By the Grace of God (song)
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"By the Grace of God" is a song by American singer Katy Perry from her fourth studio album, ''
Prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...
'' (2013), included as the standard edition's final track. The song was written and produced by Perry and Canadian record producer
Greg Wells Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer, songwriter and audio engineer. Wells has songs on over 130 million albums sold. He has worked with John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Jazmine Sullivan, Kid Cudi, Adele, Rufus Wai ...
. It was conceived following Perry's divorce from English actor and comedian Russell Brand. This initially made Perry consider making a "darker" album, but instead was channeled into the song. Throughout its autobiographical lyrics, Perry is depicted finding her strength and standing up for herself. The track was first unveiled at Perry's headlining set at the 2013
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. Upon the release of ''Prism'', "By the Grace of God" received generally positive reviews from music critics, who appreciated its vulnerability and picked it as one of the musical highlights from the album. Following the album's release, it has entered various musical charts due to strong digital downloads.


Background and production

After English actor and comedian Russell Brand divorced Perry in late December 2011, she was so distraught over the event that she considered committing suicide.
Greg Wells Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer, songwriter and audio engineer. Wells has songs on over 130 million albums sold. He has worked with John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Jazmine Sullivan, Kid Cudi, Adele, Rufus Wai ...
, who assisted Perry with the composition of "By the Grace of God", commented on the situation: "I think she felt so kicked in the head and so publicly embarrassed at being divorced by a text message". After overcoming her suicidal thoughts and initial shock, she felt prompted to create a "darker" project as compared to her previous albums. Instead, she channelled the entire divorce event into "By the Grace of God", in which its lyrics depict Perry battling against her suicidal thoughts while lying on her bathroom floor. During an interview with ''
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'', Perry spoke on how she felt during the breakup: "Imagine what you go through. Imagine what happens when you go through a break up. We all go through break ups and we all get very depressed and desperate." "By the Grace of God" was unveiled to industry insiders during a listening party for ''
Prism Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...
'' held in Manhattan, while its inclusion on the album track list was confirmed on October 1, 2013. Perry confirmed that the song was the only one included in ''Prism'' about her divorce from Brand. However, the song "Ghost", also present on ''Prism'', includes references to the divorce, particularly the lyric "You sent a text, it was like the wind changed your mind", although Perry stated that the track was not about the split. She further stated: "That's the funny thing – it's not about that chapter in my life, people think that certain songs are about certain people and there is only one song about that time in my life and that song is 'By the Grace of God'". Unlike many of the album's songs which were written by a multitude of collaborators, "By the Grace of God" was composed solely by Perry and Greg Wells. Wells also co-wrote "Choose Your Battles", the third bonus track from the album's deluxe edition. For this track, he contributed with playing drums,
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
, and the synthesizer. The song was engineered by Ian McGregor at Rocket Carousel Studio in
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, and mixed by Serban Ghenea at MixStar Studios,
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.


