Unconditionally is from Katy Perry's fourth studio album, Prism (2013);
it appears as the fifth song on the album. It was written by Perry, along with Lukasz "Dr. Luke" Gottwald,
Max Martin, and Henry "Cirkut" Walter, and was produced by Gottwald, Martin, and Walter. It was released as
the second single from the album on October 16, 2013.
The song finds Perry singing about looking past her beau's flaws and loving him for who he is.
It is one of two tracks on Prism that were inspired by Perry's boyfriend John Mayer—
the other one being the Deluxe edition bonus track "It Takes Two."
Perry spoke about the song's meaning during an interview with KIIS FM. She explained: "Not only is it about
those different varieties of loves, it's about when you are in love with someone and there's full acceptance.
The highs and the lows. All the flaws. The zits. The smells. The whole gamet, you know? Sometimes I remember
being scared to be accepted in relationships and I know that everybody else goes through that and,
'Will they love my true self? Will they love all the things that I do when nobody's looking?"
Perry added: "You know because we are weirdoes. We pick our nose and we make disgusting noises with our body and we're not always the most presentable things but someone's gotta love us and it's about that unconditional love. It's about that high, almost spiritual type of love."
She mentioned that the song was influenced by the love shared among the people she worked with while working
with UNICEF in Madagascar during April 2013, stating "I was kind of inspired by the love that I saw..... we'd go
in these cruisers up the mountain for two or three hours, to the middle of nowhere, to check out these schools
that they'd built." and "I went to the top of this mountain, I saw all these children, and the love that they
had towards each other". She noted "It was this unconditional love between all of them. It was that kind of
pure love that's unaffected by the trends of the world."
From the Album:
Prism (2013)
Released:
October 16, 2013
Format:
CD single
digital download
Recorded:
March 2013
MXM Studios
(Stockholm, Sweden);
Conway Recording Studios
(Hollywood, California)
Genre:
Power pop
rock
electronic
Length:
3:48
Writers:
Katy Perry
Lukasz Gottwald
Max Martin
Henry Walter
Producer:
Dr. Luke
Max Martin
Cirkut
Music video:
"Unconditionally" on YouTube
The song's official music video, directed by Brent Bonacorso, was filmed in October 2013 in London.
The video was partly inspired by the films Dangerous Liaisons and Anna Karenina.
Katy Perry Tour Dates: