" Dark Horse " combines the genres of pop , trap , and hip hop , replicating what has been described as a " Southern rap-techno mashup " . The track features a minimal production , with a " seductive " and " mature " tone to Perry 's vocals , while Juicy J is featured on the song 's intro and rapped bridge . Perry , in interviews , said she wanted the song to have a " witchy , spell-y kind of black magic-y idea " , so she wrote it from the perspective of a witch warning a man not to fall in love with her because if he does , she will be his last . The song was part of a competition sponsored by Pepsi in which fans could vote via Twitter on whether they would prefer either " Dark Horse " or " Walking on Air " to be released as the first promotional single from '' Prism '' . " Dark Horse " was a commercial success , charting at number one in Canada , the Netherlands and the United States . It also reached the top ten in almost 20 countries including New Zealand , United Kingdom , Sweden and Venezuela as well as the Digital Songs chart of '' Billboard '' magazine . Billboard identified Dark Horse as cementing trap music 's place on the charts . Perry first performed the song live at the 2013 iHeartRadio Music Festival in Las Vegas on September 20 , 2013 . The song 's first major television performance was at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards on January 26 , 2014 . " Dark Horse " was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards . The song has sold 13.2 million units ( combined sales and track-equivalent streams ) , becoming the second best-selling song worldwide for 2014 . In 2014 , Flame , a Christian rap artist , filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Perry and the other songwriters , claiming that " Dark Horse " copied from his 2008 song " Joyful Noise " . On July 29 , 2019 , a federal jury ruled in favor of Flame and the co-plaintiffs Da ' T.R.U.T.H. and Chike Ojukwu . The jury ordered Perry , her collaborators , and associated labels to pay $ 2.78 million in damages . Of this , Perry was ordered to pay $ 550,000
57th Annual Grammy Awards
57th Annual Grammy Awards
Dark Horse (Katy Perry song)