hello everyone! So last week I bought Katy Perry’s new album Teenage Dream, just because I personally like Katy as well as her music though I admit that it’s not the best type of music; so I would not really recommend it to anyone. But anyway, as I was listening through the cd, I came across a song called “Who Am I Living For” which I began to listen to over and over again. I felt like there was a deeper meaning in between the lines that kept making me relistening to it. I felt like it has something to do with Katy’s faith and how she feels about things and she asks if she is really living the life she should be living. As I began to understand more and more about the song, it hit me that I need to share this song with others; so that they can express their opinions and ideas about what they thinking Katy is singing about. So that isexactly what I did! I messaged several of my friends on facebook about my whole plan and to see if they would write me their opinions! Thankfully eight of them did:) So now right below here are those 8 entries that my good friends have written carefully and truthfully on how they view this song! God had laid Katy Perry on my heart for a while now and I just feel like this song could be something that could be turning her life for the better. thank you and please enjoy reading and please comment if you have any questions or remarks:)
-joshua
(if you would like to send in your own opinion about the song, please just email me at almostactor@aim.com)
(also note: i did not change anything from what they wrote, these are all their own words and grammar, and due to security reason, I am not putting their full last name)
Nick C. – I think what she is singing about is, that she’s finally realized where she’s going in life. And she still feels Satan calling her name, and that’s not where she wants to go. And she just needs help. And it sounds to me like she is seeking God a little bit more, because she used Esther and what she went through in the bible. So i think that’s a step for her. But over all i think she’s just crying out for help in who she should live for. So yeah, there’s my thoughts (:
Megan - So i think she has or is realizing the differences in her life and some people that she knows and wondering the point of everything…. she has felt called to live for more and yet she is struggling to know how… She has a lot of good points in this song… yet i still dont know what to make of it…. if she was an artist who has not written all the other songs with the cuss words and lyrics that she has i would have assumed her to be a “Christian” artist…. so maybe she has changed her life or maybe she is just trying to appease more people with different types of music… thats my opinion… if it makes any sense…..
Shelby L. – Okay i just listened to this song and i agree with you. Absoutely. feel like she is saying that she is hearing a voice inside her soul saying come to me. being god. but she knows that from where she is right now its not going to be easy to get to where she needs to be with god its going to take a lot of strength and determination. and when she says i can see the heavens but i still hear the tides i feel like she is referin to hell as the tides that she is hearing. and than i just feel that she can see signs of god every where but she is still confused as to who she is living for. that’s what i get out of the lyrics. its a very good song. And she puts it in a very interesting way of looking at things (note: she meant “flames” not “tides”)
Jake B. – So, before I get into it, I just thought that I would tell you what I got out of each part of the song. In the first paragraph, she states that “there’s a phoenix in side of her” and that she’s ” marching to a different beat.” I believe- and I think it’s pretty obvious where she’s going with this- that she talking about not marching to the “beats” of the world, but that she’s marching for God.also, I believe that the “phoenix” is supposed to represent God. I could be wrong, though.
Next paragraph! Now she goes onto to say that she’s “ready for the road less traveled.” Evidently, she’s talking about her walk with God. It’s SO easy to just be apart of the world; to conform to its patterns. But she’s taking a step back from it all… then she states that “this is her cross to bear.” And, after all, isn’t this way for every christian?
Paragraph 3!“It’s never easy to be chosen, never easy to be called,
Standing on the frontline when the bomb starts to fall.” She’s saying that it’s hard work- our walk with Jesus. Especially when we’re the ones on the front lines; the ones fighting the battle. And then she says that ” she can see the eavens, but she still hear the flames.” I believe that she’s talking about being tempted. Slipping in her faith so to speak. As so many of us do…
(for more of Jake’s message please click here I promise you won’t regret it!)
