Katy Perry’s PRISM was one of the most anticipated albums of 2013. Last year, I did a track-by-track review of the album, which is no longer available online, due to my removing it from the site where it was posted. However, for purposes of the Underrated Underground, I’m going to use the passage of time to my advantage and give you more of a historical perspective of how the various singles from PRISM have performed.

So, wait… Katy Perry? One of the most successful pop stars of all time and the #1 selling digital songs artist of all time? Underrated? Yes. PRISM is far better than the critics decreed it to be and Katy continues, even with her monumental success, to be under-appreciated and under-respected. But that’s a topic for a whole series of articles. Today, I want to focus on PRISM.

You can trust me when I say the PRISM lives up to the hype it received and it actually was even better than I could have imagined. Many other critics, however, consider it significantly inferior to her second album, “Teenage Dream.” There are a number of reasons for this, and part of that has to do the debut single and the song that launched PRISM, “Roar.”

Today, we’ll be focusing on just how hearing Katy “Roar” actually turned out.

Many critics were underwhelmed with "Roar.” Some went as far to term it a "boring" girl empowerment song. IF you sit there and analyze it, there is a bit more to "Roar" than that.

Pretty much everything you need to know about “Roar” is in the opening lines of the song. The lines "I used to bite my tongue and hold my breath/scared to rock the boat and make a mess" could refer to her early music career when she was trying really hard to stay within the lines of Christian music. But as so many people that grow up in highly strict environments often tell themselves: "So I sat quietly, agreed politely."

What follows is the strongest part of the song, "I guess I forgot I had a choice/I let you push me past the breaking point." This is obviously when Katy realized that she had to break the mold to truly create the music that she really wanted to.  "I stood for nothing/So I fell for everything" is probably the strongest line in the lyrics. During the past several years, it’s been clear that Katy has been searching for an identity. Since “One of the Boys,” Katy has been all over the place with her experiments in fashion, trying to find a way to define herself. As she said in many early interviews regarding both "Roar" and PRISM, only now through the process of writing this record does she feel that she has truly been finding herself. This song is a perfect reflection of that, as she is always sure to point out.

That verse being as strong as it is, the song does become a bit generic after that. "You pushed me down/But I got up/Already brushing off the dust" is a bit too cliché. "You hear that voice, hear that sound/Like thunder gonna shake the ground" is fine, though. The rest of that bridge is okay: "You held me down, but I got up/Get ready ‘cause I’ve had enough/I see it all, I see it now" is still rather clichéd as pop music lyrics go. It’s after this that the song falls apart for a lot of people.

The chorus is the part where most critics have a field day. It flat-out references the Rocky films with things like "eye of the tiger" and "I am a champion," and while "you're gonna hear me roar" is really cute, it has grown tired and stale for a lot of people already. The second verse is a bit disappointing, too, and not a good follow-up to the strength of the first verse. Its very cutesy imagery of "floating like a butterfly" and being able to "sting like a bee, I've earned my stripes" takes away a good deal of momentum from the extremely relatable lyrics from the opening verse. "I went from zero to my own hero," though, is a very quotable line. But after that, the song doesn’t offer anything else.

Katy was going for a powerful lead-off single to kick off PRISM. It was indeed powerful, and did have the popular success she’d hoped for – and more, in fact. However, it didn't pack the punch that many music critics were expecting that it would. To be fair, after Teenage Dream, the expectations were a bit unrealistic, being one of the most commercially successful album cycles of all time. It seems that what Katy wanted was a fun little self-empowerment anthem, to step up and be the very best you that you can be. Unfortunately, many critics see it as a silly girl-power anthem made only for her adoring Katy Cats. But from talking to people about the song and combing the internet for reactions, “Roar” is generally liked by a lot of people. It’s the fact that it was played to death that killed it for a lot of people.

Being the Katy Cat that I am, I love “Roar” to depth. It got me pumped for PRISM, and the album did not disappoint me. Then again, I quickly figured out her purpose in writing the song, and most critics missed the boat on it. Katy takes being a pop star very seriously, and while she doesn’t necessarily write songs only for the charts, she's well aware of what her core audience (the Katy Cats) want and expect from her. There is a good message in “Roar” right in that first verse while the overall tone of the song is extremely upbeat, and the core message very positive and uplifting.

Commercially, “Roar” did fantastically. “Roar” actually was the hit that finally dethroned the so-called Song of the Year “Blurred Lines,” which I was more than happy to see go from that top spot. However, “Roar” didn’t remain at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US for long due to Miley Cyrus’s smash hit "Wrecking Ball" coming out of nowhere – a status which it actually did sort of deserve, honestly. “Roar” has been one Katy’s best-selling singles of all-time and continued to blow away the charts in many other countries, as well as the Billboard genre-based charts into 2014. The dance remixes of “Roar” have also fared extremely well.

