It's been four months since Hillary Clinton conceded the election to Donald Trump, and her #1 fan Katy Perry hasn't forgotten that sting. Not surprisingly, she's channeled her feelings into her latest single, which was released last night.
If you're not paying attention or are too enthralled by the tiny burger-eating hamster in her quirky lyric video (we were) to notice, "Chained to the Rhythm" could be chalked up as another party track about dancing and drinking. But when Perry, who cowrote the tune with Sia Furler (yes, that Sia), Max Martin, Ali Payami, and Skip Marley, sings about "living in a bubble" and being unable to "see the trouble," she's not referring to finding your main squeeze in a dark corner of the club with your best friend. She's talking about the people and issues that led to Trump being voted into office.
That's hammered in hard when reggae star Marley adds his vocals (emphasis in bold ours):
"It is my desire / Break down the walls to connect, inspire / Up in your high place, liars / Time is ticking for the empire / The truth they feed is feeble / As so many times before / They greed over the people / They stumbling and fumbling / And we about to riot / They woke, they woke up the lions"
The message: The public (and HRC supporters) were living in a bubble and didn't take the Trump threat seriously. Now, it's up to everyone to take off their "rose-colored glasses" and stop acting like "wasted zombies." It's time to shuffle off our complacency and fight back.
"We think we're free," Perry, who will be performing this song at the Grammys on Sunday night, sings over and over, the implication being that we are not, and that we can't hang up our pink pussy hats and twiddle our thumbs. Consider yourself warned, POTUS.
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