused Perry of copying Sara Bareilles's "Brave". When asked about the controversy between the two songs, Bareilles answered: "Katy's a friend of mine and we've known each other a really long time", and was upset that there was a "negative spin on two artists that are choosing to share positive messages." She also mentioned knowing about "Roar" before its release and stated "If I'm not mad I don't know why anybody else is upset". Dr. Luke replied to the accusations on August 14, 2013: "Roar was written and recorded BEFORE Brave came out." In response to the attention "Brave" received as a result of the plagiarism accusations, Bareilles's record label, Epic Records, decided to promote "Brave" to the mainstream pop radio format.
Commercial performance Worldwide According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), "Roar" sold 9.9 million units (combined sales and track-equivalent streams) globally throughout 2013 and was the fifth-best-selling single of the year. As of November 2019, the song has sold 15 million copies worldwide.
The Americas On the Billboard Hot 100, the song debuted at number 85 on the week ending August 24, 2013, due to radio airplay. The following week, during its first week on sale, "Roar" sold 557,000 digital copies, earning Perry the highest first-week sales numbers of 2013 and also her biggest digital song sales week ever, breaking her previous record held by "Firework", which sold 509,000 digital copies for the week ending January 8, 2011. The song soared eighty-three positions to number two in its second week, becoming Perry's twelfth top-ten entry in the United States, and her ninth consecutive single to reach the top three on the Hot 100. After another week at number two, "Roar" reached number one for the chart dated September 14, 2013, becoming Perry's eighth number one on the Hot 100 and her ninth digital number-one single, after selling 448,000 copies. "Roar" spent a total two weeks at number one before it was surpassed by Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball". On its seventh frame, the song moved 2–1 (peak audience impressions of 159 million) and became Perry's sixth number one on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay, as well as becoming her fastest climb to the top position.
"Roar" also reached number one on both the US Mainstream Top 40 and Adult Pop Songs. The number-one position on the Pop Songs chart gave Perry her tenth number one, tying her with Rihanna for the most number ones on the airplay-based chart. The number-one position on the Adult Pop Songs chart also gave Perry multiple milestones; it became her eighth chart-topper, tying her with Maroon 5 and Pink as the act with the most number-ones there. It also made the fastest ascension to the top spot; a record previously held by Perry's own single "California Gurls" (2010). It also set airplay records in both of the charts, by becoming the most weekly-played song in history, with 16,065 and 5,309 plays per week, respectively.