Song: Roar
Artist: Katy Perry
Year: 2013
Album: Prism
Language Feature: Colloquial vocabulary
Episode Description
There were so many inspirational and empowering songs to choose from for our International Women’s Day episode, we decided to include another song from our party playlist. Katy Perry’s 2013 hit pop song, “Roar” is the perfect song for building up your courage and finding your voice.
This song is full of useful and interesting vocabulary, phrases and figurative language. It’s also really fun to sing! Check out this episode wherever you listen to podcasts: Apple podcasts, Spotify, or the English as a Singing Language website or YouTube channel. Make sure you follow us on Instagram, too!!
Episode Transcript
<intro>
E: Hi! I’m Ece!
H: And I’m Heather.
E: We’re the co-hosts of the podcast, “English as a Singing Language.”
H: We choose songs from a variety of different genres and time periods and talk about how you can use them to help you practice English.
E: We discuss how to improve pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency while singing.
H: And we have a great time doing it, too! So, what is the focus of the song in this episode, Ece?
E: We’re going to talk about vocabulary, useful phrases and idioms.
H: I always enjoy talking about words and how to use them.
E: Me too! I can’t wait to talk about this song.
H: Me neither.
E: Let’s get started!
<end intro>
H: (humming Katy Perry, “Roar”) Oh! Hi Ece! What’s up?
E: Not much. How are you doing?
H: I’m doing really well. I was just listening to the playlist you shared from your party for International Women’s Day. You picked such inspiring and empowering songs.
E: You know how much I enjoy listening to music, and it was wonderful to spend time at the party with all of our amazing and talented friends and colleagues.
H: Listeners should definitely check out our previous episode, Rachel Platten’s 2015 hit, “Fight Song,” which we chose specifically for International Women’s Day.
E: And it sounded like you were listening to another inspiring song by a female artist from the 2010s. Did I just hear you humming Katy Perry’s 2013 song, “Roar”?
H: Yes! Whenever I need some motivation, it’s a great song to listen to. You know, we are being interviewed on Friday, and I’m not sure how to answer some of the questions they are going to ask.
E: Well, “Roar,” is the perfect song for building confidence. In fact, Katy Perry has said, “If you’re presenting yourself with confidence, you can pull off pretty much anything.”
H: Hmmmm…. maybe that’s true. And I like how she uses the phrasal verb, “pull off” in that quote. Usually, I think of “pull off” to mean the same as “take off.” Like, “I pulled off my shoes and socks.”
E: But here “pull off” means “to achieve something that you thought would be very difficult, or even impossible.”
H: So, I just need to be a little more confident and I can pull it off.
E: If you feel confident, you’ll be able to pull off anything. And, there is a lot of really interesting vocabulary in this song.
H: You’re right. Starting in the first line of the song, she sings, “I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath, scared to rock the boat and make a mess.”
E: “Bite my tongue” is similar to “hold my tongue,” right? I remember that phrase from Season 2, Episode 7, in Patti Spinner’s song, Adventurous Girl.
H: Yes! That’s a really great song, and it has so many examples of the present perfect verb tense. Listeners can check out that episode if they haven’t done so yet.
E: “Bite my tongue,” means that you don’t say something that you want to say.
H: Usually because you are afraid that the other person will be upset if you say it. And, “hold my breath" means <takes breath, holds it, exhales> that you are so nervous or afraid that you don’t even breathe.
E: And she is, “scared to rock the boat.” What does, “rock the boat” mean?
H: This is an example of figurative language. Figurative language is when we use words to describe something, and we don’t use the literal meaning of the words.
E: Like, if I say, “you’re a ray of sunshine,” I mean that you are bright and cheerful, like sunshine.
H: I don’t think I’m usually a ray of sunshine, but I do like to rock the boat sometimes.
E: You mean, you like to do something that makes trouble or upsets how things are usually done.
H: Sometimes. And I like to “make a mess” occasionally, too. To make things disorderly.
E: The next lines are also very descriptive, “So I sat quietly, agreed politely. I guess that I forgot I had a choice. I let you push me past the breaking point.”
H: What’s a breaking point, Ece?
E: You know, when you add things one-by-one onto say, a piece of wood. Eventually, there will be too many things, it will be too heavy, and the piece of wood will break. It is at the breaking point.
H: Ah, so for a person, they could have a lot of stress, maybe from a person or situation, and they could reach a “breaking point,” too.
E: Exactly. And then the next line is, “I stood for nothing, so I fell for everything.”
H: If you, “stand for something,” that means you actively support it and defend it. If she “stands for nothing,” she doesn’t believe strongly in anything.
E: So, she will easily “fall for something” like she will be easily tricked or easily believe something that is not true.
H: Up to this point in the song, it seems like she is very timid and doesn’t fight for herself or what she believes in.
E: It seems like that, but things start to change in the next lines of the song. “You held me down, but I got up, already brushing off the dust.”
H: I think that she wasn’t actually physically held down by another person, but the things the person said or did made her feel like she couldn’t do what she wanted to do.
E: Sometimes we all have negative people in our lives, but she is getting up and “brushing off the dust,” like she’s fallen down and is dirty and dusty, but she is brushing off the dirt and dust and getting ready to defend herself.
H: It certainly sounds like it. She sings, “You hear my voice, you hear that sound, like thunder, gonna shake the ground.” That sounds like she is feeling pretty powerful.
E: Yes! And that’s a great description. Her voice is like thunder and is going to, or “gonna” shake the ground.
