I Kissed A Girl by Katy Perry

She did — and wrote about it.

Katy Perry's "I Kissed a Girl" is a complete reverse of how she was raised.

Born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson on October 25th, 1984, in Santa Barbara, California, Perry’s first 16 years were with parents Mary Christine (née Perry) and Maurice Keith Hudson, who were Pentecostal pastors.

“I went to church on Sunday morning, on Sunday night, on Wednesdays,” said Perry on the September 24th, 2024 podcast Call Her Daddy. “They gave me my compass in a lot of ways. They really gave me a lot of integrity. They taught me how to treat people.”

Perry continued, “I wasn't really allowed to even acknowledge the opposite sex. There wasn't a lot of talking about it, and that's okay. I mean, they did what they knew how to do, right?… I didn't have that education. I was homeschooled, went to the Christian schools, and they didn't really teach that.”

Perry moved to Los Angeles at age 17, noting this decision shifted her thoughts about people and expectations. “I moved to LA when I was 17, and it was just a whole different perspective boom. I met different people. I'm like, oh, you're not a bad person. I grew up thinking you were this way. I was taught this way. Oh, you're not. So I saw more humanity… And all this education and all this oneness, I feel from really observing people and getting to know them. That was my education.”

“At 17, and that's when really my sexuality started and experimenting and not having as many rules and restrictions. I had those experiences, and then I sang about them. And I was like, oh.”

I Kissed A Girl was released on April 28th, 2008 as the lead single from her album One of the Boys. Perry was 23.

Perry stated one seed of inspiration for I Kissed a Girl was, “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,’” Perry told Steppin’ Out magazine (via NME).

Another seed of inspiration was from the girl she kissed. “There as not one particular girl that inspired the song. The girl that I did kiss, I met through a friend,” said Perry on Howard Stern in 2008. “We were just having cocktails at a bar with other friends… I was probably like 20.”

“I woke up, and I had the chorus in my head. Then I didn’t do anything with it for like a year and a half because I was a little perplexed. ‘What an interesting little chorus’... It would not go away; it was like a little pebble in my shoe. I said, ‘C’mon, you better record that song, or you will be sorry,’” said Perry.

I Kissed a Girl topped charts worldwide, including a seven-week run at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. The song earned multi-platinum certifications across several countries and has sold millions of copies globally.

“It was a rocket. It was a real rocket. And it was like, can you hold on? And I wasn't present for some of it. It was really I have to be present for some of it. I was like, oh. Every day was a different city,” Perry stated.

The years between 17 and 23 explain so much about the lyrics. They now make sense.

Lyrically:

The song circles around spontaneity, experimentation, and courage, with Perry describing a brief, unplanned moment.

“This was never the way I planned
Not my intention
I got so brave, drink in hand
Lost my discretion
It's not what I'm used to
Just wanna try you on
I'm curious for you
Caught my attention”

Based on her upbringing, this new, unfamiliar way of life was embraced. More of something to experience, and now subsequently shared with billions of other people.

“I kissed a girl and I liked it
The taste of her cherry chapstick
I kissed a girl just to try it
I hope my boyfriend don't mind it
It felt so wrong, it felt so right
Don't mean I'm in love tonight
I kissed a girl and I liked it
I liked it”

If the first verse didn’t capture your attention, the chorus—the one that ‘would not go away’ for 18 months—navigates the tension between normalcy and pursuing desires. The lyrics are to the point, and one can almost taste cherry chapstick.

“No, I don't even know your name
It doesn't matter
You're my experimental game
Just human nature
It's not what good girls do
Not how they should behave
My head gets so confused
Hard to obey”

Throughout the song, Perry contrasts how one is expected to behave, especially within committed relationships, with the desire to break free and live out their impulses, only to discover after doing so that they actually enjoyed it.

With “Don't mean I'm in love tonight,” Perry reveals that the kiss is just something that happened along the journey of self-expression.

“Us girls, we are so magical
Soft skin, red lips, so kissable
Hard to resist, so touchable
Too good to deny it
Ain't no big deal, it's innocent”

“I think girls are beautiful creatures,” Perry said on Stern.

The lyrics to I Kissed a Girl end with “I kissed a girl and I liked it / I liked it,” confirming what we now know. Katy Perry kissed a girl and she liked it.

Perry has since revisited the song's lyrics, acknowledging certain stereotypes, noting that if she were writing it today, she might approach the subject differently.

In a 2018 interview in Glamour, Perry stated, “We've really changed, conversationally, in the past 10 years. We've come a long way. Bisexuality wasn't as talked about back then, or any type of fluidity. If I had to write that song again, I probably would make an edit on it. Lyrically, it has a couple of stereotypes in it. Your mind changes so much in 10 years, and you grow so much. What's true for you can evolve.”