Hannah Z. – well it definately sounds like she is talking about spiritual things,but it also sounds like me just a while ago,knowing you can’t ignore the war any longer,meaning you either throw urself to satan or run to god…it could go either way…maybe we should pray for her(..?) luv the song though 
Annie A. – well. i feel that song has heavy christian allusions. However, if you keep in mind there are many religions that believe in a heaven, that pray, etc, she could be referring to any faith that is popular now, or that she has chosen.
It does sound, to me, like she may have had some sort of wake up call, to remind her not only she is living for herself, but also there is a world of people looking up to her and watching her every move. It has potential to be both uplifting and encouraging in that she seems to be examining her life, knowing she has greatness, she is under pressure, and any word from her mouth could potentially shock the world. It appears that she has realized she can’t abuse this ‘greatness’, that she should not be living for herself but for God.
However, although I haven’t heard the whole albulm, Teenage Dream is played on the radio like all the time. and that is all about having sex/’giving it up’ and being someones ‘teenage dream’. I feel this is a mixed message to be sending.
Therefore, I think her heart may be headed in the right direction, but she could be simply saying she should be living for others, because she does have an important place in society, our culture views her as a celebrity and watches her every move, so she should be living in a way that inspires good and change in others. As I said, there are references to Christianity, but I don’t think that necessarily means she is turning her life over to God.
I do absolutely love the line: “I can see the heavens but I still hear the flames calling out my name.”
Kind of our daily struggle, huh?
Shelby U. – I feel that Katy Perry wrote this song to show how hard it has been for her to be called a follower of God. I think it is because the world has always called out her name with their temting, but short term love, and it will never stop. She says, “I can see the heavens but i still hear the flames calling out my name.” But at the end of it all, who was she living for? The world or GOD?
“I am ready to take the road less traveled, Suiting up for my crowning battle, this test is my own cross to bare, but i will get there.” I also feel her trying to say in these lyrics, that as she was growing up in her past, she always wanted to be different from the world and from the Christians that were just in it for the good feelings and rules. She knows that being different from this world will cause battle, and be a big cross for her to bare, but she knows with God she will get to the point where she knows that she has made a difference with her life.
The title of this song who am i living for….i believe in the end…after all of this life…she wants to know who she is really living for. Is it for her parents, popularity, possessions, or GOD? I know in the end i want to really know that i spent this life and everything i did in it…for GOD. Not for anyone else, not even myself.
Hannah D. – First of all, I want to let you know that I wasn’t expecting the song to be as powerful as it is. Hearing that song was just what I needed, so that’s really cool. I like writing huge eight page testimonies all the time, so I’m sorry if this is a little long. I’ll try to keep from rambling, but I just get really excited about God’s work in our lives.
I can definately see that Katy Perry has been called out by God and she wants to follow him. He obviously shook her up and she’s starting to realize that she’s been spending her life trying to please everyone but God.
She gets the whole spiritual warfare idea, probably because of her dad being a pastor and all. She knows there is a huge war raging on and she is trying to stand strong in the name of her redeemer, but she knows it could cost her her credit and fame.
It starts out saying she can feel a pheonix in her as she marches aone to a different beat. That is something almost all Christians feel. When we are about to take the daring step towards standing up for God, we think about everything that could possibly go wrong. Fortunately, it sounds like Katy faith in God that he’ll handle the problem. (after all, as it says in a verse that I forgot, this isn’t out battle, it’s God’s and He will take care of it.) She swallowed down her fear and took the first steps towards coming back to Jesus with the whole secular world watching her every move.
(for more of Hannah’s message please click here. I promise you won’t regret it!)
again thank you for reading all these wonderful people’s opinions! Please give me feedback for I am planning on sending these to Katy Perry herself soon!
please pray for her.
so this song I feel, is a song to myself. I need to be myself, live the life that God has given me. I need to quit trying to be someone I’m not. I need to stop trying to be my best friend, because if it was God’s plan for me to my best friend than I would be my best friend. I need to love myself. With every flaw, every scar, every bump, I am perfect in God’s eyes, and that should be the only thing that matters. But we get too caught up in how the world sees us. We feel we have to be perfect in the way the world views us rather than how God wants us to be.
