What does Wide Awake mean?

Katy Perry: Wide Awake Meaning

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Album cover for Wide Awake album cover

Song Released: 2012


Get "Wide Awake" on MP3: Get MP3 from iTunes

Wide Awake Lyrics

I’m wide awake (x2)

I’m wide awake
Yeah – I was in the dark
I was falling hard
With an open heart
I’m wide awake
How did I read the stars so wrong?
I’m wide awake
And now it’s clear to me
That everything you see
Ain’t always what it...

  1. 1TOP RATED

    #1 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Nov 24th 2012 !⃝

    There are a load of possibilities on what message Perry's trying to send. That's why the music video brings the song into light. Even in the making of the video, Katy Perry frequently mentions that there a lot of symbolisms in the music video, that you'd just have to catch them. She refers to the maze as "The Labyrinth of her Life" and "The Valley of the Shadow of Death". She also refers it to "The Labyrinth of her life last year that she didn't really talk about publicly". She refers to the little girl as her innocence. And notice that when the two walk down the hall of mirrors hand in hand, the little girl doesn't show up in the mirror, meaning she's not real. And another interesting thing is the two that's guarding the two Katy's from exiting to the light of the video. They are greek Minotaurs, otherwise known as half-man half-bull creatures. And let's not forget before the song even begins: that's cloud 9 that Katy's on. Also notice that the song is shown in private, and that the song is surrounded by her career, or her life. And the caterpillar in the beginning on the top of the entrance of the Labyrinth, and then Katy later receives a butterfly from her past self: not to mention that she wears a dress with butterflies in the hall of mirrors. That poison strawberry plays an important role as well before she is incapable in a wheel chair. Luckily her innocent self pushes through and she goes on. The prince is a liar, and Perry can see that now. The grass cat looks at Perry with her hypnotizing eyes. In the end, it's obvious Katy made a mistake and she opened her eyes to realize that mistake. Whatever it was, it had to do with her inner self. So that mistake in her inner self is resolved through her other side. Her past self. Her innocence. I think you can put the rest together. If you don't get it, just rewatch the video until then. I love this song because I can relate to it in full! (PS: The music video isn't exactly one of a kind, there's others that also feature a past self, mirrors, and a flurry of butterflies)

  2. 2TOP RATED

    #2 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
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    Nov 14th 2013 !⃝

    "Wide Awake" is talking about coming to realizations about certain things and picking yourself up. In Katy's case, it's her divorce from Russell Brand she's talking about. She is falling from cloud nine, (A.K.A. a happy state), and she's letting go. (Letting go of Russell Brand) Marriage, or the person you marry, is what she's talking about when she says, "Now it's clear to me, that everything you see, ain't always what it seems." When she says, "I am born again, out of the lion's den, I don't have to pretend," she's talking about moving on from a risky choice (lion's den A.K.A. marriage) and no longer faking her happiness when married to Russell.

  3. 3TOP RATED

    #3 top rated interpretation:
    anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 12th 2018 !⃝

    Wide awake is about narcissistic abuse. She is saving her inner child she believed she needed someone else to complete her. She put a man on a pedestal he promised her love and protection cloud nine dopamine but had his fingers crossed manipulated her to control her " bow down" she woke up on the concrete he kicked her off her pedestal. She knocked him out and woke up to know today she had to love herself first and complete herself first.

  4. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Sep 28th 2021 !⃝

    I’ve been hearing the song about two minutes ago because it’s catchy and fun but it’s little bit of love song for other people who can related to their love and when they started to kiss

  5. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Jan 30th 2021 !⃝

    I love Katy perry and she had lot of fashion and it somehow sounded so beautiful and that woman can sing it’s so amazing but she’s working with me, and big time rush, and we are going to do theater first, and put the soundtrack and put the power pop music on the album. It will be fun to travel and having fun and relax at the beach and also me and Kendall are having summer romance at the beach. And it’ll make his day better so I can spend time with him, and play with him in the pool especially the beach. We always writing songs on our notepad how much we care about our family and friends, it’ll be like summer fun vibe music, because me and Kendall are very good couple, we love each other.

