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I Kissed a Girl

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For the Jill Sobule song released in 1995, see Jill Sobule (album).
"I Kissed a Girl"
Song

"I Kissed a Girl" is a song by pop singer Katy Perry from her 2008 album One of the Boys, produced by Dr. Luke. Perry says it is "about the magical beauty of a woman".[3]

Released as the album's lead single, "I Kissed a Girl" was a commercial success. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the 1000th chart-topper of the Rock Era.[4] 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 Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

The song was covered by Cobra Starship titled "I Kissed a Boy" and featured on the Fall Out Boy Mixtape "Welcome to the New Administration".

Music video

File:KatyPerryCIKissedAGirl.jpg
Perry singing in the 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 of Perry, along with many other flamboyantly-dressed women dancing to the song. Towards the end of the video, she wakes up next to a male companion, Katy's real life boyfriend, Gym Class Heroes band member Travis McCoy. Despite the song's title, there is no depiction of same-sex kissing. Katy features her real life friend and DJ, Mia Moretti and her main guy, Markus Molinari's dog Bella in the video.[5]

The video made its television debut on June 12 on TRL with the visit and interview by Perry in set show. 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",[6] and About.com said, "fueled by an instrumental wallop provided courtesy of producer Dr. Luke, 'I Kissed a Girl' is the perfect breakthrough".[7] However, Rolling Stone magazine, 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".[8] 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".[9]

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'".[10] 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'".[11] Glitterati Gossip agrees Sobule's song "was ten times better, because there was actual emotional content to her lyrics".[12]

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.[13]

Previous to its debut on Radio 1, it had been (and continues to be) on the playlist of some of the UK radio stations which are part of The One Network for a number of weeks. In addition it had received at least one play a week on BBC Radio 2 on its Saturday evening America’s Greatest Hits show hosted by Paul Gambaccini due to the song’s number one status in the Billboard chart. The song has been very popular in Ireland, and is often played on RTÉ 2FM, one of Ireland's most popular radio stations. Also in Ireland, TG4, the Irish language TV station, has aired it often, on its popular chart show, PÓP4.[14][15]

Controversy

The song gained a significant amount of controversy after its rise in popularity due to its perceived promotion of bisexuality and promiscuity. While community members and parents may be concerned over the "the coarseness of the sexual behavior", including its public nature and intoxicated state, they may or, such as Unitarian minister Debra W. Haffner, may not be concerned over "the sex or gender of the person she's talking about".[16]

While Haffner, who holds a degree in public health, believes Perry "obviously is using the whole issue of sexual orientation in a positive way, raising awareness, or she's doing it because it gets attention",[16] AllMusic concludes that "the problem is not with Katy's gender-bending, it's that her heart isn't in it; she's just using it to get her places, so she sinks to crass, craven depths".[9] Slant Magazine agrees, saying 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".[10]

Adam Holz of PluggedinOnline, a division of Focus on the Family, wrote an article entitled "A Tale of Two Katys"[17] about the singer's image transformation from a Contemporary Christian Music artiste 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 Katy to live "down to a damaging, demeaning stereotype".

In some areas of the world the song's bi-curious lyrics have kept it from reaching the Top 40 or to even be released at all. Though the Toronto Star, of Canada, describes it as "a lesbian-friendly tune",[18] whether anti-gay bias fuels negative reactions to the song or the song itself appears to divide critics. Slant and other critics[19][20] suggest that Perry may be homophobic, especially given her single "Ur So Gay", which makes "I Kissed a Girl" seem like "a classic example of the 'Guys kissing is gross, girls kissing is hot' line of thought"[21]. The Star Ledger quotes a listener who proposes that negative reactions to the song are due to homophobia, saying that it would not draw disapproval if sung by a male artist, and who compares the level of explicitness in the lyrics with other songs on the radio such as rap lyrics.[16] MomLogic.com writer Vuv-A-Licious agrees, asking "What's the big deal? ...When this tune is playing and my son and daughter are dancing, I will be trying to dance along, or trying to acknowledge that they may one day dance to the beat of a different drummer than me".[22]

During her Washington concert at Warped Tour, Perry actually did kiss a girl from the audience.[23]

In an August 2008, interview with the Daily Mail, Perry's mother, Mary Hudson, who is an evangelical Christian preacher, was reported as saying that she disliked the song, stating "It clearly promotes homosexuality and its message is shameful and disgusting...".[24] However, Perry took to her official blog stating that her mother's supposed comments were completely fabricated, while also saying her parents love and support her and attend many of her shows.

