When Katy Perry released “Dark Horse,” still her biggest hit, I thought immediately, “this is about Carmen the Opera.” It’s even a Habañera. Remember the characteristic rhythm that makes a Habañera a Habañera? I sampled the cello from our recording and matched the pitch. Play the video above and see what you think.

But its’ the lyrics that actually first caught may attention; there are seeming references to Carmen everywhere…I think there is even a pun on her name. And…what was it that Carmen compared love to again?

There even may be a visual pun in the video…no one can figure out why it’s set in Egypt. Remember where the nickname “Gyspy” came from …Europeans mistakenly thought they came from E-gypt. Was even her video producer in on it??

Your task is to go line by line and find as many parallels as you can between the song  Dark Horse Lyrics  and  Habanera in the opera Carmen. There won’t be one for every line, but find as many as you can. 

 Here are the lyrics: 

Dark Horse Lyrics

Verse 1: Katy Perry]
I knew you were, you were gonna come to me
And here you are, but you better choose carefully
‘Cause I, I’m capable of anything
Of anything, and everything
Make me your Aphrodite
Make me your one and only
But don’t make me your enemy (Enemy)
Your enemy (Your enemy), your enemy

[Chorus: Katy Perry]
So you wanna play with magic?
Boy, you should know what you’re fallin’ for
Baby, do you dare to do this?
‘Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse
Are you ready for, ready for
A perfect storm, perfect storm?
‘Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine
There’s no going back

Verse 1: Katy Perry]
I knew you were, you were gonna come to me
And here you are, but you better choose carefully
‘Cause I, I’m capable of anything
Of anything, and everything
Make me your Aphrodite
Make me your one and only
But don’t make me your enemy (Enemy)
Your enemy (Your enemy), your enemy

[Chorus: Katy Perry]
So you wanna play with magic?
Boy, you should know what you’re fallin’ for
Baby, do you dare to do this?
‘Cause I’m coming at you like a dark horse
Are you ready for, ready for
A perfect storm, perfect storm?
‘Cause once you’re mine, once you’re mine
There’s no going back

[Verse 3: Juicy J]
She’s a beast, I call her Karma (Come back)
She eat your heart out like Jeffrey Dahmer (Woo!)
Be careful, try not to lead her on
Shawty’s heart is on steroids, ’cause her love is so strong
You may fall in love when you meet her (Meet her)
If you get the chance, you better keep her (Keep her)
She’s sweet as pie, but if you break her heart
She turn cold as a freezer (Freezer)
That fairy tale ending with a knight in shining armor
She can be my sleeping beauty, I’m gon’ put her in a coma (Woo!)
Damn, I think I love her, shawty’s so bad, I’m sprung and I don’t care
She ride me like a roller coaster, turn the bedroom into a fair (A fair)
Her love is like a drug, I was tryna hit it and quit it
But lil mama so dope, I messed around and got addicted