Composition

At a length of four minutes and twenty-seven seconds, "By the Grace of God" is a pop piano-driven
power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romance (love), romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn m ...
. With a stripped-down production, its instrumental is essentially composed of the sounds of various musical instruments, such as drums,
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
and synthesizers along with
military drums Military drums or war drums are all kinds of drums and membranophones that have been used for martial music, including military communications, as well as drill, honors music and military ceremonies. History Among ancient war drums that ca ...
. Throughout the song, drums,
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
, and synthesizers are used in its instrumental. According to the sheet music published by Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. on Musicnotes.com, it is composed in the key of
G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the con ...
and set in a
time signature The time signature (also known as meter signature, metre signature, or measure signature) is a notational convention used in Western musical notation to specify how many beats (pulses) are contained in each measure (bar), and which note va ...
at a
tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...
of 82
beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ...
. The melody spans the tonal range of B3 to D5, while the music follows the
chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...
of Gm—Esus2—B—Gm—Esus2—Fsus4. Lyrically, Perry is depicted as having suicidal thoughts and lying on the floor of a bathroom. The song opens with only piano and Perry's vocals, while she sings "Was twenty-seven, surviving my return from Saturn", and as the song carries on, she finds her strength, singing "By the grace of God / I picked myself back up / I put one foot in front of the other and I / Looked in the mirror and decided to stay / Wasn't gonna let love take me out that way". Perry commented on the lyrics: "
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are very exact and autobiographical. That's how I write. But the one thing about those lyrics is you can hear me finding my strength throughout the song. It starts off really low and then I kind of stand up for myself and say, 'No!'." The song also sees Perry rejecting the idea that the relationship ended because of her. Kitty Empire from ''
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'' observed that the song served as a "vulnerable
yin Yin may refer to: *the dark force in the yin and yang from traditional Chinese philosophy and medicine *Yīn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Yǐn (surname) (), a Chinese surname *Shang dynasty, also known as the Yin dynasty **Yinxu or Yin, the S ...
" to Perry's hit single " Roar"'s "righteous
yang Yang may refer to: * Yang, in yin and yang, one half of the two symbolic polarities in Chinese philosophy * Korean yang, former unit of currency of Korea from 1892 to 1902 * YANG, a data modeling language for the NETCONF network configuration ...
". Josh Duboff from '' Vanity Fair'' highlighted the titles of "By the Grace of God" and deluxe edition song "Spiritual", concluding that the religious undertones were "more prominent" in ''Prism''. Helen Brown from ''The Daily Telegraph'' deemed the song "tender", and Jason Lipshutz from '' Billboard'' said it "is the most revealing song Perry will likely ever pen".


Critical reception

Upon its release, "By the Grace of God" received generally positive reviews. Jason Lipshutz from '' Billboard'' thought the song was "obviously not the radio fare fans are used to from the pop star (Perry)", but that it was "crucial for anyone trying to understand Perry's ''Prism'' mind set". Philip Matusavage from musicOMH considered that "the fact that By the Grace of God"is the album highlight and is the only song written by less than three people" is an indicator of what Perry should do next.
Greg Kot Greg Kot (born March 3, 1957) is an American music journalist and author. From 1990 until 2020, Kot was the rock music critic at the ''Chicago Tribune'', where he covered popular music and reported on music-related social, political and busines ...
from the ''
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'' appreciated "Ghost" and "By the Grace of God" for allowing Perry's vulnerability "to seep through". In his review of ''Prism'', Sam Lansky from
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showed himself divided relatively to the song: he classified it as the "most sonically conventional thing n the album although he immediately stated it was "also the most emotionally gripping" in it. Randall Roberts from the ''
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'' affirmed that the song was "cosmic" and that it had a "humming, dark tension in which Perry and melody float like red balloons". Helen Brown from ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was f ...
'' declared that, in the song, Perry "sounds like a woman, and an artist, who's finally found herself". Allison Stewart from ''
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'' said that "By the Grace of God" ranked "among Perry's strongest (tracks)", and that it was "her most strangely sensible and affecting song ever, one that distances her from her suddenly-more-callow-seeming peers and also from Brand". John Walker from MTV highlighted the fact that the song is "light on figures of speech and all-too accessible platitudes", as compared to the metaphors present on the lyrics of " Wide Awake". In contrast, Sal Cinquemani from '' Slant Magazine'' described it as "a sappy
Paula Cole Paula Cole (born April 5, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. After gaining attention for her performances as a vocalist on Peter Gabriel's 1993–1994 Secret World Tour, she released her first album, ''Harbinger'', which suffered from a la ...
-style statement of self-actualization". Jon Dolan from ''
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'' criticized its lyrics and negatively likened them to those of Alanis Morissette. Kitty Empire from ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' found the song to be "ridden with cliché". Mesfin Fekadu from
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thought both tracks were "good", but stated that they "could be great if Perry didn't hold back and explored more lyrically and sonically". Chris Bosman from ''
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'' criticized its placement on the album track listing and thought that they "would stand out more if they ('By The Grace of God', and closing track 'Double Rainbow') hadn't been forced to rub elbows, thus stealing momentum and impact from each other". Carl Williott from Idolator praised the track as a "nice counterpart to "Roar."


Commercial performance

Following the album's release, "By the Grace of God" entered the
UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
at number 179 on the week of November 2, 2013, and peaked on the US '' Billboard'' Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart at number 10, which represents the 25 songs which failed to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. It also appeared on the US
Hot Digital Songs The Digital Songs or Digital Song Sales chart (previously named Hot Digital Songs) ranks the best-selling digital songs in the United States, as compiled by Nielsen SoundScan and published by ''Billboard'' magazine. Although it originally starte ...
chart at number 71, where it stayed for only one week. It also entered the South Korea Gaon International Chart at number 77 with sales of 2,104.


Live performances

"By the Grace of God" was debuted during Perry's headlining set at the Roundhouse in
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for her
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, held on September 30, 2013. Once she finished singing, Perry thanked her fans for "letting erstay". On October 22, 2013, Perry held a release party for ''Prism'' where she performed "By the Grace of God" along with the other songs from ''Prism''. Tiffany Lee from
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wrote that Perry's renditions of "
Unconditionally "Unconditionally" is a song by American singer Katy Perry. It was released as the second single from her fourth studio album ''Prism'' (2013) on October 16, 2013, two days before the album was released. Inspiration for the song came primarily fro ...
" and "By the Grace of God" "shone like lights through a prism in their acoustic setting". The song was included as part of the setlist on the
Prismatic World Tour The Prismatic World Tour was the third concert tour by American singer Katy Perry, in support of her fourth studio album, '' Prism'' (2013). The tour began on May 7, 2014, in Belfast, Northern Ireland at the Odyssey Arena, concluding on October ...
. Perry performed the song at the
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which were held on February 8, 2015. The performance was in support of domestic violence and sexual assault victims. Before she appeared on stage, a prerecorded video message from U.S. President
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was screened, which featured him encouraging musicians to support the "#ItsOnUs" sexual assault campaign. Then, domestic violence victim Brooke Axtell delivered a brief speech about her story. During the performance, Perry was clothed in a white dress, while shadows danced behind her. MTV's John Walker labelled it as her most "powerful performance yet", while Arienne Thompson of ''
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'' wrote that it was "powerful and subdued" compared to the "flamboyant and playful" sets Perry is known for. Perry performed the song on June 22, 2018 at her Witness: The Tour show at
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in
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in tribute to the victims who died in the
Manchester Arena bombing On 22 May 2017, an Islamist extremist suicide bomber detonated a shrapnel-laden homemade bomb as people were leaving the Manchester Arena following a concert by American pop singer Ariana Grande. Twenty-three people were killed, including ...
.


Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Prism'', Capitol Records. Recording locations *Recorded at Rocket Carousel Studios in
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,
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
. *Mixed at MixStar Studios in
Virginia Beach, Virginia Virginia Beach is an independent city located on the southeastern coast of the Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. The population was 459,470 at the 2020 census. Although mostly suburban in character, it is the most populous city ...
. Personnel * Katy Perry
backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...
, lead vocals,
songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
,
production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...
, vocal production *
Greg Wells Greg Wells is a Canadian musician, record producer, songwriter and audio engineer. Wells has songs on over 130 million albums sold. He has worked with John Legend, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Ariana Grande, Jazmine Sullivan, Kid Cudi, Adele, Rufus Wai ...
– songwriting, production, drums,
piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...
, synths, and programming *Serban Ghenea – mixing *John Hanes – mixing engineer


Charts


References

{{authority control 2013 songs Katy Perry songs Pop ballads 2010s ballads Songs about suicide Songs written by Katy Perry Songs written by Greg Wells Song recordings produced by Greg Wells 2012 songs Contemporary Christian songs