Songfacts®:

• Katy Perry's first new release since her 2013 album Prism, this Max Martin-produced electro-pop anthem speaks of human resilience. The empowering lyrics mark it as a sequel to Prism's lead single "Roar." (Note that they're both four-letter song titles beginning with "R").
  
  "This is a song that's been brewing inside me for years, that has finally come to the surface," said Perry. "I was inspired to finish it now, rather than save it for my next album, because now more than ever, there is a need for our world to unite."
• The song was created to be NBC's anthem during the network's coverage of the 2016 Rio Olympics. Perry alludes to how the fortitude of Olympic athletes unite the world during the sporting event: "I know that together we can rise above the fear – in our country, and around the world. I can't think of a better example than the Olympic athletes, as they gather in Rio with their strength and fearlessness, to remind us how we ALL can come together, with the resolve to be the best we can be," she said. "I hope this song can inspire us to heal, unite, and rise together. I am honored that NBC Olympics has chosen to use it as an anthem before and during the Rio Games."
• The video was directed by Paul Gore, who has also helmed videos for Amy Winehouse, John Legend and New Order. It was shot in Utah's Snow Canyon and Sand Hollow State Parks.
  
  The clip shows Perry struggling to get her pink parachute to fly before finally taking flight over canyons and water, thereby rising to conquer yet another challenge.
  
  Perry said: "I have extreme OCD... So this is a very difficult shoot for me, to be dirty all the time."
• Perry performed this song at the Democratic National Convention on July 28, 2016, where she showed her support for Hillary Clinton, altering the line "I will still rise" to "She will still rise."
• Speaking to Mashable, Perry explained that she'd already half-written the tune before the Olympics came calling. "'Rise' is a song that I have had swirling around in me," she explained. "It's a little bit like the story of the phoenix, about overcoming... Rising up again or finding that inner strength again and again, that's a lifelong theme for me. Years ago I had tried to write it, but it didn't work, it didn't come out right."
  
  "And when the Olympics approached us it was already half-written," Perry continued, "and it was one of the first songs that I have written in this next batch [for my next album], so I pulled it out."