Survivors’ Anthem Series #21: “Roar” - Katy Perry
- Shannon Brown
- Mar 4
- 3 min read
The Sound of Taking My Power Back
Some songs are empowering in a fun, surface-level way.
And some songs hit at the exact moment you are ready to stop shrinking.
This is Survivors’ Anthem # 21:
“Roar” - Katy Perry
And for me, this song represents the shift from survival to strength.
When Silence Felt Safer
There was a time in my life when silence felt like protection and safety.
When speaking up felt dangerous, staying small felt strategic, and minimizing myself felt necessary.
Survival teaches you how to read the room. How to avoid conflict. How to keep yourself as non-threatening as possible. When you grow up around abuse or control, you learn quickly that quiet compliance can feel like safety.
But silence has a cost.
Over time, it chips away at your confidence. It makes you second-guess your instincts. It convinces you that your needs are too much.
And eventually, something inside you gets tired of shrinking.
The Moment the Song Hit
When “Roar” came out, it wasn’t just catchy to me.
It felt like a declaration.
The message wasn’t about ego. It was about ownership, and recognizing that the power you were told you didn’t have was inside you all along.
When she sings about going from zero to your own hero, it speaks to the moment a survivor realizes they don’t need validation from the person who hurt them. They don’t need approval from the system that silenced them. They don’t need permission to exist boldly.
They already survived.
That alone proves strength.
Rewriting the Narrative
For many survivors, the internal dialogue is harsh.
You should have known better.
You should have left sooner.
You should have been stronger.
“Roar” disrupts that voice.
It replaces shame with resilience. It reframes vulnerability as growth. It reminds you that being quiet was a coping mechanism, not your identity.
Healing doesn’t mean you were never hurt.
It means you don’t let the hurt define the rest of your story.
Roaring for More Than Myself
This anthem has taken on even deeper meaning in my advocacy work. Finding my voice for myself was powerful.
Using it for children and survivors of abuse feels purposeful.
There is something transformational about taking the strength built in survival and channeling it outward - into awareness, into education, into breaking cycles.
Roaring isn’t about volume.
It’s about clarity.
It’s about saying, “This happened.”
It’s about saying, “This matters.”
It’s about saying, “This stops with me.”
What This Song Represents Now
“Roar” represents the chapter where fear no longer runs the show.
Where self-doubt no longer makes decisions.
Where boundaries are firm.
Where truth is spoken.
It represents the realization that you are allowed to take up space - emotionally, physically, and vocally.
And that is not something to apologize for.
A Thank You
Katy Perry - thank you.
Thank you for creating an anthem that feels bold and unapologetic. Thank you for reminding women, and survivors, that strength is not something we borrow. It’s something we build.
And once you build it?
You don’t whisper.
You roar.
What’s Next in the Survivors’ Anthem Series
Each anthem in this series reflects a different stage of healing.
This one is about power.
If you’ve been quiet for too long…
Maybe it’s time.
Maybe it’s time to roar.
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