I'm going to preface this with that fact that the hubs and I do not really listen to mainstream music, we are much more into Country (well and kids CDs if I'm being really honest).
I first heard of Katy Perry's new song "Roar" a short while ago when a fellow Clemson University Alum said, "did you guys hear Katy Perry wrote a new song and it's totally for Clemson? It's awesome and it's called Roar". You see, we are the Clemson Tigers. Roar. Tigers. Ok. Clearly, I took her literally was like, "
what do you mean she wrote a song for Clemson? Did she go to Clemson?". No.
Let's jump ahead to this weekend when I'm in the family room and hubs calls me all excitedly to come over and watch the new Katy Perry video. As I am walking over (
still not having heard it) I'm saying, "
yeah yeah, I heard about it, it's called Roar. Someone at the Clemson club was all excited".
So we
watch the video (
and I'm still in the "Clemson" mindset)
To be honest, I thought the video was a little cheesy. But the hubs was ECSTATIC! No joke. He quickly rounded up the girls and watched it again... immediately.
Then I realized why he liked it so much, especially for our girls. It's totally a girl power song.
Start off a quiet girl/woman who was walked all over
I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath
Scared to rock the boat and make a mess
So I sat quietly, agreed politely
I guess that I forgot I had a choice
I let you push me past the breaking point
I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything
Then, after her guy gets taken by a tiger in the video, she starts to gain self confidence and strength
You held me down, but I got up
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, your hear that sound
Like thunder, gonna shake your ground
You held me down, but I got up
Get ready 'cause I've had enough
I see it all, I see it now
THEN... she roars, gets the "eye of the tiger" and is a strong powerful woman
I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter,
dancing through the fire
Cause I am a champion and
You're gonna hear me ROAR
Louder, louder than a lion
Cause I am a champion and
You're gonna hear me ROAR
Oh oh oh oh oh oh
You're gonna hear me roar
.
.
.Katy Perry - Roar Lyrics | MetroLyrics You see my 4 year old started soccer this past spring (
hubs and I were her coach). At the beginning of the season she was, well, a shy, sensitive girl who would cry when someone bumped into her or knocked her down. Not really the strong, courageous, outgoing type who would succeed at soccer.
At one of the first practices we played this game "Sleeping Giant"; the kids would dribble the ball around a "sleeping" coach and then when the kids got close the coach would "wake up" roaring/yelling and chase them and the kids would have to dribble away quickly. Hindsight this may not have been the best idea because this turned into EVERYONE running around yelling. Well, poor Charlotte had one of the older boys run up and yell directly in her face. And she got scared and started crying.
 |
Sleeping Giant eventually got reversed so the kids were the "sleeping giants"
Here we have the kids getting up and "roaring" at coach |
So we tell her that if someone gets all in her face roaring, she can just roar back. So we practiced. In the next few weeks (
and still now) we would be places, like the Chik-fil-A indoor play area and I would hear a "Roar" from somewhere up in the slide because a boy wasn't letting her down the slide, or maybe at the playground, pretty much anywhere she may have felt threatened, she would roar.
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| Knocked down, but got right back up... and no tears! |
By the end of the season, this little girl who was shying away from kids was fighting for the ball, getting knocked down, and getting right back up again. Of course, I attribute this to skills and self-confidence she learned through playing a sport, but we also gave her a tool to use when she was in a situation that scared her where she needed to stand up for herself. She would roar.
 |
| Running and fighting for the ball with the big boys |
So thank you, Katy Perry, for this awesome empowerment song for girls. This song, with the empowering lyrics, along with the fun video (
yes, the video is totally no longer cheesy in my opinion) is exactly what I want my 3 young daughters to be listening to.
