Katy Perry kicks off her hotly anticipated “Prism” era with a stylistic return to the arena-sized singer/songwriter formula that made debut album “One of the Boys” so remarkable. A midtempo self-empowerment anthem in the same thematic vein as 2010’s “Firework,” “Roar” posits Perry as a capital-S Survivor (she leads the chorus with the lyric, “I got the eye of the tiger”) over a monstrous hook and stomping drums. The noted absence of “minor chords” has already put off some critics, but it’s worth celebrating that “Roar” marks the first time Perry has led an album cycle without a novelty song, after “I Kissed a Girl” and “California Gurls.” In fact, the 28-year-old has turned in one of her strongest vocals to date, and sounds convincingly prepared to return to dominance in the mainstream pop sphere. As an added bonus, the new single’s staccato-fied, shout-along chorus seems custom-made for a live setting-and a really killer remix.
