"I Kissed a Girl" is the debut single by American singer Katy Perry. It was released on April 28, 2008, by Capitol Records as the lead single from her second studio album, One of the Boys (2008). Perry co-wrote the song with Max Martin, Cathy Dennis, and its producer Dr. Luke, with additional production from Benny Blanco. The track was recorded at Dr. Luke's Studios and Legacy Recordings, both based in New York City, New York, and Conway Recording Studios, based in Hollywood, Los Angeles. "I Kissed a Girl" is a pop rock, electropop, bubblegum pop, club, and disco record with elements of glam rock and new wave music. Perry stated its lyrics are "about the magical beauty of a woman". The song sparked controversy for its handling of bi-curious themes, but in retrospect has been credited with increasing LGBTQ awareness in pop music.
"I Kissed a Girl" became a massive commercial success worldwide in 2008. The song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart for 7 consecutive weeks, becoming the 1,000th number-one song of the rock era. The single has sold 4.8 million units in the US alone. "I Kissed a Girl" is one of eight songs by Perry to sell over 4 million digital copies in the US, the others being "Hot n Cold", "California Gurls", "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T.", "Roar", and "Dark Horse". Outside of the United States, "I Kissed a Girl" topped charts in 20 countries including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. It was the best-selling song of 2008 in Finland. The song has sold 11.81 million copies worldwide and received multi-platinum certifications in Australia, Canada, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States.
An accompanying music video for the song was released on May 16, 2008. The video, directed by Kinga Burza, features the singer in a setting inspired by burlesque and Moulin Rouge styles. It features appearances from Perry's friends, including actress Shannon Woodward and fellow American singer Kesha. The song is recognized as the 10th best-selling single in the 21st century. "I Kissed a Girl" was performed and nominated for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance at the 51st Grammy Awards. It was also nominated for Favorite Song at the 2009 Kids' Choice Awards, and won Favorite Pop Song at the 35th People's Choice Awards. The song has been performed on all of Perry's tours (including her residency Play), and was also included in her performance at Pepsi's Super Bowl XLIX halftime show in 2015, at Glendale, Arizona, where she performed the song with fellow American artist Lenny Kravitz. The song has appeared in numerous pieces of media, including Glee, where the song had an episode named after it.
Background
According to Perry, "the chorus actually popped into my head when I woke up." Perry also said that it somewhat was from personal experience. "It was one of those moments where you hear artists talking about songs they get in dreams or in the middle of the night. I was like 'wow, what an interesting subject matter to kind of pop into the head' and I didn't do anything with it for about a year-and-a-half. Then all of a sudden at the very, very end of making my album, I literally had two days left in the recording studio with my producer, Dr Luke. We just said, 'we're gonna finish it—it's so catchy because it won't get out of our heads.'"
Perry's former boyfriend, Gym Class Heroes lead vocalist Travie McCoy, said she had doubts about the song. He told the Daily Star, "As soon as Katy played 'I Kissed A Girl' to me, I said: 'Baby, this is a smash ... but she wasn't so sure. She was like: 'Do you really think so?' I proved it to her. 'When Gym Class Heroes went on tour earlier this year we put together a playlist of songs to play before we went on stage. I put 'I Kissed A Girl' on there without Katy knowing, and as soon as it blasted out the kids went absolutely mad. They didn't even know who Katy Perry was then. Katy turned up to one gig while we were playing it and was like: 'What are you doing?' She was happy with the reaction though."
Capitol A&R Chris Anokute told HitQuarters that the song and its controversial theme met with strong resistance at the label. "People said, 'This is never going to get played on the radio. How do we sell this? How's this going to be played in the Bible Belt?'" Anokute said that they needed the support of one of the label's radio promoters to convince people to believe in the record. Dennis Reese, Capitol's senior vice president of promotions, saw the vision and helped push the single on national radio. The first station to pick it up and take a chance was 107.5 The River in Nashville. Rich Davis, then PD, was played the song by Joe Rainey of Capitol Records outside his favorite sushi spot in Nashville and immediately put it on the air. After playing it for three days, they were inundated with enthusiastic calls.
Composition
"I Kissed a Girl" has a length of three minutes. The song is a new wave-influenced pop rock, electropop, bubblegum pop, club, and disco, track which runs through a throbbing glam rock beat and an organic instrumental thump, according to About.com's Bill Lamb. It features instrumentation provided by drums, guitars, and bass, courtesy of Dr. Luke. The song was produced by Dr. Luke, which was coordinated by Gary 'G' Silver and aided by American producer and songwriter Benny Blanco. There were a number of personnel who engineered the track for the album, including Emily Wright, Sam Holland, Nick Banns, Aniela Gottwald, Mike Caffrey, and Tina Kennedy. Kitty Purry assisted in the engineering while Tim Roberts assisted in the engineering for mix, which was done by John Hanes. The song was mixed by Serban Ghenea at his studio MixStar Studios in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Cathy Dennis was on background vocals while Dr. Luke and Benny Blanco were featured on drums and programming. Steven Wolf provided the live drums on the song while Mike Caffrey recorded and produced the drums at Monster Island in New York City.
