Katy Perry’s 2008 hit “I Kissed a Girl” has been hailed as both a groundbreaking LGBT anthem and shameless queerbaiting. It was the 10th best-selling single of the 21st century and spent seven weeks on the top of the Billboard Hot 100.
Perry claims that the chorus of the song came to her one morning when she woke up. When they heard the song, executives were worried that it wouldn’t “play in the Bible Belt”, but the song was eventually released and became a huge hit.
Hearing a woman unapologetically sing about her attraction to another woman in a wildly popular song was undeniably novel. Her mention of her boyfriend, makes it seem that the song’s narrator is indeed very bi. Critics complained that the song implied that the same-sex kiss was done for attention and that for a song about a same-sex kiss, it spent a lot of time assuring the listener that this is out of character and isn’t about love (just lust).
Ten years after the song’s release, Katy Perry admitted that the song resorted to many stereotypes and would have written the lyrics differently had she been writing the song in 2018.
Other critics have also noted a remarkable resemblance to bi artist Jill Sobule’s adorably bi song of the same name.
Even if the song may not have aged perfectly, for many people “I Kissed A Girl” (2008) was the first time they heard a same-sex kiss celebrated this way on the radio.