So I haven’t posted anything in forever, but I’ll try to as I stumble upon anything interesting. Katy Perry’s “Part of Me” music video just came out three days ago. She first performed “Part of Me” during the 2012 Grammy’s. A lot of people believe that the song is about her falling out with Russell Brand but I’m pretty sure it was written a few years back and it was about her ex-boyfriend from Gym Class Heroes. The fact that she debuted the song after the divorce,however, does mean that her performance was directed at Russell.

When the trailer first came out, I was pretty sure it’d be a fail as it resembled 30 Seconds to Mars’ “This is War”, and the rhythmic marching of Lady Gaga’s “Alejandro”. After watching this video fifteen times and counting, I can say that it wasn’t as bad as I originally thought.

The video starts off with a younger version of Katy Perry gazing into a keepsake locket of her then beau with some freshly manicured ladynails in an old Volvo.

Clad in some heavy makeup which fails to cover a cheek of acne, she looks up to what is revealed to be her man kissing another girl at his workplace. Stalker much, Katy? But then again, she probably had her suspicions in the first place so it’s not her fault.

A jaw-grinding Katy hops out of her car and makes her way to Mr. Wrong with an expression that looks like she’s clearly trying to remember her lines with her head half-cocked at him. I expected a lot more confrontation but she places the locket down on a desk with not so much a clunk, swipes his face with a manila folder, and sashays away.

Katy drives doing her best to convey bottled-up anger via lip chewing. The track begins in the background and she pulls up to a gas station and grabs an Arizona. I have to say that Arizona makes some of the best beverages out there. She makes her way to the counter to pay and somehow she has to take off some sunglasses that weren’t on her in the first place. Is it me or is it just weird that she drove without sunglasses to protect her sizzling cataracts but puts them on in a gas station before taking them off to the almighty Arizona? What has the world come to these days?

Before she heads out, she finds a bulletin board that has a sticker reading, “All women are created equal, then some become Marines”. I must mention that at this point in the video, you get to see the outline of her wig, too.

And I had no idea she had a crooked tooth, but hey, I’m not perfect and she doesn’t have to be either. At least I make sure my faux is hidden though. Bad, Katy.

The idea of being a Marine smacks Katy right in the face and she rummages through her trunk to pull out her Adidas gym bag? Hmm, more advertisement. She locks herself in the gas station restroom with the mysterious gym bag. She arms herself with some kiddie scissors and hacks away at her wig. Good thing it was her wig, right? So I’m going to point out that in movies, books, and videos, it seems that when shit goes downhill for us girls, we chop our hair off. I don’t know if it’s a symbol of rebirth or what, but that was my excuse when I hacked my hair off. The fact that she’s doing it to be enlisted in the Marines, I wouldn’t say that it is accurate nor is it necessary. For a phoenix from the ashes kind of video, it’s disappointing that this music video still employs a lot of old school and outdated beliefs. The hair hacking is the first of a handful that follows in this vid.

With her hair cropped, she binds her breasts … Okay, stop. Katy, this is not Mulan or some kind of ancient war that involves espionage and cross-dressing. Within seconds, this music video becomes more than outrageous. Did I mention, that she flashes her panties, too?

She hands over her personal belongings at the base in exchange for her new uniform. Every single person she bunks with has a bun … and she has short hair. Not thing wrong with short hair, but was that the only method they could think of to make her stand out other than her still wearing a few layers of foundation, concealer, lip gloss, and mascara? Tsk, tsk. We go through a few shots of her and her then boyfriend.

She carries a fellow Marine down a hill, does a few practice punches, walks down a beam, switches her watch to her left hand so we can get a clear glimpse of it, and bayonets a dummy.

Katy gets snail mail from her ex, Jason, in all caps and decides to Zippo the hell out of it.

She dances and twirls underneath a flag of stripes and stars while we get numerous shots of amphibious landing training which is pretty inaccurate and her doing some happy lip-syncing.

And we finally end the video with her clad in camo face paint.

I have to say that there was a lot going on in this video and I realized that this is the second time I’ve reviewed one of her videos. Katy’s not my absolute favorite when compared to Gaga but I can’t even imagine doing an analysis of any Gaga-esque video because that would take a whole week to type.

Visually, this music video takes us into a world that not many of us know of unless we are in it, but is it just and accurate? I definitely cannot say so. I found the concept hard to believe when Katy’s basically walking around with bad acting and so much makeup to hide her insecurities. If she wanted to be strong, she didn’t have to cut her hair or bind her D cups. She should have taken a look at herself and wiped off the superficial layers. You don’t get passed a machine gun and you’re an empowered woman. Having self-confidence and a high self-esteem is what makes you, yourself, powerful. These are modern times and I wish this video could’ve taken us a step forward as opposed to pushing us a step back when it comes to propaganda and old beliefs.

I understand the symbolism behind the video, but this video left me quite unsatisfied. There were way too many unnecessary things going on and even though she wanted to represent the women of the Marine Corps in a good light, I can’t help but feel that the video flopped on real self-empowerment. The song and the video do not mesh at all, but hey, they tried.

I hope you’ve enjoyed the analysis and all I can say is until next time everyone! By the way, I hate that she never has a true 1080p music video. Yes, 1080 is offered but I refuse to be conned, Katy! Maybe she should take after Gaga and get her own RED camera.

Katy’s video is below and as always, enjoy in hd.