  6. anonymous
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    Nov 24th 2019 !⃝

    Wide Awake" finds Perry crooning about the feeling of empowerment she feels after finishing a relationship.

  7. anonymous
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    Mar 24th 2019 !⃝

    I think this song came from my favorite artist Katy Perry. But she had more lot of pop. But I’ve been working with her producer it’s really fun. It’s like being on a plane and walking through the path of life, but we saw incredible views out there in California. I liked the clouds and so, I would sleep on the cloud and go to bed. It’s comfy. But I enjoyed that video of me and Jonas brothers.

  8. Lancelot
    click a star to vote
    Jul 21st 2018 !⃝

    This song is entirely an Illuminati work... It ain't about love nor going back to God,it's all about moving from God to the devil... Whoever wrote this song I gotta admit he/she's SMART

  9. anonymous
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    Jan 30th 2018 !⃝

    "Cloud 9" is "heaven" in other cultures. That's what children write on the ground.

  10. anonymous
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    May 13th 2017 !⃝

    It's a great song"but I know as well as a lot of people do but most won't admit it,Katy realizes that she lost her soul in exchange for fame and fortunes and she really regrets it,selling her soul
    For a real empty and SATANIC world of entertainment. ....bad choice Katy....it's better to be poor and see Jesus when we die"not sell yourself out and end up burning in hell for eternity ...so sad ..

  11. anonymous
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    Nov 13th 2014 !⃝

    This is a great song but I think that this website should tell more about what types of figurative language are they. Not just what they are about. Like examples are hyperbole, simile,personification, exe.

  12. anonymous
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    Sep 19th 2014 !⃝

    The first few highest voted interpretations are correct. The first was the actual interpretation. It's a shame though that Katy is still enslaved.
    "How tough is it for the rich man (woman) to enter in unto the Kingdom of God? I tell you the truth; it is easier for a camel to jump through the eye of a needle.."
    People may say: "who then may be saved?"
    With people this is impossible. But with God it IS possible.

    What beguiles me is this: all you people. All you who wrote your own interpretation of what you think this song means, when are you going to "Wake Up" yourselves. How long will you be blind and enjoy being that way? When will you ever see the truth and stop believing fables and wives tales. When will you quit trying to 'fit in with the masses' and see reality and THE TRUE meaning to life and to this world and wake the heck up??

  13. jmacfriendlygirl13
    click a star to vote
    Nov 1st 2013 !⃝

    Wide Awake is about how she's over the high of being in love and how she should end it.

    This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
  14. anonymous
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    Sep 7th 2013 !⃝

    1. I don't think this is about her marriage cause she wrote the song and released the album she was still happily married.

    2. Maybe is about the "illuminati" thing..It's more possible

  15. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Aug 14th 2013 !⃝

    Not everything or everyone are as they seem. Unfortunaly, she finds out after she starts to care deeply for him. She's wide awake now and knows who this person is now and she fell from cloud 9(love).

  16. anonymous
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    Jan 2nd 2013 !⃝

    I think she is saying how she made. Mistake in her life and is now finding her way with God as she was a Christian before:
    "I wish I knew what I know know"

  17. anonymous
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    Nov 19th 2012 !⃝

    Starting from the beginning the world basically revolved around katy she had the perfect life and everything she ever wanted then everything started to fall apart. She didnt know what to do she was falling faster than she could think the she met someone she could get through her tangled life with as she travels through the fantasy world she notices she needs to be with God and she trys her best fighting to be “born again" then marriage gets in her way but she fights it and finds her way to christ.

  18. anonymous
    click a star to vote
    Nov 13th 2012 !⃝

    I think its pretty sad because now that she's sold her soul to the devil, she'll never get it back :/

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