"Dark Horse" is a song by American singerKaty Perry featuring American rapperJuicy J. It was originally released on September 17, 2013, byCapitol Records as the first promotional single from Perry's fourth studio album,Prism (2013). Three months later, it was released as the third official single on December 17. Both artists co-wrote the song with its producers,Max Martin,Cirkut, andDr. Luke, alongsideSarah Hudson. It was conceived by Perry and Hudson during a writing session in Perry's hometown ofSanta Barbara, California, and Juicy J was later commissioned for a verse on the song. The song was recorded at Playback Recording Studios in Santa Barbara, alongsideMXM Studios, based inStockholm, Sweden, Luke's in the Boo, based inMalibu, California, and Secret Garden Studios, based inMontecito, California.
"Dark Horse" combines the genres oftrap,hip hop,pop-rap andelectropop, replicating what has been described as a "Southern rap-techno mashup", and is heavily influenced bywitch house, an underground electronic music genre that features occult themes, trap drums, and the heavy bass lines featured in the track. The track features a minimal production, with a "seductive" and "mature" tone to Perry's vocals, while Juicy J is featured on the song's intro andrapped third verse. Perry, in interviews, said she wanted the song to have a "witchy,spell-y kind ofblack magic-y idea", so she wrote it from the perspective of awitch warning a man not tofall in love with her because if he does, she will be his last. The song was part of a competition sponsored byPepsi in which fans could vote via Twitter on whether they would prefer either "Dark Horse" or "Walking on Air" to be released as the first promotional single fromPrism.
"Dark Horse" was a commercial success, charting at number one in Canada, the Netherlands, Poland, and the United States. It also reached the top ten in almost 20 countries, including New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Venezuela, as well as on the Digital Songs chart ofBillboard magazine.[1]Billboard credits "Dark Horse" for helping cementtrap music's place on the charts.[2] Perry first performed the song live at the 2013iHeartRadio Music Festival inLas Vegas on September 20, 2013. The song's first major television performance was at the56th Annual Grammy Awards on January 26, 2014.[3] "Dark Horse" was nominated forBest Pop Duo/Group Performance at the57th Annual Grammy Awards. It won Single of the Year at the2014 American Music Awards. The song has sold 13.2 million units (combined sales and track-equivalent streams), becoming the second best-selling song worldwide for 2014.[4] In 2015, the song was performed at Pepsi'sSuper Bowl XLIX halftime show inGlendale, Arizona.
In 2014,Flame, aChristian rap artist, filed acopyright infringement lawsuitagainst Perry and the other songwriters, claiming that "Dark Horse" copied from his 2008 song "Joyful Noise". On July 29, 2019, a federal jury ruled in favor of Flame and the co-plaintiffs Da' T.R.U.T.H. and Chike Ojukwu. The jury ordered Perry, her collaborators, and associated labels to pay $2.78 million indamages; of which Perry was ordered to pay $550,000. However, in part due to a similar judgment that foundLed Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" clear of copyright infringement in theNinth Circuit, the jury award wasvacated on appeal in March 2020.
