Dark Horse (Katy Perry song)
"Dark Horse" is a song by American singer Katy Perry featuring American rapper Juicy J. It was originally released on September 17, 2013, by Capitol Records as the first promotional single from Perry's fourth studio album, Prism (2013). Three months later, it was released as the third official single on December 17. Both artists co-wrote the song with its producers, Max Martin, Cirkut, and Dr. Luke, alongside Sarah Hudson. It was conceived by Perry and Hudson during a writing session in Perry's hometown of Santa Barbara, California, and Juicy J was later commissioned for a verse on the song.
"Dark Horse"
December 17, 2013
- Playback Recording Studios
- (Santa Barbara, California)
- MXM Studios
- (Stockholm, Sweden)
- Luke's in the Boo
- (Malibu, California)
- Secret Garden Studios
- (Montecito, California)
3:35
"Dark Horse" combines the genres of trap, hip hop, pop-rap and electropop, replicating what has been described as a "Southern rap-techno mashup". The track features a minimal production, with a "seductive" and "mature" tone to Perry's vocals, while Juicy J is featured on the song's intro and rapped bridge. Perry, in interviews, said she wanted the song to have a "witchy, spell-y kind of black magic-y idea", so she wrote it from the perspective of a witch warning a man not to fall in love with her because if he does, she will be his last. The song was part of a competition sponsored by Pepsi in which fans could vote via Twitter on whether they would prefer either "Dark Horse" or "Walking on Air" to be released as the first promotional single from Prism.
"Dark Horse" was a commercial success, charting at number one in Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United States. It also reached the top ten in almost 20 countries, including New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Venezuela, as well as on the Digital Songs chart of Billboard magazine.[1] Billboard credits "Dark Horse" for helping cement trap music's place on the charts.[2] Perry first performed the song live at the 2013 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on September 20, 2013. The song's first major television performance was at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards on January 26, 2014.[3] "Dark Horse" was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards. The song has sold 13.2 million units (combined sales and track-equivalent streams), becoming the second best-selling song worldwide for 2014.[4]
In 2014, Flame, a Christian rap artist, filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Perry and the other songwriters, claiming that "Dark Horse" copied from his 2008 song "Joyful Noise". On July 29, 2019, a federal jury ruled in favor of Flame and the co-plaintiffs Da' T.R.U.T.H. and Chike Ojukwu. The jury ordered Perry, her collaborators, and associated labels to pay $2.78 million in damages; of which Perry was ordered to pay $550,000. However, in part due to a similar judgment that found Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" clear of copyright infringement in the Ninth Circuit, the jury award was vacated on appeal in March 2020.
Production and release[edit]
Inspired by the 1996 film The Craft,[5] Perry and singer-songwriter Sarah Hudson wrote the first version of "Dark Horse" in Perry's hometown of Santa Barbara, California.[6] Perry described the song as a "juxtaposition", as it mixed her, a pop music artist, with an "urban kind of hip-hop-flavored background soundtrack"; and its lyrics as "witchy and dark", written from the perspective of "a witch warning [a] man to not fall in love with [her]", and if so, she would be his last. Perry then asked producer Dr. Luke to contact one of his Kemosabe Records artists, American rapper Juicy J, for a guest verse. Juicy J complimented Perry as having a "very professional" work ethic and being substantially involved in the song's development. He said: "My verse I did on that song, she was singing it. She's really a genius, she was by the mixing board and telling the guy what to take in and take out. She's really hands-on with her music, she knows music."[7]
"Dark Horse" was recorded and engineered at Luke's in the Boo in Malibu, Conway Recording Studios in Hollywood, Playback Recording Studios in Santa Barbara, California, and Secret Garden Studios in Montecito, as well as MXM Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. It was engineered by Peter Carlsson, Mike "Crazy Mike" Foster, Clint Gibbs, Sam Holland, and Michael Ilbert. They were assisted by Eric Eylands, Rachael Findlen, Justin Fox, Elliot Lanam, and Cory Bice. It was mixed by Şerban Ghenea, while John Hanes served as the engineer for mix. All instrumentation and programming was done by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut.[8]
In a press release on August 20, 2013, Pepsi announced a partnership with Perry to promote her fourth studio album Prism: a social "tweet-to-unlock" voting program, encouraging fans to tweet the hashtag #KATYNOW in exchange for song titles and lyrics. The chosen tracks for the campaign were "Walking on Air" and "Dark Horse". After the samples were revealed, fans could vote for which one they wanted to have an early release on digital retailers.[9] The winner was "Dark Horse", which was released on September 17, 2013, on the iTunes Store.[10] Due to its commercial success, it was sent to contemporary hit and rhythmic radio stations on December 17, 2013, as Prism's third official single.[11][12]
Composition[edit]
"Dark Horse" is a trap,[13][14] hip hop,[15][16] pop rap[17] and electropop song.[18] which is styled in "Southern rap-techno mashup",[19] and has a length of three minutes and thirty-five seconds.[20] Musically, the verses are built around icy rhythms and chopped and screwed vocal samples, while the chorus' feature Perry singing into a gradual crescendo.[21] The song contains a grimy, "incredibly simplistic" production.[13] According to Kathy Iandoli of MSN Entertainment, "Dark Horse" contains a mixture of elements from "trippy pop", EDM, and dubstep.[22] According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Dark Horse" is written in the key of B♭ minor. It follows a chord progression of G♭ – D♭ – B♭m – B♭m/A♭, and the vocals range from the low note of B♭3 to the high note of D♭5. "Dark Horse" has a tempo of 132 beats per minute in half-time style typical of trap music.[23] A writer for the Winnipeg Free Press described the song as "brooding, borderline sleazy trap-pop excursion that comes across like a stripped-down version of 'E.T.' mixed with 'Grindin'' by The Clipse", before going on to call it unexpected, unconventional, and unstoppable.[24]
Music video[edit]
Background and release[edit]
In an interview with Billboard at the 2014 Grammy Awards, Juicy J stated the video will be filmed "soon"; he added that it is "a major motion picture." He further teased the release by saying, "I can't really tell you because it's definitely going to be a surprise, but I'll tell you this much right here: you've seen her other videos, this one's gonna be just as big. Everything she does is like grade A."[55]
When "Dark Horse" had attained the top position on the US Billboard Hot 100 Chart, Perry announced that she was working on the video. "[41] On February 6, 2014, Perry tweeted the video would be released "soon".[56][57] On February 13, 2014, she released a preview of the music video onto her Vevo account on YouTube, revealing the Egyptian setting of the video. Perry played a character named "Katy Pätra", a takeoff on the Egyptian queen Cleopatra.[58] The video was released on February 20, 2014.[59]
The music video was directed by Mathew Cullen, who previously worked with Perry on her music video for the song "California Gurls". Perry's idea for the music video was to combine Ancient Egyptian culture with Memphis, Tennessee hip hop: setting the video in ancient Memphis, Egypt as a nod to Juicy J's Tennessee hometown. Speaking of Perry's concept, Cullen said "That's music to my ears — when an artist has a couple concepts that they want to mash up to create something fresh."[60]
On June 9, 2015, the music video for "Dark Horse" became the first video by a female artist to reach 1 billion views on Vevo.[61][62] Perry also became the first female to have a video on YouTube with 1 billion views.[63] As of August 2022, the video has received over 3.3 billion views on YouTube, making it the 15th most viewed music video of all time and 2nd most viewed music video of all time by a female artist, just behind another Perry song, "Roar".[64]
Usage in media[edit]
The song is used as the theme music for The Face Vietnam season 3.[91]
Credits adapted from Prism album liner notes.[92]