Regarding the question of her own sexuality that the song has raised, Perry told Santa Barbara magazine (which featured her on the cover) "I like to kiss boys, but there is no doubt in my mind if Angelina Jolie or Gisele Bündchen came a callin', who wouldn't pucker up?".[25]

Chart performance

"I Kissed a Girl" debuted at number 76 at Billboard Hot 100. After a couple of weeks, the single hit the top 5, due to the rising digital downloads and increasing radio airplay. It continued to rise the next week, reaching #2 just behind her labelmate, Coldplay. The following week, the song reached the summit of the US chart, becoming the 1000th #1 song of the rock era (the 961st #1 on the Billboard Hot 100).[26] In addition the song also gave the Capitol label two consecutive Hot 100 #1's, as the week's prior #1 was fellow Capitol artist Coldplay's "Viva la Vida", making it the first time since 1976 Capitol has had two back to back chart toppers on the Hot 100.[27] The single also crossed over to Billboard's sister publication R&R's Rhythmic chart in its July 5 issue, where not only did she have the highest debut ever for a non-rhythmic track, entering at number 26 with 1,065 spins, she also had the highest debut from a new artist in over five years. The bow is the best for a debut track at Rhythmic since Beyonce entered at No. 21 with "Crazy In Love" in 2003.[28][29] It also became the first song since Gnarls Barkley's "Crazy" to simultaneously appear on the Mainstream Top 40, Rhythmic, Adult Top 40 and Alternative charts.[30] On July 26, 2008, the track also made history by reaching the number one spot on Billboard's Hot Dance Airplay chart by three weeks, a first for a solo act with a debut single. The song topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks in a row before finally being dethroned by Rihanna's "Disturbia". It is the second longest running number one on the Hot 100 of 2008 so far, with only Flo Rida's "Low" topping the chart for longer. The single has sold more than 2,500,000 downloads in the United States to date.

In Canada, the single debuted at #55 at Canadian Hot 100. On June 12th the song soared to #1, jumping 26 spots from #27 position..

In New Zealand, the song debuted at number 38, the single's first appearance in other countries chart outside North America, moving to number three the following week. The song was cerified Gold after seven weeks with sales of over 7,500. On August 11, eight weeks after debuting on the chart, "I Kissed A Girl" finally made it to number one. "I Kissed A Girl" was certified Platinum in New Zealand after 20 weeks selling 15,000+ copies.

In Australia, the song debuted at #13 on the 30th of June on downloads alone, then the next week jumped to second position behind Jordin Sparks, still on downloads alone. The next week it jumped to number one still solely off downloads, becoming only the second single to do so. Ironically, by the time the song went number 1, this was the time when World Youth Day 2008 had started and the event held anti-gay views. On July 21, 2008, after the singles physical release, the track retained its number one position and was certified Gold. The single has held the number one position for several weeks and was certified 2xPlatinum.

In the United Kingdom, a cover version released by the artist Nicki Bliss was climbing up the UK iTunes Chart. It debuted on the UK Singles Chart (published August 3, 2008) at position number 50.[31]

A second cover version, by Barnicle, entered the UK Singles Chart (published August 3, 2008) at position #116.[31]

Because of the success of the cover versions, the official release of Katy Perry's version was brought forward from September 1 to July 30, 2008. On August 3, 2008, the song, which had entered the UK Singles Chart at number 139 the week before,[32] climbed 135 places to reach position number 4.[31] The song has become one of the most requested on Radio 1's request hour. The following week it climbed 3 places to reach number 1. The following week it stayed at the top spot for a second consecutive week and then went on to spend 5 consecutive weeks at #1.

Even parodies of "I Kissed a Girl" are seeing chart success. Robert Lund's spoof "I Peed in the Pool"[33] reached #1 on Dr. Demento's August 2008 comedy music countdown.[34] Including the MADtv parody, I'l Kiss A Girl featuring Nicole Parker as Ellen DeGeneres and fellow cast member Arden Myrin as Portia de Rossi, by Ellen saying that she's been kissing girls since the 9th grade.

Track listing and available formats

  1. "I Kissed a Girl" (Single Version) — 3:00

I Kissed A Girl(Remixes)-EP(iTunes Download)

  1. "I Kissed A Girl (Rock Remix)" 2:57
  2. "I Kissed A Girl (Dr. Luke And Benny Blanco Extended Mix)" 6:06
  3. "I Kissed A Girl (The Knocks Remix)" 4:37
  4. "I Kissed A Girl(Jason Nevins Funkrock Edit Remix)" 3:30
  • Official versions
  1. "I Kissed a Girl" (Single Version) — 3:00
  2. "I Kissed a Girl" (Album Version) — 2:59
  3. "I Kissed a Girl" (Dr. Luke & Benny Blanco Remix) — 3:31
  4. "I Kissed a Girl" (Jason Nevins Remix) — 3:28
  5. "I Kissed a Girl" (J-Kits Remix) (featuring Mims) — 4:09[35]
  6. "I Kissed a Girl" (MR. GASPAR Remix) — 5:38[36]
  7. "I Kissed a Girl" (Rock Mix)
  8. "I Kissed a Girl" (Breez Remix) (featuring Flo Rida)
  • Live versions
  1. "I Kissed a Girl" (acoustic version performed on The Howard Stern Show on 08/21/08)
  2. "I kissed a Girl" (Kiss Remix - a version played on the radio station, Kiss, in the UK)

Certifications

Country Certification Sales
Australia 2xPlatinum[37] 140,000
United States Platinum 2,500,000
New Zealand Platinum 15,000+
United Kingdom Silver [38] 375,615
Country Certification Sales
Digital Singles
Australia 2xPlatinum[39] 140,000
Canada Platinum 112,816[40]
New Zealand Platinum 15,000+
United Kingdom Silver 413,115
United States Double Platinum 2,500,000

Charts

Chart (2008) Peak
position
Australian Singles Chart[41] 1
Austrian Singles Chart 1
Belgium Singles Top 50[42] 1
Canadian Hot 100 1
Danish Singles Chart[43] 1
Dutch Top 40 1
European Billboard Hot 100 1
Finnish Singles Chart 4
French Singles Chart[44] 5
German Singles Chart 1
Greek Singles Chart[45] 2
Irish Singles Chart[46] 1
Israeli Singles Chart[47] 1
Italian Singles Chart 1
Mexico Top 100[48] 21
New Zealand Singles Chart 1
Norwegian Singles Chart[49] 1
Russian Airplay Chart[50] 2
Swedish Singles Chart[51] 1
Swiss Singles Top 100[52] 1
Turkish Singles Chart[53] 3
UK Singles Chart[54] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot 100[55] 1
U.S. Billboard Pop 100[55] 1
U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play[55] 25

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by Canadian Hot 100 number-one single
June 21, 2008 – August 16, 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by U.S. Billboard Hot 100 number-one single
June 29, 2008 – August 16, 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by U.S. Billboard Pop 100 number-one single
July 5, 2008 – August 16, 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Australian ARIA Singles Chart number-one single
July 14, 2008 – August 25, 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by New Zealand Singles Chart number-one single
August 11, 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Airplay number-one single
July 26, 2008 – August 23, 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by UK Singles Chart number-one single
August 10, 2008 – September 14, 2008 		Succeeded by
Irish Singles Chart number-one single
August 21, 2008 – September 18, 2008
European Hot 100 Singles number-one single
August 23, 2008 		Succeeded by
incumbent
Swiss Singles Chart number-one single
August 24, 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"Das hat die Welt noch nicht gesehen" by Söhne Mannheims
 German Singles Chart number-one single (first run)
August 30, 2008 – September 12, 2008 		Succeeded by
"Gib Mir Sonne" by Rosenstolz
Preceded by
"Gib Mir Sonne" by Rosenstolz
 German Singles Chart number-one single (second run)
September 26, 2008 – 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
"This Is The Life" by Amy Macdonald
 Belgium Singles Chart number-one single
September 12, 2008 – 		Succeeded by
incumbent
Preceded by
"Kids" by MGMT
 Norwegian VG-lista number-one single
September 16, 2008 – September 23, 2008 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Italian FIMI Singles Chart number-one single
September 19, 2008 – October 3, 2008 		Succeeded by

Awards and nominations

Year Title Award Nominated work Result
2008 MTV Video Music Awards Best Art Direction "I Kissed a Girl" Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards Best Cinematography "I Kissed a Girl" Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards Best Editing "I Kissed a Girl" Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards Best Female Video "I Kissed a Girl" Nominated
MTV Video Music Awards Best New Artist "I Kissed a Girl" Nominated
Teen Choice Award Choice MySpacer MySpace Page Nominated
MTV Video Music Brasil International Artist Katy Perry Nominated
MTV Europe Music Award Best New Act Katy Perry Won
MTV Europe Music Award Most Addictive Track I Kissed A Girl Nominated
Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica Best International New Artist[56] Katy Perry Nominated
Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica Song of the Year[57] I Kissed a Girl Nominated

References

  1. ^ http://ariacharts.com.au/pages/charts_display_singles.asp?chart=1U50
  2. ^ British certification
  3. ^ "Katy Perry's 'I Kissed A Girl' Is The Most Buzzed About Hit Of The Summer", StarPulse.com. 2008-06-13 09:00:00. Retrieved June 27, 2008.
  4. ^ Jenison, David (2008-06-26). "Hot 100 Seals Its 1,000th Hit with Katy's "Kiss"". E!. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  5. ^ http://popdirt.com/katy-perry-dedicates-swvs-weak-to-whoopi-goldberg/68209/
  6. ^ Cockrell, Garon (2008). "Music Review: Katy Perry - One Of The Boys", BlogCritics Magazine. Published June 19, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  7. ^ Lamb, Bill. "Katy Perry - 'I Kissed a Girl'" review, About.com: Top 40/Pop. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  8. ^ Frehsee, Nicole (2008). "One of the Boys: Katy Perry" review, Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 21, 2008.
  9. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas (2008). "One of the Boys - Katy Perry" review, AllMusic. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  10. ^ a b Cinquemani, Sal (2008). "Katy Perry - One of the Boys" review, Slant Magazine. Posted: June 15, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  11. ^ Raegun (2008). "Katy Perry - One of the Boys - review", HipOnline.com. Posted: June 16, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  12. ^ "Katy Perry Irritates The Hell Out Of Me", Glitterati Gossip. March 24, 2008.
  13. ^ "Playlist", BBC Radio 1.
  14. ^ [http://www.rte.ie/2fm/charts/singles.html.
  15. ^ [http://tg4.ie/bearla/scei/scei.asp?Dt=2008-10-25
  16. ^ a b c ""'Girl' talk"". The Star Ledger. Retrieved 2008-05-27. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ Holz, Adam (2008). Up Front: "A Tale of Two Katys", PluggedinOnline.com. Tuesday, July 7, 2008.
  18. ^ Infantry, Ashante. Katy Perry `kissed a girl' and began a love affair in Canada, Toronto Star. June 15, 2008. Retrieved August 18, 2008.
  19. ^ French, Marguerite. "Katy Perry - One of The Boys Album Review", Ugo.com. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  20. ^ Moody, Duane (2008). "What do you have against gay people, Katy Perry?", duanemoody.com. June 9, 2008.
  21. ^ The New Gay Zack (2008). "Katy Perry: The New Gay Interview", The New Gay. Tuesday, June 10, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  22. ^ Vuv-A-Licious Mom (2008). "I Kissed a Girl", MomLogic.com Parenting. Monday, June 9, 2008. Retrieved June 22, 2008.
  23. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAMsOK0aMi0
  24. ^ Ryan Porter (2008-08-18). ""I Kissed A Girl", Mom Didn't Like It". CelebEdge. Sympatico / MSN. Retrieved 2008-08-19.
  25. ^ Aug./Sept. 2008 issue of Santa Barbara magazine
  26. ^ Bronson, Fred (2008). "Chart Beat: Rockin' and Kissin'", Billboard.com. June 26, 2008. Retrieved June 27, 2008.
  27. ^ Geirn, Paul (July 30, 2008). "Week Ending July 27, 2008: Miley's Young, But She's Not The Youngest". Yahoo. Yahoo.com. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
  28. ^ From R&R Katy Perry chart references
  29. ^ From R&R's Rhythmic chart
  30. ^ Katy Perry Fends Off Jonas Bros. Atop Hot 100 from Billboard July 3, 2008
  31. ^ a b c "The Official UK Singles Chart for the week ending August 9, 2008". Charts Plus (363). Milton Keynes: IQ Ware Ltd.: 1-4. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  32. ^ "The Official UK Singles Chart for the week ending August 2, 2008". Charts Plus (362). Milton Keynes: IQ Ware Ltd.: 1-4. {{cite journal}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  33. ^ The Funny Music Project: Robert Lund's "I Peed in the Pool"
  34. ^ The Dr. Demento Show #08-35 - August 31, 2008
  35. ^ http://thesidekickz.blogspot.com/2008/07/katy-perry-feat-mims-i-kissed-girl.html
  36. ^ http://www.chromemusic.de/music/katy-perrys-i-kissed-a-girl-full-remix-treatment/
  37. ^ http://ariacharts.com.au/pages/charts_display_singles.asp?chart=1U50
  38. ^ British certification
  39. ^ http://ariacharts.com.au/pages/charts_display_singles.asp?chart=1U50
  40. ^ [1]
  41. ^ Top 50 Singles Chart - Australia Record Industry Association
  42. ^ http://acharts.us/song/35582
  43. ^ http://www.hitlisterne.dk/hl07/tracklisten.asp?list=t40
  44. ^ http://www.chartsinfrance.net/charts/singles.php,p1
  45. ^ Greece Singles Chart Retrieved September 13, 2008
  46. ^ http://www.irma.ie/aucharts.asp
  47. ^ Israeli Singles Chart
  48. ^ Week 44 - Mexico Singles Chart - 14th November 2008
  49. ^ http://norwegiancharts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=s
  50. ^ http://tophit.ru
  51. ^ http://swedishcharts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=s
  52. ^ http://acharts.us/song/35582
  53. ^ Turkey Top 20 Chart Retrieved September 2, 2008
  54. ^ http://www.irma.ie/aucharts.asp
  55. ^ a b c Billboard - Artist Chart History - Katy Perry. Retrieved November 2, 2008
  56. ^ MTVla.com - Premios MTV 2008 - 15 Años
  57. ^ MTVla.com - Premios MTV 2008 - 15 Años
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