Inspired by the 1996 filmThe Craft,[5] Perry and singer-songwriter Sarah Hudson wrote the first version of "Dark Horse" in Perry's hometown ofSanta Barbara, California.[6] Perry described the song as a "juxtaposition", as it mixed her, a pop music artist, with an "urban kind ofhip-hop-flavored background soundtrack"; and its lyrics as "witchy and dark", written from the perspective of "a witch warning [a] man to not fall in love with [her]", and if so, she would be his last. Perry then asked producerDr. Luke to contact one of hisKemosabe Records artists, American rapperJuicy J, for a guest verse. Juicy J complimented Perry as having a "very professional" work ethic and being substantially involved in the song's development. He said: "My verse I did on that song, she was singing it. She's really a genius, she was by the mixing board and telling the guy what to take in and take out. She's really hands-on with her music, she knows music."[7]
"Dark Horse" was recorded and engineered at Luke's in the Boo inMalibu,Conway Recording Studios inHollywood, Playback Recording Studios in Santa Barbara, California, and Secret Garden Studios inMontecito, as well asMXM Studios in Stockholm, Sweden. It was engineered by Peter Carlsson, Mike "Crazy Mike" Foster, Clint Gibbs, Sam Holland, and Michael Ilbert. They were assisted by Eric Eylands, Rachael Findlen, Justin Fox, Elliot Lanam, and Cory Bice. It was mixed byŞerban Ghenea, while John Hanes served as the engineer for mix. All instrumentation and programming was done by Dr. Luke, Max Martin, and Cirkut.[8]
In a press release on August 20, 2013,Pepsi announced a partnership with Perry to promote her fourth studio albumPrism: a social "tweet-to-unlock" voting program, encouraging fans to tweet the hashtag #KATYNOW in exchange for song titles and lyrics. The chosen tracks for the campaign were "Walking on Air" and "Dark Horse". After the samples were revealed, fans could vote for which one they wanted to have an early release on digital retailers.[9] The winner was "Dark Horse", which was released on September 17, 2013, on theiTunes Store.[10] Due to its commercial success, it was sent tocontemporary hit andrhythmic radio stations on December 17, 2013, asPrism's third official single.[11][12]
"Dark Horse" is atrap,[13][14]hip hop,[15][16]pop rap[17] andelectropop song.[18] which is styled in "Southern rap-techno mashup",[19] and has a length of three minutes and thirty-five seconds.[20] Musically, the verses are built around icy rhythms andchopped and screwed vocal samples, while the chorus' feature Perry singing into a gradualcrescendo.[21] The song contains a grimy, "incredibly simplistic" production.[13] According to Kathy Iandoli ofMSN Entertainment, "Dark Horse" contains a mixture of elements from "trippy pop",EDM, anddubstep.[22] According to the sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "Dark Horse" is written in the key ofB♭ minor. It follows a chord progression of G♭ – D♭ – B♭m – B♭m/A♭, and the vocals range from the low note ofB♭3 to the high note ofD♭5. "Dark Horse" has a tempo of 132 beats per minute in half-time style typical of trap music.[23] A writer for theWinnipeg Free Press described the song as "brooding, borderline sleazy trap-pop excursion that comes across like a stripped-down version of 'E.T.' mixed with 'Grindin'' byThe Clipse", before going on to call it unexpected, unconventional, and unstoppable.[24]
The critical response to guest vocals fromJuicy J (pictured) was generally negative.
Marc Hogan fromSpin called the lyrics a "cliché salad" but believed that the song had potential to become a hit due to its "soaring hooks" and "sleekly sculpted production".[25] Reviewing the song forBillboard, Jason Lipshutz said that by exploring trap-influenced music, Perry "score[d]" and "slay[ed]".[26]Digital Spy's Robert Copsey questioned the decision to not have a proper chorus in "Dark Horse" and the inclusion ofJuicy J, though he praised the "sleazy" beat and "sultry" vocals from Katy Perry. He gave the track a rating of four stars out of five.[27] Contributor Dylan Mial ofBlogcritics said the "juxtaposition" of Perry's vocals and Juicy J's rap brought "the ingredients for a perfect musical storm" and favored Perry for the "uniqueness" of the single.[28]