H: You’re right. Having a voice like thunder does sound very powerful.
E: She sings, “get ready ‘cause I’ve had enough,” meaning she has done or accepted things that she doesn’t agree with, or she doesn’t like. Like, maybe I have been working 12 hours a day for weeks and weeks, and finally I reach my breaking point and I feel like “I’ve had enough.”
H: We’ve all been in that situation before. And I like the very natural reductions that she uses. She doesn’t sing, “get ready because I have had enough,” but “get ready ‘cause I’ve had enough.”
E: Then she sings in the refrain, “I got the eye of the tiger, a fighter.”
H: Oooooh what is “the eye of the tiger”? That sounds like a very interesting phrase.
E: A person who has “the eye of the tiger” is extremely focused on a goal, very confident, and very fierce, like a tiger.
H: That sounds like what I need to develop before that interview on Friday. I need to prepare and have the eye of the tiger.
E: Having the eye of the tiger would be a good attitude to have for a lot of different situations where you don’t feel confident.
H: Agree. She goes on with the phrase, “dancing through the fire.” That is an interesting expression, too.
E: Going through fire would be difficult, scary and possibly painful, but she is dancing through the fire. She’s facing a difficult situation and going through it smoothly. She’s dancing through the fire.
H: And the most powerful line in the song, probably, is, “'Cause I am a champion, and you're gonna hear me roar, louder, louder than a lion.”
E: Definitely. First, we can mention that the word “roar” which is the sound that a big cat, like a tiger or a lion makes -
E + H <roar>
E: -is good practice for an American English [r] sound since it has one at the beginning and one at the end of the word. Roar.
H: And she’s using “roar louder than a lion” to show that she isn’t going to hold her breath or bite her tongue anymore. She’s going to make her voice heard.
E: That’s a really inspiring line.
H: In the next verse she starts with, “Now I'm floatin' like a butterfly, stinging like a bee.” That’s an interesting description. What does she mean by that?
E: That phrase comes from a 1964 interview with the world-famous heavyweight boxer, Mohammad Ali. When he was asked what his boxing strategy was, he replied, “float like a butterfly, sting like a bee, the hands can’t hit what the eyes can’t see.”
H: So, he’s saying that his fighting style is to be graceful and floating, but then fiercely attack like a bee. That’s an interesting reference, and a good attack strategy.
E: Yep. And what does the next line, “I earned my stripes” mean?
H: If you “earn your stripes,” it means that you have gotten respect or gained a position through years of hard work and experience.
E: Hmmmm…so Heather, do you think we’ve “earned our stripes as podcasters and English language teachers?
H: We’ve put in a lot of hard work, and we have quite a bit of experience. I’d say we’ve earned our stripes.
E: I think so, too. Do you agree, listeners? And I really like the last line of that verse, “I went from zero, to my own hero.” I love that “zero” and “hero” rhyme.
H: And I love the idea of being your own hero. Of course, we all have people that we look up to, people who are heroes in our lives, but we should all consider acting in a brave way, so that we can all be heroes for ourselves.
E: That’s a big life goal, but I think it’s definitely something to work toward.
H Agree.
E: Well, it seems like it must be…
H: … Time to sing!
E: There’s a link to the official YouTube video for Katy Perry’s 2013 song, “Roar” in the episode notes.
H: Don’t forget to sing out loud and pay attention to all of the really interesting and useful vocabulary, phrases and figurative language in the lyrics.
E: This is definitely a fun song to sing, and you have to sing it loud, louder than a lion!
E + H: “and you’re going to hear us roar!”
<outtro>
H: Thanks again for the inspiring and empowering playlist, Ece.
E: You’re welcome, Heather. Music can really help us in so many ways.
H: You’re right. I was a little worried about that interview on Friday. I wasn’t sure I’d know what to say, or if I would have anything interesting to add to the topic.
E: You’ve definitely earned your stripes as a language teacher. I definitely think you have ideas that will benefit other people.
H: And I know you will, too.
E: Okay, listeners, don’t forget to like and subscribe to the podcast.
H: And share it with your friends and family who love learning English.
E: Don’t forget, we have a YouTube channel now. You can listen to the podcast AND see videos of selected episodes.
H: Follow us on Instagram @singinglanguages to find out about upcoming episodes and see what we’re up to.
E: Be sure to check out our website for transcripts and other useful resources.
H: Most of all have fun and …
E + H: … just keep singing!
Official YouTube Video
Complete Lyrics
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
You held me down, but I got up (hey)
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder, gonna shake the ground
You held me down, but I got up (hey)
Get ready 'cause I've had enough
I see it all, I see it now
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-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
You're gonna hear me roar
Now I'm floatin' like a butterfly
Stinging like a bee, I earned my stripes
I went from zero, to my own hero
You held me down, but I got up (hey)
Already brushing off the dust
You hear my voice, you hear that sound
Like thunder, gonna shake the ground
You held me down, but I got up (hey)
Get ready 'cause I've had enough
I see it all, I see it now
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-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
You're gonna hear me roar
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh (you'll hear me roar)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
You're gonna hear me roar
Roar, roar, roar, roar, roar
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-oh-oh-oh-oh (yeah)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
You're gonna hear me roar
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh (you'll hear me roar)
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
You're gonna hear me roar
Songwriters: Bonnie Leigh McKee / Henry Walter / Katy Perry / Lukasz Gottwald / Max Martin
Roar lyrics © Concord Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc