The music video for Katy Perry's new single "Part of Me" debuted on MTV last night. In the video, Perry trades in her blue hairdo for a Marine helmet.

A brief scene of drama precedes any music within the video, and Katy Perry sets the emotional state of the song with the scene.

Perry's character discovers her boyfriend is cheating on her, confronts him, and breaks up with him. Viewers see her distraught, embarrassed, and hurt. But then, she finds strength. As if reaffirming that her strength comes from herself, and not the boy who hurt her, Perry turns from distraught to determined -- and the music begins.

The pop star's character joins the Marines to assert her personal strength and independence. To a chorus of "This is the part of me that you're never gonna ever take away from me," Perry climbs cargo nets, crawls through mud, ducks barbed wire, and fights underwater. The video contains night vision shots, which serve to intensify the physical feats of Perry's character. Scenes of her boot camp training and inter-spliced with flashback scenes of tender moments with her boyfriend. The flashback scenes seem to provide motivation for Perry's character to dig deep and push herself harder.

"This song feels like one of the most aggressive songs I've ever put out," the singer told MTV News. "It's kind of like an affirmation of strength, so I wanted to go the strongest route I possibly could, so I had this idea - what if I joined the service." 

The turning point for her character comes when she receives a letter of apology from her cheating-ex-boyfriend. Instead of accepting his apology, Perry's character sets her jaw and burns the letter in an act of independence. She has found her own strength, she doesn't need him.

Many believe this song and video come from a very real place for Katy Perry. Sure, she never has been, and she'll probably never will be, a Marine --  but Perry most likely identifies with her character because she recently split up with her husband of slightly more than a year, Russell Brand. The couple filed for divorce this past December.