"Pearl" is a song written by Katy Perry, Greg Wells, and Tricky Stewart for Perry's sophomore mainstream album, Teenage Dream. Perry said the song is very personal to her and admitted in an interview with Rolling Stones that most people believe the song is meant about a third person, but it's actually about herself. Katy Perry references the novella, Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, in the lines, "This love's too strong like "Mice and Men"/Squeezing out the life that should be let in."
Inspiration for the song
Katy Perry talks "Pearl"
Lyrics
She is a pyramid
But with him she's just a grain of sand
This love's too strong
Like Mice And Men
Squeezing out the life
That should be let in
She was a hurricane (cane-cane-cane..)
But now she's just a gust of wind
She used to set the sails
of a thousand ships
Was a force to be reckoned with
She could be a Statue of Liberty
She could be a Joan of Ark
But he's scared of the light that's inside of her
So he keeps her in the dark
Oh, she used to be a pearl (Ohhhh)
Yeah, She Used To Rule The World (Ohhhh)
Can't believe she's become
A shell of herself
'Cause she used to be a pearl
She was unstoppable
Moved fast just like an avalanche
But now she's stuck deep in cement
Wishing that they never ever met
She could be a Statue of Liberty
She could be a Joan of Ark
But he's scared of the light that's inside of her
So her keeps her in the dark
Oh, she used to be a pearl (Ohhhh)
Yeah, she used to rule the world (Ohhhh)
Can't believe she's become
A shell of herself
'Cause she used to be a -
Do you know that there's a way out
There's a way out
There's a way out
You don't have to be held down
Be held down
Be held down
Be helf down
'Cause I used to be a shell
Yeah, I let him rule my world
My world
Oooh, Yeahhhh
But I woke up
And grew strong
And I can still go on
And no one can take my pearl
You don't have to be a shell
No
You're the one that rules your world (Ohhh)
You are strong
And you'll learn
That you can still go on
