"I Kissed a Girl" is the first single by pop singer Katy Perry from her album One of the Boys (2008), produced by Dr. Luke. On June 26, 2008, the song topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the 1000th chart-topper of the Rock Era. The song has since become a major worldwide hit, and along with the United States it has topped the charts in more than 20 countries, including Canada, Sweden, Australia, United Kingdom, New Zealand, Italy, Germany, and Ireland.
Inspiration
Perry said the song is "about the magical beauty of a woman." Perry told Steppin' Out magazine: "'I Kissed a Girl' was inspired when I opened up a magazine and I saw a picture of Scarlett Johansson ... I was with my boyfriend at the time, and I said to him, 'I'm not going to lie: If Scarlett Johansson walked into the room and wanted to make out with me, I would make out with her. I hope you’re okay with that?'"
Music video
A music video for the song was released on May 16, 2008, on Perry's personal website and on MySpace. The video was directed by Kinga Burza and features a Moulin Rouge and burlesque-type setting with scenes containing Katy, along with many other flamboyantly-dressed women, including Ke$ha, dancing to the song. Eventually she wakes up next to a male companion. Despite the song's title, there is not any depiction of same-sex kissing. Katy features her real life friend and DJ, Mia Moretti and her main gay, Markus Molinari's dog Bella in the video. Even her cat, Kitty Purry, makes an appearance.
The video made its television debut on June 12 on TRL with the visit and interview by Perry in set show. And on June 24, 2008 it became #1 on TRL. The video obtained high airplay on this music video channel, as well as on VH1. It debuted at #20 on VH1's VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown on June 28, 2008. On June 30, 2008 the video was premiered on MTV Latin America. On July 6, 2008, it rose to #4 on VH1's VH1 Top 20 Video Countdown. The video received five nominations for the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Female Video and Best New Artist. The video has had over 24 million views on YouTube. Due to the video and the songs popularity around the world, there are several videos on YouTube which imitate and mock the song such as "I Kissed a Pig" and "I Kissed a Dog", both of which use the same tune and similar lyrics, while the videos use similar scenes to the original.
Critical reception
"I Kissed a Girl" has drawn mixed reviews from critics. Blogcritics Magazine called it "an instantly catchy number," and 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, while giving her album 2/5 stars, despite describing the song as a "New Wave-y club single," says 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." 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."
Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine wrote, 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 catalogue; it's like a tween version of DiFranco's tortured bisexual confession 'Light of Some Kind.'" 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'.” Glitterati Gossip agrees Sobule's song "was ten times better, because there was actual emotional content to her lyrics."
Popular reception
The song was premiered on BBC Radio 1 in the UK on July 21, 2008 on The Scott Mills Show. It was praised by many fans on their text lines and was made his record of the week. On July 23, 2008, "I Kissed a Girl" was added to the station's C-List, "The Playlist," being, "where most songs on daytime Radio 1 are selected from". The song has since made it to the station's more popular A-list.