If you want to mark Katy Perry’s confirmed entry into superstardom as when she achieved her first No. 1 single, then she’s been a superstar for ten years, since “I Kissed A Girl” topped the charts back in 2008. A lot can happen in a decade, and for Perry, a lot has. Part of what has come from all that experience is growth, which Perry says makes her look back on her first hit and not be completely satisfied with its lyrical content.
In the past, more conservative critics insisted the issue was that the song was an endorsement of homosexual behavior, while Slant Magazine attested, “‘I Kissed a Girl’ 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.” Whatever the case, Perry said in a recent interview with Glamour that if she was writing that song in present day, she would change some things because the conversation about bisexuality is different now than it was then:
“That was in 2008 when it came out. I think we’ve really changed, conversationally, in the past ten 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 ten years, and you grow so much. What’s true for you can evolve.”
Watch the video for “I Kissed A Girl” below.