Keith Murphy fromVibe called the track "infectiously sexy",[29] while John Walker from MTV was similarly positive about the song, though he wrote that Juicy's verse was "phoned-in".[30] Sal Cinquemani ofSlant Magazine likened the song to avant-garde bandArt of Noise's song "Moments In Love" and called it a "continuation" of "E.T.", and further labelled it as a "standout" fromPrism.[31] While she did not give her opinion of the song as a whole, Helen Brown from the publicationThe Daily Telegraph criticized Juicy J for his "daft" rap.[32] ForAbsolutePunk, Craig Manning classified "Dark Horse" asPrism's worst song, while also panning the rapper's contribution.[33] Marah Eakin fromThe A.V. Club was not entirely critical of the song, though she noted that it was not among "Perry's best".[34]
Consequence of Sound's Chris Bosman had a mixed response—while he praised the song for feeling "vital" and "forward-moving", he criticized the guest vocals and nonetheless deemed the trap influence "trap for soccer moms".[35] Writing forABC News, Mesfin Fekadu commented that "her team fare[d] better" in the song and observed that the "Southern hip-hop and electronic flavors" present on it were factors that made it "work".[36] Pop music websiteIdolator's Sam Lansky opined that the "weird trap-lite" of the song "never quitecoalesces".[37]
"Dark Horse" debuted at number seventeen on theBillboard Hot 100 and at number four on theHot Digital Songs chart with 194,000 downloads sold for the week ending October 5, 2013.[67] Following its release as a single, after several weeks of ascending the chart, "Dark Horse" reached number one in the United States on the chart dated February 8, 2014. It marked Perry's ninth US number one and Juicy J's first, and remained atop the chart for four consecutive weeks.[68][69][70] It spent 22 weeks in the top ten and 57 weeks on the chart in total, marking Perry's longest stay in both the top ten and on the Hot 100 itself.[71][72] Besides its success on the Hot 100, "Dark Horse" also performed extremely well on Billboard's component charts, topping theMainstream Top 40 chart for five weeks, giving Perry her record-tying eleventh number-one, theHot Dance Club Songs chart, becoming her record-extending thirteenth consecutive number one, and theRhythmic chart, becoming her second number one, while reaching numbers two and six on theAdult Pop Songs and theAdult Contemporary charts respectively.[73] As of August 2020, the song has sold 6.4 million copies in the nation,[74] and has been certifiedeleven-times platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[75]
In Canada, "Dark Horse" debuted at number eight on theCanadian Hot 100 chart, and peaked at number one for two weeks, becoming the Perry's tenth number-one single in the country and Juicy J's first, and has since been certified seven-times platinum byMusic Canada for sales of 560,000 units.[76] "Dark Horse" peaked at number two on theNew Zealand Singles Chart becoming Perry's twelfth top ten, and was certified double platinum by theRMNZ.[77]In Australia, the song was not eligible to chart on theARIA Top 100 Singles Chart as it was seen as a digital-only release,[78] but peaked at number five on the ARIA Top 50 Digital Tracks and was certified eight-times platinum by theARIA, for sales of 560,000 units.[79] "Dark Horse" also saw major success in Europe. In the UK, it peaked at number four on theUK Singles Chart, becoming her thirteenth top ten hit, while peaking at number three in both Ireland and Scotland.[80] The song topped the charts in the Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders), and Poland, while reaching number two in Austria, Norway, and Sweden, number three in Belgium (Wallonia), number four in Switzerland and the Czech Republic, number five in Italy, number six in Germany, France, and Denmark, number eight in Hungary, and number nine in Spain.[81] It earned certifications in Sweden (four times platinum), Italy (three times platinum), Norway (three times platinum), the UK (two times platinum), Mexico (two times platinum), Germany (three times gold), and Belgium (gold). "Dark Horse" sold 13.2 million units worldwide in 2014, finishing as the second best-selling song of the year according to theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI).
