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One of the Boys is the second studio album by American singer Katy Perry. It was released on June 17, 2008, by Capitol Records . She collaborated on the album with producers Greg Wells , Dr. Luke , Dave Stewart , Max Martin , and Ted Bruner among others, and wrote most of the songs in collaboration with other producers and writers.
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- Capitol
- June 17, 2008
- Overview
- Background
- Critical reception
- Singles
- Photoshoot
- Track listing
- Outtakes
One of the Boys is the second studio album, and the first mainstream album under the name of Katy Perry. The album was first released on June 17, 2008 in the United States and Canada. The theme of the songs on the album are very different, and more pop, than Perry's first self-titled album, Katy Hudson. An EP, Ur So Gay, which contains the album's promotional single, "Ur So Gay", was released to generate interest on the singer and the then-upcoming album.
The album debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200, with 47,000 copies sold in its first week. It was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), and also reached the top ten in countries such as Austria, Canada, Germany, Mexico, and Switzerland. One of the Boys received two Grammy nominations for "Best Female Pop Vocal Performance" for "I Kissed a Girl" and "Hot N Cold". The album has sold 7 million copies worldwide.
Perry has stated that she had been working on the album since she was nineteen years old. During the making of the album Perry went through many struggles such as being dropped from two record labels and having two canceled albums. During this time Perry had "written between sixty-five and seventy songs". Perry collaborated with notable producers Greg Wells, Lukasz Gottwald, Dave Stewart, Max Martin among others on the album. Perry co-wrote every song on the album as well as writing 3 of the songs herself.
Once signed to Capitol, label head Jason Flom started work on a new album by convincing Dr Luke to go back into the studio with Perry, with the two having already worked together on the abandoned Columbia sessions. Together with Max Martin they wrote and cut "I Kissed a Girl' and "Hot N Cold". Perry then collaborated again with Greg Wells, who she'd also worked with on the Columbia album, creating the songs "Ur So Gay" and "Mannequin". According to Perry's A&R Chris Anokute they ended up with five new songs and then chose the six best songs from both of her shelved albums, (A) Katy Perry and Fingerprints, to compile the album. Capitol created a 10-track sampler CD to promote Katy Perry within the industry for promotional means. The only two songs from the sampler CD that weren't included in the final track listing were "Box" and "The Driveway", with the later being given to Miley Cyrus. The song "Breakout" was first recorded by Katy Perry the album, though it was never included for the album and was again passed on to Cyrus, on whose version Perry sings backing vocals. "Box" was considered to be a single for the album as the label had a keen interest on the song, but ultimately the song was never included in the album.
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 47, based on 18 reviews.
The album received positive reviews from Billboard magazine who claimed, "not since Jagged Little Pill has a debut album been so packed with potential hits." Blender described the album as "Perry’s creative-writing-class punch lines don’t always justify her self-congratulatory drag-queen tone. But she hiccups quirkily enough, and myriad big-name producers (from Dr. Luke to Glen Ballard) keep the new-wave synth hooks hopping." More often, critical reception ranged from mixed to negative reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewin of Allmusic gave the album two out of five stars noting that the album "sinks to crass, craven depths that turn One of the Boys into a grotesque emblem of all the wretched excesses of this decade." On the album, Uncut wrote "Gwen Stefani should be nervous." while Slant Magazine wrote that "Perry doesn't possess the grit or vocal prowess to follow through, and the title track is like No Doubt's 'Just a Girl' sans personality and conviction". The NME wrote that "Madonna and Perez Hilton may be fans, then, but if you’ve got even a passing interest in actually enjoying a record, don’t buy this one".
•"Ur So Gay" was released digitally as a promotional single in late November 2007 to help introduce Perry into the music world. It reached internet success and received some radio play. A music video was shot for the song by director, and friend, Walter May. The video first premiered on MySpace and was later made available on iTunes. It is often confused as an official single, but was confirmed by Perry to not be.
•The album's lead single, "I Kissed a Girl" was released in early May and topped the charts, becoming a commercial sucess. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming the 1000th chart-topper of the rock era. Including the United States, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom, it has topped the charts in more than 30 countries. It has sold over 4,600,000 digital downloads in the U.S. as of January 2015 and was included in the 2010 Guinness World Records book.
•The second single, "Hot N Cold", charted after the album's release due to strong digital downloads. It was released in early September, and peaked at number 3 on the US charts. This made the song Perry's second consecutive top 5 single. On November 14, the song became Perry's first number 1 on radio airplay. It also became number one on the iTunes comprehensive charts. It is officially one of the ten best-selling digitally downloaded songs of all time. It has sold over 5,600,000 digital downloads in the U.S. as of January 2015 and was included in the 2010 Guinness World Records book.
•"Thinking of You" is the fourth single off the album, but was originally planned to be the first single, but was later scrapped for "I Kissed a Girl" due to its quick popularity. A video for "Thinking of You" was uploaded onto Youtube in late April 2008, but the video was removed due to a re-make of the video after the single was re-released as the fourth international single from the album. Perry shot the second video with director Melina Matsoukas in the first week of December 2008 and the video was released soon after on December 23. The track peaked at #14 on the iTunes comprehensive chart and peaked at #29 on the Billboard Hot 100 on the week of February 12, 2009 where it remained for the next two weeks before dropping to #31 in its seventh week on the chart. It has sold over 1,100,000 digital downloads in the U.S.
Cover PhotoshootSingles PhotoshootUnique track listings of the album see List of international editions of One of the Boys for more details.
Jun 17, 2023 · ‘One Of The Boys’: Katy Perry’s Satirical, Inclusive Debut Album. Witty, provovative and packed with hits, ‘One Of The Boys’ introduced Katy Perry as a ready-made pop icon for the...
Provided to YouTube by Universal Music GroupOne Of The Boys · Katy PerryRock & Fun℗ 2008 Capitol Records, LLCReleased on: 2023-06-27Associated Performer, Vo...
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Jun 17, 2008 · One of the Boys (15th Anniversary Edition) - Album by Katy Perry - Apple Music. Katy Perry. POP · 2008. The factors that would make Katy Perry a worldwide phenomenon—offbeat lyrics, teasing sexuality, silliness, and that surprisingly deep purr—are fully in place on her debut album, One of the Boys.
Jun 17, 2008 · “One of the Boys” is a song about Katy’s frustration over being seen as just another of her crush’s friends. She takes it upon herself to attract the boy’s attention. The…