Twerkaholics beware, Katy Perry has unveiled the full length version of Dark Horse, and its a banger. The first promotional single and second overall from Prism excellently captures the "dark" in "dark horse," making Circle The Drain look like Last Friday Night.
The first 13 or so seconds aren't a very strong entrance for "Dark Horse," with the strange baby-coo and Juicy J introduction. But don't despair for too long, for the trap beat kicks in with a freakishly dark and effective riff accompanying it. Katy lets the lyric quality of her voice take over here, purring the lines "Make me your Aphrodite / Make me your one and only." Once the background vocals kick in for the chorus, the song takes on a much lighter quality, but once the beat drops, we're plunged into sticky, gooey darkness. Juicy does well his verse, its nice and simple, and takes the opportunity to make use of the off beats.
This is what we wanted from Katy when she burned her Teenage Dream blue wig: darkness, edge, a new Katy style. With "Dark Horse," she brings all of that to the table (and Juicy J). Its understandable why Roar, an inferior to 'Horse,' was chosen as the lead single now: perhaps the rest of Prism is too edgy, too jarring for those accustomed to "Teenage Katy." Katy, you have been absolved of your sins, Dark Horse answers our prayers.
Lyrics: B+
Vocals: B
Production: A+
Overall: A-
(Note: Thats not any official single artwork that I choose, you can see it here)