Welcome back to the Deep Dive. Think about the
music you listen to every day. Yeah. It's just
fascinating how a seemingly simple three -minute
pop song can become this massive magnet for controversy
and record -breaking success and intense public
speculation. Oh, absolutely. So today we have
a very specific mission. We are going to explore
the journey of Katy Perry's hit song... part
of me and we're using a comprehensive wikipedia
article as our roadmap for today's deep dive
just to trace exactly how this track came to
be right to set the scene for you this is a dance
pop and power pop anthem that was originally
left off the 2010 teenage dream album which is
wild to think about it really is only to be resurrected
in 2012 as an out of the box number one hit And
if you're wondering why you should care about
the history of a pop song from that specific
era, stick with us. Because this isn't just about
a catchy tune with a good beat. But it's also
a brilliant case study in how pop music timing,
a heavily scrutinized personal narrative and
visual media can all collide to create a true
cultural moment. Exactly. We're going to explore
how an artist's private life gets projected right
onto their art, whether they intend for it to
happen or not. Right. So I want to start by going
back to the origins of the song, which actually
kicked off in 2010 during the writing sessions
for Teenage Dream. Yeah. Those sessions were
legendary. Right. If you remember the pop landscape
back then, those sessions produced some of the
defining hits of the decade. And the songwriting
team here was just a powerhouse roster. Oh, for
sure. You had Katy Perry herself. Dr. Luke, Max
Martin, and Bonnie McKee. That's pop royalty
right there. It is. And the story of how the
lyrics came together is a great piece of pop
history. So according to our sources, Perry and
McKee had been casual friends, and Perry asked
for her help on a track she'd been working on.
So McKee actually stayed up all night writing
the lyrics. And when she finally presented them,
Perry was so ecstatic that by the time she heard
just the third line, she shouted, we're buying
you a car. I love that story. That kind of immediate
visceral reaction in the studio is exactly what
every songwriter chases. Yeah. But what really
stands out in the source material is the strategic
restraint shown by Perry and her team right after
that moment. What do you mean? Well, they knew
they had a hit on their hands. Perry explicitly
stated that she always knew Part of Me was a
special song. But they held it back. Wait, if
they knew it was a guaranteed hit, why on earth
would they leave it off Teenage Dream? That sounds
like a terrible business move. It sounds totally
counterintuitive, right? Yeah. But it was about
artistic cohesion. They didn't put it on the
original Teenage Dream album because Perry felt
it simply didn't fit the composition of that
specific record. She wanted the album to be a
complete package. So to include part of me. She
would have had to cut another track that made
more sense for the overall vibe they were going
for. And holding back a guaranteed hit takes
an immense amount of discipline, especially in
an industry that usually demands you cash in
immediately. It really is a gamble. But as we
see so often, keeping a pop song locked in the
vault is easier said than done. Oh, definitely.
The timeline of how this song eventually reached
the public is chaotic. A demo of the track leaked
in full. Way back in late 2010. Right. And, of
course, the internet did what the internet does.
Fans immediately started speculating. Natural.
People were theorizing it was a leftover cut,
analyzing the raw audio. hoping for a re -release.
And then, surprisingly, a reworked version of
the song leaked in February 2012. Literally just
two days before it was supposed to have its official
worldwide premiere. Which is crazy. Normally,
leaks are an artist's worst nightmare. It usually
ruins the marketing rollout entirely. But in
this specific case, those leaks actually fueled
the anticipation rather than hurting the song's
momentum. It primed the audience. When Perry
officially announced the reissue of her album,
which was titled Teenage Dream The Complete Confection,
releasing part of me as the lead single just
made perfect sense. Oh, that makes sense. For
the fans, it was the missing piece they had been
whispering about for over a year. Okay, let's
get into the anatomy of the song itself, because
sonically, the sources break down exactly why
this was built to be an anthem. Yes, let's do
it. We are talking about a 130... Beats Per Minute
House Beat, written in the key of D minor. And
we should probably unpack what that actually
means for you as a listener. Please do. So 130
beats per minute is essentially the sweet spot
for a club anthem. It physically pushes your
heart rate up. It makes you want to move. Right.
But pairing that driving, energetic house rhythm
with the key of D minor. Which is the sadder
key, right? Exactly. D minor naturally sounds
a bit sad or somber. That pairing is what gives
the song its crying in the club feel. That makes
so much sense when you look at how the song opens.
It kicks off with this very emotionally defeated
intro. She sings, days like this, I want to drive
away, pack my bags and watch your shadow fade.
Yeah. But then the structure shifts. The bridge
hits, the beat amplifies, and it turns into this
incredibly aggressive, empowered chorus where
she belts out, this is the part of me that you're
never going to ever take away from me. The lyrics
and the production work together as a complete
masterclass in the unbreakable narrative. Right.
The steady house beat literally mirrors the protagonist's
growing strength. It starts out feeling drained,
reflecting on how someone chewed her up and spit
her out. Yeah. But as that tempo drives forward,
the instrument... gets bolder matching her refusal
to be broken this classic pop architecture taking
personal pain and transforming it into a dance
floor catharsis and that aggressive unbreakable
chorus wasn't just catching fire on the dance
floor it was exactly the kind of battle cry that
tabloids were waiting for in early 2012 oh absolutely
they were because of the timing of the song's
official release Everyone assumed part of me
was a direct, pointed response to Perry's highly
publicized divorce from Russell Brand. Early
on, when the demo first leaked in 2010, Rumors
actually pointed to her ex -boyfriend, Trevi
McCoy. Right, I remember that. But by 2012, the
narrative shifted entirely to brand. Fans noticed
slight lyric changes between the 2010 demo and
the 2012 final version. Oh yeah, they dissected
it. And the media just ran with it as proof that
she was updating the song to reflect the divorce.
The public practically demanded that the song
be about her marriage ending. It fit the timeline
perfectly in their eyes. It really did. But Perry's
defense was surprisingly blunt, wasn't it? Oh,
she didn't mince words at all. According to the
sources, she was quoted saying, I'm not a dick,
I'm going to tell the truth. Wow. Yeah, she completely
denied it was about Brandt. She clarified that
it was written two years prior during those teenage
dream sessions we talked about. Right. She even
mentioned that some people she worked with suggested
she just lie and say she wrote it a couple of
weeks ago to capitalize on the news cycle. Which
is such an industry move. Exactly. Yeah. But
she refused to do that. This raises a really
important question for you to consider as a consumer
of pop culture. Yeah. It highlights the constant
tension between an artist's original intent and
the public's desire for a real time soap opera.
For sure. Perry noted how weird it felt comparing
it to being in The Truman Show. Oh, that's a
perfect comparison. Think about that. She wrote
a song about resilience years before she desperately
needed that resilience in the public eye. Right.
But the public attached the meaning of the divorce
to the song anyway, completely overriding its
actual origin story in the studio. That dynamic
is just wild. But if people thought the audio
track was making a statement, the music video
took things to a completely different level.
Oh boy, did it. Let's talk about the Ben Moore
directed video, which relies entirely on a heavy
military metaphor. Yeah, let's get into it. The
plot outlined in our sources goes like this.
Right. Yeah. Yeah. rigorous basic combat instruction
eventually transforming into a camouflaged warrior
dancing beneath a massive garrison flag. And
the commitment to the concept was significant
behind the scenes. It really was. They didn't
just rent a Hollywood soundstage and dress up
some actors. They filmed over three days at the
actual USMC Camp Pendleton in Oceanside, California.
Wow. perry went through real vigorous physical
and mental combat training including the marine
corps martial arts program that is intense very
they used actual military equipment and rather
than casting actors to play extras the video
features real marines now as we get into the
critical reception of this video we want to make
it incredibly clear to you listening our goal
here isn't to take a side on military aesthetics
in pop culture We are impartially reporting on
the sources, and those sources highlight a very
stark, polarized contrast in how this video was
received. Right. On the side of praise, reviewers
like MTV's James Montgomery lauded Perry for
her genuine commitment to the bet. He had a good
point about the contrast with other artists.
Yeah, he pointed out that while contemporaries
like Rihanna had done what he called military
chic. Right, like straddling a tank in her video
for heart. Exactly. Perry actually eschewed makeup,
cut her hair, fought, crawled, and suffered on
camera. Yeah. So to many critics and fans, it
was seen as the ultimate girl power message,
praising her for showcasing a gritty physical
resilience. But on the other side of the spectrum,
the video faced severe backlash. It really did.
Feminist author Naomi Wolf was highly critical.
She publicly denounced the video as truly shameful
military propaganda. Wow. Wolf even suggested
a boycott of Perry, stating that she was deeply
offended by what she saw as a glorification of
violence, and she even questioned if the military
had paid Perry to make it. That is a heavy accusation.
It is. You have to wonder how Perry and her team
felt reading those comments, seeing a pop video
suddenly at the center of a massive debate about
the military -industrial complex. Right. And
to counter Wolf's criticisms, the sources detail
the defense of the video, which came from publicist
Glenn Selig. What did he say? He argued that
Wolf's call for a boycott actually just brought
more attention to the video. True. He stated
that without Wolf's comments, most people would
have simply viewed the military imagery as a
metaphor for personal strength rather than an
attempt to glamorize war or monger violence that
makes sense and perry herself addressed the creative
choice stating that the song is an affirmation
of strength So she wanted to go, in her words,
the strongest route she ever could to represent
it visually. It's a perfect example of how visual
imagery and pop music is entirely open to interpretation.
Absolutely. And how visual choices can completely
recontextualize an audio track. As a listener,
you're left to weigh both sides. Does adopting
military aesthetics inherently endorse militarism?
Or can it be cleanly separated as a theatrical
metaphor for surviving a broken heart? It's a
really heavy debate. But regardless of the controversy
over the video, the commercial achievements of
Part of Me were staggering. Oh, yeah. Undeniable.
The song debuted at number one on the Billboard
Hot 100. Let's put that in context. That is incredibly
rare. Very rare. It was only the 20th song in
the entire history of the Billboard chart to
debut at the very top. That is a massive achievement.
It sold 411 ,000 copies in its first week in
the U .S. alone. It also reached number one in
the U .K. Canada, and New Zealand. And eventually
it was certified 5x platinum in the United States.
And just to clarify for those who might not track
industry metrics, reaching 5x platinum means
the song moved over 5 million equivalent units
in the U .S. That is just huge. Commercially,
it was an absolute juggernaut. But we do have
to balance those sales with the critical reception
of the song itself, which was surprisingly mixed.
Yeah. The AV Club gave it a B +, calling it sticky,
but noting it felt like a chintzier 2012 version
of Kelly Clarkson's Since You Been Gone. Rolling
Stone was less impressed, calling it just plain
predictable. Meanwhile... NME. Oh, boy. Which,
if you know British music journalism, is notoriously
harsh. They heavily criticized her vocals, referring
to her delivery as a strange, angry robot voice.
An angry robot voice. That is brutal. And the
critiques didn't just come from music magazines
analyzing the sound. Right. The Christian group
Focus on the Family actually chimed in. They
criticized the upbeat pop framing of what they
viewed as the demolition of a marital covenant.
Which is such a fascinating critique. you think
about it. It really is. They were arguing that
wrapping a divorce in these cathartic, pulsing
beats, courtesy of Max Martin and Dr. Luke, put
a surprisingly upbeat spin on a very somber reality.