In an interview for The New Gay, Perry describes the song to be about girls. She defends the lyrics, saying that "When we're young, we're very touchy-feely. We have slumber party sing-a-longs, we make up dance routines in our pajamas. We're a lot more intimate in a friendship than guys can be. It's not perverse but just sweet..." The song was partially inspired by Scarlett Johansson.Scarlett Johansson: Hot Lips Inspired 'I Kissed A Girl' , Bitten and Bound. November 17, 2008. Perry also stated that the lyrics were inspired by her friendship with a girl as a teenager, commenting that "I did kiss her. I was totally obsessed with her. She was beautiful — porcelain skin, perfect lips." While Perry has not explicitly revealed the main person behind the inspiration of the song, Miley Cyrus has claimed it was about her. In an interview with the German online web show MalcolmMusic, Macy Gray revealed that "I Kissed a Girl" was initially offered to her before Perry ended up releasing the song.
The song is written in the key of A minor in time with a tempo of 130 beats per minute. It follows a chord progression of Am-[Bdim-C]-Dm7-[F5-Em] in the verses, Am-C-Dm-[F-Em] in the choruses (except for the Dm chord being major in the third segment), and F-Em-Am-G in the bridge, which ends with an extra-Dm chord. Perry's vocals span from A3 to E5.
Critical reception Blogcritics magazine called it "an instantly catchy number."Cockrell, Garon (2008). "Music Review: Katy Perry - One Of The Boys" , BlogCritics Magazine. Published June 19, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008. About.com said, "fueled by an instrumental wallop provided courtesy of producer Dr. Luke, 'I Kissed a Girl' is the perfect breakthrough." However, Rolling Stone magazine, while giving her album 2/5 stars, described the song as a "new wave-y club single", saying the supposedly rebellious "attention-grabbing" lyrics are "a vanilla recounting of her chick-on-chick exploits" and that this "acting out" is "just to get a dude's attention."Frehsee, Nicole (2008). "One of the Boys: Katy Perry" review, Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 21, 2008. AllMusic praises "the stomping Gary Glitter beat" before criticizing the producers for turning it "into a leaden stumble and burying Perry's voice underneath Pro Tools overdubs so it all winds up as a faceless wash of sound designed to be placed in TV shows, movie trailers, and malls."Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2008). [ "One of the Boys - Katy Perry" review], AllMusic. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote that Perry's "lead single 'I Kissed a Girl' features a throbbing beat and an infectious, bi-curious hook, but its self-satisfied, in-your-face posturing rings phony in comparison to the expertly constructed ambiguities of 'Justify My Love' or practically anything in the first decade of Ani DiFranco's catalog; it's like a tween version of DiFranco's tortured bisexual confession 'Light of Some Kind'."Cinquemani, Sal (2008). "Katy Perry - One of the Boys" review , Slant Magazine. Posted: June 15, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008. Alex Fletcher of Digital Spy described the song as "relatively fun"; however, he claimed it was not "anything truly groundbreaking or controversial". Hiponline.com wrote that the song is "not nearly as interesting or exciting as you'd expect. It's not even half as good as Jill Sobule's song 'I Kissed a Girl'."Raegun (2008). "Katy Perry - One of the Boys - review" , HipOnline.com. Posted: June 16, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008. In 2009, Sobule criticized Perry in an interview stating: "Fuck you, Katy Perry, you fucking stupid, maybe not good for the gays, title-thieving, haven't heard much else, so not quite sure if you're talented, fucking little slut". Days later, Sobule explained that her comments were facetious and that she had no ill feelings toward Perry.
Controversy The song received criticism from some members of the LGBT community, although it also had its staunch supporters. Slant Magazine stated the song "isn't problematic because it promotes homosexuality, but because its appropriation of the gay lifestyle exists for the sole purpose of garnering attention — both from Perry's boyfriend and her audience."
Adam Holz of PluggedinOnline, a division of Focus on the Family, wrote an article entitled "A Tale of Two Katys" about the singer's image transformation from a Contemporary Christian music artist to one of the "girls gone wild." He criticizes the song for being the latest, "high-profile message to young women and men that our sexuality is a malleable commodity that can be reshaped at will." Holz also argues that Perry's message carries with it "no need to worry about who might get used or objectified in the process," causing Perry to live "down to a damaging, demeaning stereotype."Holz, Adam (2008). Up Front: "A Tale of Two Katys" , PluggedinOnline.com. Tuesday, July 7, 2008. After numerous reports that Perry's religious parents were against her music and career, she stated in August 2008, "They love and support me."
Toronto Star described it as "a lesbian-friendly tune". The New Gay described the song as "'Guys kissing is gross, girls kissing is hot' line of thought".The New Gay Zack (2008). "Katy Perry: The New Gay Interview", The New Gay. Tuesday, June 10, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
On the other hand, according to The Advocate, Perry claims she has heard countless stories of people opening their eyes to their own sexual desires because of the song. Since the release of the song, she has been considered a strong and steadfast supporter of LGBT rights. Out described her as a gay icon. Perry dedicated the music video for "Firework" to the It Gets Better Project. She was additionally awarded the National Equality Award by the Human Rights Campaign.