As a hardcore Katy Cat, I find myself having to just love this song for what it is despite its obvious shortcomings. It’s not as strong as some other songs on PRISM. “Roar” may be on par with a lot of her other #1 hits, which, besides perhaps “Firework” are not really musical works of art; they’re just catchy enough that you can't get them out of your head. Most of her #1 hits also are upbeat enough to be important parts of one's daily soundtrack, and “Roar” definitely fits that bit. “Roar” is probably a 7.5 for me on pure content alone. But as it’s served as a get-me-out-of-bed and get-me-going tune, it’s been too personally motivational for me to rate any lower than at least an 8.

I gave it an 8.5 back in November for the sheer fact that it was a fantastic tone setter for what is very much Katy’s best album so far. I don’t see myself changing that rating now. I know a lot of people will disagree with it, but there are just as many that will probably beg me to change it to a 9 or a 10. But I’m sorry – Roar’s a nice anthem, but it’s no “Firework.”

Today, we celebrate the day of birth of one of the most amazing human beings to ever walk the face of God's green earth - an individual by the name of Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson. Born to Mary and Keith Hudson on October 25, 1984, little did they know that their little gift from heaven would grow up to be a devil-child. Um, I mean, the Queen of Pop. Who knew at that very beginning that her mamma's little Katy-Bird would grow up to become such a super-star and inspirational force in the lives of so many young people - including myself.

Well, I think her parents and a lot of others around her knew she was talented from a very young age. That much was obvious. But little Katy-Bird up and flew away and went on a long journey to stardom. It was a rough ride and it had some incredible highs during the Teenage Dream era. Some people will always say those were the best moments of Katy's career, but I disagree. Katy still has had a chance to dominate like no other artist has ever done. Unfortunately, PRISM has not had quite the commercial success that Katy had hoped. On the bright side, "Roar" and "Dark Horse" have sold phenomenally, while "Unconditionally" performed underwhelmingly and "Birthday" was a bomb. The Prismatic World Tour has also been a success, despite not having the variety that the California Dreams Tour offered. The pop scene has an absolute disaster for a while, more than it has ever been. But some huge out-of-nowhere successes such as Lorde's "Royals" and Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" have mitigated that disaster somewhat. Unfortunately, Katy is simply not doing as well commercially as she once did.

Now having turned 30 years old, it's clear that Katy is looking towards her post-music career already. She's very involved in her Kitty Collection with Claire's, her spokespersonship with Cover Girl, her sudden love for the NFL (because she's playing the Super Bowl in February 2015), and of course, her perfume empire. Katy has already dropped plenty of hints that her next album will be an acoustic, stripped-down affair - which I'm definitely looking forward to. Katy's already accomplished a lot. However, I'm not crazy that her current tour has become a sort of pre-packaged product and that she's been basically been a walking promotional machine. But while I'm not crazy about how she seems to be getting more away from the music right now, I understand that she's just setting herself up for the long run.

With all this woman has done for me, the inspiration from her lyrics, her smile and positivity, and everything else she's stood for, I will be a KATY CAT FOREVER!

Happy 30th birthday, Katy!

Back in 2001, a young girl by the name of Katy Hudson put together a Christian rock record. It wasn’t well received, but many in the industry took notice of her songwriting and vocal skills. She was still raw, but definitely had potential. A few years later, she abandoned Christian music, and went on a seven year journey to become a pop star. It was hard, as no one seemed to know how to market the bubbly, silly Katy. By this time, she’d taken on the stage name Katy Perry (Perry being her mother’s maiden name).

In 2008, everything suddenly clicked for Katy. She had recently signed with Capitol Records who paired her up with pop songwriting legends, Max Martin and Dr. Luke. Out of this collaboration came a little song called “I Kissed a Girl.” It became the song of the summer. Two years later, her sophomore album, “Teenage Dream” again with the help of Martin and Dr. Luke was an even more massive success, with five tracks on it hitting #1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Then in 2011 everything sort of fell apart for Katy. Towards the tail end of what had been a rigorous and exhausting tour, husband Russell Brand wanted a divorce. He hadn’t been very supportive during her tour and it was clear that their relationship had been a bit rocky for a while, but Katy always did what she could to hide it. Her recent documentary, “Part of Me,” covered that story, but as it turns out, Katy was a lot worse off than people realized.

While Katy’s video for “Wide Awake” depicted her in a wheelchair at a hospital, which was meant to symbolize just how broken she was by the divorce, there is now new evidence that she actually became suicidal during that time. It was revealed today at the iTunes Festival when she performed the very sullen and solemn “By the Grace of God.” To think that the beautiful and incredible Katy Perry, who is perhaps the most positive person ever, would even THINK about ending her life is almost unthinkable.