Yeah. It perfectly illustrates the disconnect
between how Perry wrote it. As a general post
-breakup empowerment anthem. Exactly. And how
the world consumed it, viewing it strictly through
the lens of her marriage ending. Totally. Now,
to promote a hit this culturally saturated, the
live spectacles had to be grand. And Perry definitely
delivered on the theatrics. She always does.
At the 54th Grammy Awards, she started her performance
with her song E .T. before faking a technical
glitch. Oh, I remember this. The lights went
out, the sound cut off, and then a blue -haired
Perry. who turned out to be a body double. Right.
She descended from the roof in a transparent
glass cube. She shattered the cube, fireworks
exploded everywhere, and the real Perry launched
into part of me, wearing a metallic bodysuit
that looked like golden armor. Incredible. Later
on American Idol, she pre -taped a performance
where she simulated an airdrop onto a military
base surrounded by female dancers in full military
gear. The theatricality was dialed up to 11 because
they were selling that unbreakable narrative
as hard as possible. Yeah. And you can't talk
about a 2012 pop hit without acknowledging the
extreme corporate synergy happening in the background.
How the marketing was everywhere. It was operating
at maximum capacity. Perry licensed the song
to the Sims 3 Showtime expansion. pack. I forgot
about that. She even filmed a commercial performing
as a sim version of herself. Think about the
absurdity of that for a second. It is pretty
absurd. A song the public thinks is about a painful
real life divorce being sung by a digital avatar
to sell a video game. It really highlights the
business machine behind pop music. Definitely.
She also signed a global deal with Pepsi for
their Live for Now campaign, which featured the
song. It was added as downloadable content for
the Just Dance video game series. Right. And
of course, it was tied directly to her 3D autobiographical
documentary concert film, which was literally
titled Katy Perry Part of Me. Synergy at its
finest. During the movie's premiere on Hollywood
Boulevard, she emerged from a giant box of popcorn
to perform the track. It's the ultimate pop music
whiplash. The track is doing all these things
at once, selling soda, selling video games, selling
movie tickets, and supposedly serving as a deeply
personal diary entry. So what does this all mean
for us as listeners? When we trace the entire
journey of Part of Me, we see how a song's meaning
naturally evolves over time. It's true. It started
in a studio in 2010 as a private session about
a generic breakup. Then, through internet leaks
and intense public speculation in 2012, It became
a highly scrutinized commentary on her high profile
divorce. Then through its music video, it became
a literal depiction of military resilience and
sparked national debates about propaganda. And
evolution didn't stop there. There is one final,
incredibly poignant detail from the source material
that highlights this perfectly. What's that?
In June 2017, Katy Perry performed an acoustic
rendition of Part of Me at the One Love Manchester
benefit concert. Wow. Which was held for the
victims of the arena bombing. Imagine that setting.
Yeah. In that context, stripped of the booming
house beat, stripped of the military visuals,
and far removed from the divorce gossip, the
song transformed once again. It gives me chills.
It became an anthem of collective healing. It
became a shared vow of survival for a grieving
city. That is incredibly powerful. It really
makes you think about your own favorite songs.
If you've ever had a song you listen to when
you're going through a hard time, think about
how your relationship with those lyrics has changed
based on what you've gone through in your own
life. Yeah. Ten years later, the same words can
mean something entirely different. Music isn't
static. It isn't. And that leaves us with a fascinating
question to mull over. Okay. We've seen how this
single song seamlessly morphed from a pop session
about a breakup to a multi -million dollar corporate
brand synergy tool for Pepsi to our rallying
cry for a devastated community. Right. So does
a pop song actually have a fixed identity at
all? Or is a great pop song simply a beautifully
crafted empty vessel that... All the listeners.
Exactly. That we, the listeners and the culture
at large are constantly filling with our own
meaning. That is an incredible thought to end
on. Thank you so much for joining us on this
deep dive into the history and evolution of Katy
Perry's part of me. It's been great. We hope
you found some unexpected moments today. Until
next time, keep questioning the media you consume
and keep listening closely.