In an interview withBillboard at the2014 Grammy Awards, Juicy J stated the video will be filmed "soon"; he added that it is "a major motion picture." He further teased the release by saying, "I can't really tell you because it's definitely going to be a surprise, but I'll tell you this much right here: you've seen her other videos, this one's gonna be just as big. Everything she does is like grade A."[82]
When "Dark Horse" had attained the top position on the USBillboard Hot 100 Chart, Perry announced that she was working on the video.[68] On February 6, 2014, Perry tweeted the video would be released "soon".[83][84] On February 13, 2014, she released a preview of the music video onto herVevo account on YouTube, revealing the Egyptian setting of the video. Perry played a character named "Katy Pätra", a takeoff on theEgyptian queenCleopatra.[85] The video was released on February 20, 2014.[86]
The music video was directed byMathew Cullen, who previously worked with Perry on her music video for the song "California Gurls". Perry's idea for the music video was to combine Ancient Egyptian culture with Memphis, Tennesseehip hop: setting the video in ancientMemphis, Egypt as a nod to Juicy J's Tennessee hometown. Speaking of Perry's concept, Cullen said "That's music to my ears — when an artist has a couple concepts that they want to mash up to create something fresh."[87]
The music video for "Dark Horse" was the most viewed music video in 2014 worldwide.[88] On June 9, 2015, the music video for "Dark Horse" became the first video by a female artist to reach one billion views onVevo.[89][90] Perry also became the first female to have a video on YouTube with one billion views.[91] Four years later, it was ranked seventh globally among the most-watched videos of the 2010s decade.[92]
The video was criticized for including a scene where Perry's character disintegrated a man (pictured), originally seen wearing a pendant appearing to display the Arabic word for "Allah", which was subsequently edited out of the video
During the video's opening, it is revealed that the music video takes place "a crazy long time ago" in Memphis, Egypt. For the opening verses, Perry's character Katy Pätra, the witch of Memphis, is shown wearing a white dress and white and blue wig while floating on a large barge at sunset, with pyramids and palm trees visible in the background. The video transitions to a different scene where Pätra, now wearing a longer dress and a black wig, sits in an extravagant Sphinx-like throne while pharaohs gather to bring her expensive gifts (such as a large diamond) in an attempt to "win her heart". After retrieving the first suitor's gift, she hits the man with a magical bolt of lightning from her hand, turning him into a pile of sand, and takes his jewels to wear on her teeth as a grill. Another suitor brings her candy, cupcakes, twinkies, and spicy cheese puffs. After she burns her mouth with the spicy cheese puffs, she turns the suitor into a large cup of water, which she drinks. Pätra also appears as a gray statue in a scene where golden pythons and gray guardian statues such asAnubis,Horus,Nisroch andApep surround her, and in a scene with a blue background where she wears a golden dress and several golden hieroglyphs levitate around her. During Juicy J's verse, the rapper emerges from a gold sarcophagus while Pätra accepts an Egyptian chariot with hydraulics (she turns the associated suitor into a set of giant dice to hang from the frame) and rejects a suitor who turns out to have the face of a crocodile by turning him into a wallet. During the final chorus, the last suitor brings Pätra a large gold pyramid with a pink capstone, which she ascends. At the top of the pyramid, Pätra, dressed as Isis, uses her powers to conjure up a magical "perfect storm" with pink, purple, and violet clouds. Although it seems like Pätra has finally found a gift she likes, the final frame of the video reveals that she has turned the final suitor into a dog with a human head.
