Tuesday evening, Katy Perry released the music video for her latest single, "Unconditionally." It's more serious in tone than many of the clips we've seen from her in the past.

As Katy explained in an interview posted on MTV.com immediately after the video's debut, it was inspired by films such as Dangerous Liaisons and Anna Karenina. We see her performing alongside characters wearing centuries-old costumes; singing in the snow and surrounded by fire; and, in the video's climax, struck by a car that shatters upon impact.

Katy told MTV.com regarding the video's theme, "This time I just wanted to give a lot of gorgeous, beautiful looks, which I don't typically go for. And then some heavy metaphors, like the scene where I get hit by a car is kind of representational of, when love hits you it feels like you've been hit by a car."

Katy called "Unconditionally" her favorite song off her new album, Prism, because "not only can it be a romantic, intimate song, but the song can be about the type of love that maybe like a mother has when she sees her first child, you know? Or best friends…or partners, you know?"

She also stated that "Unconditionally" passed what she calls her "goose bump test" — it struck an emotional chord with her after she recorded her vocals for it.

Katy described Prism as a whole as a "self-reflective" album, because she wrote it during a time when she was undergoing therapy. Left unsaid was the fact that she was dealing with the end of her marriage toRussell Brand back then. Katy said, "There's a lot of empathy in my writing, even if there is pain and sadness, I think I'm not always trying to point the finger. She added that on Prism "you hear I've kind of gone inside more so and looked at where I can make myself better."

Of course, Katy's now in a happy relationship with John Mayer, and she's plotting her Prismatic world tour. She's already announced the dates for her U.K. and Ireland leg, scheduled for next May.