An absolute stark contrast to the single she released last night “Walking on Air,” this track, “By the Grace of God” is about how Katy eventually became so monumentally depressed and hurt by Brand’s betrayal of her love and trust that she couldn’t bear to live any more. Fortunately, with the support of her family (namely her sister) and her legions of Katy Cats, she found the strength to continue, declaring that she would not ever let anything in the name of love destroy her.

Apparently, Katy was much closer to suicide than most had ever thought possible. It is truly by the Grace of God that we still have Katy, and perhaps, that we have the phenomenon that is Katy Perry, at all. Katy is an incredibly strong-willed woman, and if even she can be brought to the brink of wanting everything to end, it just shows just how a bad marriage or relationship can ruin anyone.

Although PRISM hasn't performed quite as well commercially as Teenage Dream, I don't think anyone expected that. Besides, her Prismatic World Tour is selling out. Katy continues to bring joy to millions every day with her silly antics and honest, down-to-earth personality. There are so many of us that are glad she stayed.

We love you, Katy! God bless you!

They had to save the best for last. It was Day 30 of the iTunes Festival, and who better to close it all out than the Queen of Pop herself, kitty cat Katy Perry. It goes without saying that the days of cotton candy Katy are now long past. She has opted now for a darker, rockier sound that she debuted at the iHeartMusic Festival last week. There were some things I wasn't totally crazy about, but it also was an abbreviated performance, and there was a lot that went into building it up. Take two went a lot better in my opinion, as they worked out some of the bugs from the iHeartMusic Festival performance, especially the "Roar" backing track which sounded MUCH better and a bit less droning than before.

She kicked off the show with "Walking on Air" a song which, only released the day before, has already split a lot of fans. Many love it, many hate it. It's a full-on dance track with rather repetitive lyrics, but I have to admit Katy's vocals are top-notch in it, and I'd love to hear a stripped-down version of it at some point. Her vocals in this live performance were some, if not the very best, that I've ever heard out of her. She followed it up with her new mash-up of Calfornia Gurls and Teenage Dream, which I must say, seems to work pretty well. Then, came the new version of "I Kissed a Girl" that she kicked off her iHeartMusic Festival set with, and I dare say this was an even better performance, musically and vocally.

"Dark Horse" I wasn't so thrilled with, and it had nothing to do with Katy's performance. Her vocals were excellent. It's just that "Dark Horse" doesn't feel complete without the rap breakdown. So Katy just had her dancers being "down and dirty" and the song just felt really incomplete. My overall disappointment with that song's performance dissipated because one of my all-time favorites (and the one that officially turned me into a KatyCat) "Part of Me" was next. It was one of her best live performances of the track to date.

After "Part of Me" was easily the most talked about part of the entire set. That, of course, was her debut of a very somber track called "By the Grace of God." Though I'd heard the audio of this performance before, watching the actual performance literally made me bawl my eyes out. It is one of her all-time best vocal performances, even with the fact that she was choking up towards the end of it. In stark contrast to the three songs "Roar," "Dark Horse," and "Walking on Air," that were released as promotional singles, "By the Grace of God" is the most personal song that Katy has ever written, and it admits that her divorce with Russell Brand hurt her far more deeply than she had ever previously wanted to admit. I'm telling you right now that this song is going to prevent a lot of untimely suicides. It's beautiful and honest and my respect for Katy has grown by leaps and bounds beyond what seems to be possible. She was already my favorite all-time performing artist. Now she's untouchable.

"Thanks for letting me stay!" she declared. I died.

After having one of the most solemn fan-boy moments of my life, she followed up "By the Grace" with my second all-time favorite Katy track, "Wide Awake." I will admit that her vocals were not quite as crisp on this one. She's never sang "Wide Awake" all that well live for whatever reason, despite an obvious remix that was made to make it work better with her natural voice. Of course, after singing "By the Grace of God" who COULD sing well?

Then again, Katy still had to sing "Firework" which is now performed a bit differently live. It starts out slow with Katy's vocals carrying it for the majority of the first half. It doesn't pick up until after the second verse and the dancing ensues. I really love how she builds it up now. It begins very somberly, then grows more optimistic, then explodes into a celebration. I never thought a performance of "Firework" could become such an emotional journey, but Katy's apparently perfected that!

Of course, the finale had to be "Roar," because that song is awesome. I will admit I'm not sure that Katy has the vocals down for the live performance yet, as this was probably her weakest vocal performance of the entire set, but I think she was pretty drained by this point with all the dancing she'd done already. But she closed it out fantastically, belting out the last few lines, "YOU'RE GONNA HEAR ME, ROAR!"

I hope Katy continues to "Roar" until the end of the world. She is the greatest thing in music right now, and nothing can touch her.

This just goes to show that even a pop icon is just as fragile as any of us, and we must be thankful that God has given us such a beautiful gift. She may not always be the greatest vocalist in the world, but her heart is always in it, and she CAN sing when she really tries, as she proved tonight.

Thank you, Katy. I'm roaring for you.