The music video was criticized by some for appropriating the symbols and imagery of Egyptian culture. Cullen, the director, defended the music video, saying that, while he believes it is dangerous to rip things directly from present cultures without adding anything to them, Ancient Egypt is part of what he calls our "shared collective mythology". He said: "The most important thing is that when you create something, and this is actually something Katy and I worked to do — you bring a new spin to it." EgyptologistDavid P. Silverman praised the music video's use of Egyptian imagery and the interest it could generate to viewers: "[Egypt has] always been a part of popular culture. It encourages people to think of these things, and some of those people actually begin to learn a lot." The video was noted by conspiracy theorists for bearing resemblance to imagery used by the allegedIlluminati, butRobert K. Ritner rejected the allegations, saying that "The many discussions of the Illuminati are nonsense" and that, in fact, themasonic imagery associated with the Illuminati is drawn from Egyptian imagery (as a common source for both).[87]
The music video caused controversy amongMuslims who criticized a scene in the video where a man wearing apendant appearing to display theArabic word for "Allah" is disintegrated and turned into sand by Perry's character. The scene took place 1 minute and 15 seconds into the video. A petition launched onChange.org accused Perry of "representing an opposition of God" and demanded that the video be taken down from YouTube. The petition reached over 65,000 signatures and as a response, the pendant was digitally removed from the video on February 26, 2014, after which the petition was closed.[93]
On July 1, 2014, theSt. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Christian rapperFlame and others filed a lawsuit against Perry, Capitol Records, and Perry's co-writers for infringing copyright on the song "Joyful Noise", which appeared on the 2008 albumOur World: Redeemed.[94] The producer, Chike Ojukwu, along with co-songwriterDa' T.R.U.T.H. were listed as co-plaintiffs.[95][96] Cho'zyn Boy, a DJ for Flame in 2014, stated that Perry's song is "identical" to "Joyful Noise", but ten BPM slower in tempo and one step higher in pitch.[97] In addition to the infringement claims, the suit claimed that "by any measure, the devoutly religious message of 'Joyful Noise' has been irreparably tarnished by its association with the witchcraft, paganism, black magic, and Illuminati imagery evoked by the same music in 'Dark Horse'".[98] RapperLecrae, who is featured on the song and was initially included as a plaintiff in the lawsuit, clarified to MTV that "I was in Hong Kong [when] the press release went out and it's not my song — it's my guy Flame's song and I respect everyone's intellectual properties — but that statement about the witchcraft and stuff, that's not my statement and I don't stand behind that statement."[99] To divest himself from the lawsuit, Lecrae signed over his rights to the song to Flame, Da' T.R.U.T.H., and Ojukwu for free.[100]
In August 2018,Christina A. Snyder from theUnited States District Court for the Central District of California ruled against asummary judgment, arguing that the plaintiffs "demonstrated a triable issue of fact as to access because 'Joyful Noise' achieved critical success, including a Grammy nomination, and was readily available and viewed millions of times on YouTube and MySpace."[101][102] She also deferred to the arguments of musicologistTodd Decker, who claimed that the songs share "five or six points of similarity"; specifically, theostinatos in both songs are either identical or nearly so in theirphrase length, rhythm,pitch content, andtimbre.[100][102] Perry and Dr. Luke countered with their own expert testimony from musicologist Lawrence Ferrara that the commonalities between the two songs are merelygeneric elements.[102] During the federal trial in July 2019, Perry, Dr. Luke, and Max Martin testified that they had never heard "Joyful Noise", and that of the trillions of videos uploaded to YouTube between 2009 and 2013, and their defense team attempted to demonstrate that "Joyful Noise" was not widely accessible to audiences.[96][103] The lawyer for Flame and the other plaintiffs noted that Perry in the early 2000s started her career inChristian pop, to which Perry replied that even during that part of her career she was "mostly always listening to ... secular music anyway".[96][95][104]
