One of the Boys
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 with producers Greg Wells, Dr. Luke, Dave Stewart, Max Martin, and Ted Bruner among others, on the album, and wrote all of its songs with assistance of other producers and writers. However, the title track, "Thinking of You", and "Mannequin" were all written by Perry alone. The EP Ur So Gay, containing the promotional single of the same name, was released in 2007 to generate interest in the singer and the album.
One of the Boys is Perry's first album under the stage name Katy Perry, following her debut Katy Hudson (2001), which was released under her real name on Red Hill Records. It received mixed reception from critics, with some deeming it as being filled with "potential hits" and others criticizing the material they perceived to be weak. Commercially, it debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200, selling over 47,000 copies in its first week of sales, and also peaked within the top-ten charts in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, and Switzerland. One of the Boys earned Perry two Grammy Award nominations, and has sold 7 million copies worldwide, being her 3rd highest-selling album to date. It has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The album's lead single "I Kissed a Girl" became Perry's first Billboard Hot 100 number-one single; the second single "Hot n Cold" reached number three in the United States, while topping the charts in Germany, Canada, the Netherlands, and Austria. The third single "Thinking of You" reached the top-thirty in the US, while the final single "Waking Up in Vegas" became a top-ten hit. To further promote the album, Perry embarked on three concert tours: the 2008 Warped Tour, her first solo world tour, the Hello Katy Tour, and served as an opening act in No Doubt's 2009 Summer Tour.
Perry's change in record label, and adoption of a pseudonymous surname accompanied a shift from the Christian rock of her debut album Katy Hudson.[1] The singer stated that she had been working on the album since she was eighteen years old. During the making of the album, Perry was dropped from two record labels and went through two shelved albums, one meant for an early 2005 release and another meant for a late 2007 release.[2][3] The planned 2007 release was titled Fingerprints, with many of the material that was planned to be on Fingerprints making it onto One of the Boys. Some of the material on Fingerprints that did not make it on One of the Boys were given to other artists, such as "I Do Not Hook Up" and "Long Shot" to Kelly Clarkson and "Rock God" and "That's More Like It" to Selena Gomez & the Scene.
During this time, Perry had written close to a hundred songs.[4] Perry collaborated with producers Greg Wells, Dr. Luke, Dave Stewart, and Max Martin among others on the album.[5] Perry co-wrote every song on the album as well as writing three 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 had 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 six of the songs from the shelved Columbia album to compile One of the Boys.[6]When talking about the songs on the album Perry said that she released the single "Ur So Gay" as an introduction to the album:
