It’s been over a decade since we first heard Katy Perry‘s “Roar,” and now the music video for the anthemic track has hit 4 billion YouTube views. Reaching that impressive number has made “Roar” the most-viewed video of any female artist on the platform.
For those who haven’t seen it, the video shows Perry stranded on a jungle island after a plane crash, learning to fend for herself after her egotistical male companion is almost immediately mauled by a tiger. Her position as queen of the jungle is won after she lures the tiger with a cat toy made out of feathers and challenges it to a roaring contest. Having won, she deems the tiger Kitty Purry, which was the name of Perry’s real cat at the time.
“Roar” spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 200 when it was released in 2013 as a single off the album Prism. The album itself topped the charts for a week, thanks to hits like “Roar” alongside “Dark Horse” and “Unconditionally.” In 2017, the song was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), which made Perry the first artist to have three Diamond-certified singles in the U.S., joining “Firework” and “Dark Horse.”
In 2013, “Roar” also scored nominations for Song Of The Year and Best Pop Solo Performance at the 56th Grammy Awards.
When the song was first released, Perry spoke to NPR about the story behind it. “I was living in a little bit of fear,” she explained. “and I thought, you know what, I need to find that inner strength again, ’cause I had just been through a little bit of a self-confidence shattering in my own personal life. And so I was just looking for my voice again, and that came out as a roar.”
