In video for Olympics anthem ‘Rise,’ Katy Perry is a woman on a mission

Why doesn’t she just fold up the parachute?

That’s one question that springs to mind when watching Katy Perry’s new video for her song “Rise,” in which the pop star struggles mightily while trying to walk through an abandoned airplane hangar as high winds keep inflating the giant pink parachute strapped to her back.

(Another question: Why is her hair styled like John Travolta’s in “Battlefield Earth”?)

Then again, struggle — and its virtue — is presumably the whole point of the “Rise” clip, which arrives timed to the opening of the Rio Olympics.

In a statement, Perry said the song had been “brewing inside me for years” but that she’d been inspired to finish it “because now more than ever, there is a need for our world to unite.

“I know that together we can rise above the fear — in our country, and around the world,” she added. “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.”

Last month, Perry performed “Rise” — which she co-wrote with her longtime creative partner Max Martin — at the Democratic National Convention. Now the song is serving as NBC’s anthem for the Olympics, which will run through Aug. 21.

Twitter: @mikaelwood

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