Ferrara argued that "Dark Horse" contains elements common to countless songs, including the much older songs "Mary Had a Little Lamb", "Jolly Old St. Nicholas", and "Merrily We Roll Along".[96][100] Decker claimed that the descending melodies of each ostinato are unique and that he had not "seen another piece that descends in the way these two do."[100] The attorney for Perry and fellow defendants accused Flame and the other plaintiffs of "trying to own basic building blocks of music, the alphabet of music that should be available to everyone."[96] Another argument from Perry and the other defendants was that because Ojukwu never registered the beat he produced and later licensed it to Flame, "Joyful Noise" was itself a derivative work.[96][100] When Perry testified before the court, initially technical difficulties prevented her lawyers from playing "Dark Horse" in the courtroom, and Perry joked "I could perform it for you live."[95][104] On July 29, 2019, a federal jury found that Perry, Juicy J, Dr. Luke, Max Martin, Cirkut, and Sarah Hudson were guilty of infringement, along with Capitol Records, Warner Bros. Music Publishing, Kobalt Publishing, and Kasz Money Inc.[95][96] The jury awarded the plaintiffs $2.78 million, of which Perry herself was ordered to pay $550,000.[105]
Perry and the other defendants moved for judgment as a matter of law.[106] While the motion was under consideration, in early March 2020, theNinth Circuit (of which the Central District of California is a part of) issued a ruling in a similar long-running lawsuit on whetherLed Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" violated the copyright of the song "Taurus" from the bandSpirit. In its ruling, the Ninth found that "Stairway" did not violate the copyright of "Taurus", specifically overturning its "inverse ratio rule" which it had used in several previous cases.[107] Perry's lawyers took this ruling as part of their appeal to Judge Snyder.[108] On March 17, 2020, Judge Snyder overturned the jury award, citing numerous factors, including that the evidence given did not support the jury's award, and of the recent Ninth Circuit judgement. Snyder wrote "A relatively common 8-note combination of unprotected elements that happens to be played in a timbre common to a particular genre of music cannot be so original as to warrant copyright protection". Snyder vacated the jury's verdict and denied motions for a new trial, though stated that should the case be heard on appeal at the Ninth Circuit, that a new jury trial would be required.[109][110][111] The Ninth Circuit ruled 3–0 in March 2022 to affirm Snyder's decision in Perry's favor, stating that "Allowing a copyright over this material would essentially amount to allowing an improper monopoly over two-note pitch sequences or even the minor scale itself."[112]
"Dark Horse" was first performed at theiHeartRadio Music Festival inLas Vegas on September 20, 2013.[113] It was later performed at theiTunes Festival in London.[114] Perry also performed the song with Juicy J at the We Can Survive event at theHollywood Bowl on October 23.[115] Perry also performed "Dark Horse" onThe Voice of Germany on December 13, 2013.[116] Perry and Juicy J performed the song at the56th Annual Grammy Awards on January 26, 2014. The "dark and mysterious" performance featured a "haunted forest" design withanimatronic horses, broomstick pole dances, and a controlled fire.[3] The singer also performed the song at the2014 BRIT Awards and the performance featured a neon-colored Egyptian theme, like the music video.[117]
On February 1, 2015, the song was performed by Perry during theSuper Bowl XLIX halftime show, where she was on a chessboard, with her dancers as chess pieces. It is regarded as the most technical performance in her halftime set.[118]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone. † Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.
^TheBillboard Mid-Year Awards are a fan-voted poll conducted by the publication to recognize the most popular artists and music based on fan votes, reflecting fan preferences during the first half of the year.[40]
^Gottlieb, Steven (December 9, 2014)."VEVO Hot This Year 2014". VideoStatic.Archived from the original on September 16, 2025. RetrievedSeptember 17, 2025.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 18. týden 2014 in the date selector. Retrieved April 22, 2014.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select 19. týden 2014 in the date selector. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
^"Airplay 100 – Cu Cristi Nitzu, duminică, de la 10 la 13" [Airplay 100 – With Cristi Nitzu, Sunday, from 10 to 13].Media Forest (in Romanian). Kiss FM. Archived fromthe original on July 29, 2014.If the user clicks on "Topuri", on the right side, the user can see the top five of the "Airplay 100" ranking.
^"Media Forest – Weekly Charts".Media Forest. 23 June 2014. Retrieved 3 July 2018.Note: Select 'Songs – TV'. Romanian and international positions are rendered together by the number of plays before resulting an overall chart.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: insert 201418 into search. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
^"ČNS IFPI" (in Slovak). Hitparáda – Singles Digital Top 100 Oficiálna. IFPI Czech Republic.Note: Select SINGLES DIGITAL - TOP 100 and insert 201426 into search. Retrieved July 4, 2014.
_06.jpg)
