We never expected Katy Perry to drop a music video for “Hey Hey Hey,” especially so close to the end of the year. But we’re not complaining—its jaw-dropping visuals, Marie Antoinette-inspired storyline, and abundance of cake all make “Hey Hey Hey” Perry’s best Witness-era video yet.
In “Hey Hey Hey,” Perry plays a slightly modernized, more ambitious version of Marie Antoinette (and by modernized, we mean that she wears Mozart band tees to bed, eats Takis, and gets served “Napoleon” brand ice coffee every morning). Marie/Katy is seemingly engaged to the vulgar “Prince Piggy,” who apparently thinks that spelling out “DTF” with food is a legitimate form of courtship. Marie/Katy hates corsets, hates Prince Piggy, and can’t do the thing where she balances a stack of books on her head, no matter how hard she tries.
So she dreams of becoming Joan of Arc, who in this video is a rainbow adorned, ass-kicking warrior who eats cake off of swords and turns Prince Piggy into a flying cluster of hot dogs, video game boss battle style. Eventually Marie/Katy’s frustration becomes too much to bear and she slaps her beau in public, angering the Prince so much that he sentences her to death. Marie/Katy is beheaded, but as soon as her (somehow still singing) head rolls on to the floor, Joan/Katy steps out from behind the shadows and stares all of her would-be subjects down.
The ode to 18th-century France was helmed by long-time music video director Isaac Rentz, who has also worked with Linkin Park, Nick Jonas, One Republic, Paramore, and Tegan and Sara. To casual Katy fans, the video might seem a little over the top—Perry didn’t even release “Hey Hey Hey” as a single, so why put in so much money and effort and make what’s essentially a mini period piece?
But in a recent Instagram post, Perry shed a little light on the matter by explaining that she “wanted to end 2017 with a fun, triumphant piece of pop candy” and that the song “embodies the fighting spirit I always want you to be able to find within yourself, and to see in me.” How can you argue with a heartfelt message like that?
Perry is revving up for a big 2018, during which she’ll finish off her worldwide Witness Tour (which includes a stop in Vancouver). Rumours about a possible Perry-Taylor Swift reunion have also started swirling (Perry’s supposedly making a cameo in Swift’s upcoming “End Game” music video), so we’re sure the “Swish Swish” songstress will have many more surprises in store in the new year.
Check out the “Hey Hey Hey” music video below.