One of the Boys

One of the Boys is the second studio album and major-label debut by American recording artist Katy Perry. Her change in record label, and adoption of a pseudonymous surname accompanies a notable shift from the Christian rock of her self-titled debut album. The album was released on June 17, 2008 by Capitol Music Group.

The album features the Billboard Hot 100 number-one single "I Kissed a Girl", as well as top three hit "Hot n Cold", top ten hit "Waking Up in Vegas", and top thirty hit "Thinking of You". The album earned Katy Perry two Grammy Award nominations in 2009 and 2010. One of the Boys has sold more than 5 million copies worldwide.

The album received mixed reviews from critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received a score of 47, citing "mixed or average reviews". Despite some unfavorable reviews, the album did receive some positive reviews, such as 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 to generally negative reviews, plus some mixed. Stephen Thomas Erlewine 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".

One of the Boys debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200, with 47,000 copies sold in the first-week released. The album has shipped, and has sold nearly 1.5 million copies, earning a platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album has been on the chart for eighty-four weeks. In Canada, the album debuted at number ten, and peaked at number six, It has since been certified double platinum by Music Canada. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted, and peaked at number eleven on the UK Albums Chart. It has since been certified platinum. In Australia, it debuted at number eleven, the album has been certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting over 70,000 copies sold. In New Zealand, the album debuted and peaked at number seventeen. It has since been certified Gold, shipping over 7,500 copies.

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by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Listening to Katy Perry's litany of belched alphabets, fruity boyfriends, Vegas hangovers, and lesbian lip-locks on her debut, One of the Boys, it's easy to assume she'll do anything for attention, and a close read of her history proves that suspicion true. Prior to her transformation into a teen tart, Perry was a Christian singer operating under the name Katy Hudson -- an appellation a little bit too close to Kate Hudson, so she swapped last names and started working with big-name producer after big-name producer, cutting sessions with Glen Ballard and then the Matrix. That was enough to get buzz touting her as a next big thing in 2004, but not enough to actually get a record into the stores, a nicety that often proves invaluable for wannabe pop stars. Given this long line of botched starts, maybe it makes sense that the 24-year-old trollop is singing with the desperation of a fading burlesque star twice her age, yet Perry's shameless pandering on One of the Boys is startling, particularly as it comes in the form of some ungodly hybrid of Alanis Morissette's caterwauling and the cold calculation of Britney Spears in her prime. This fusion is no accident, as Perry works once again with Ballard, the producer behind Alanis' breakthrough Jagged Little Pill, and Max Martin, the writer/producer of "Baby One More Time" -- and that's just for starters! She also brings aboard Desmond Child to give "Waking Up in Vegas" an anonymous anthemic pulse, Dave Stewart to give "I'm Still Breathing" a Euro sheen, and Butch Walker to amp up the amplifiers, giving her a different sound for every imaginable demographic.

All the pros give One of the Boys a cross-platform appeal, but there's little question that its revolting personality is all down to Katy Perry, who distills every reprehensible thing about the age of The Hills into one pop album. She disses her boyfriend with gay-baiting; she makes out with a girl and she's doesn't even like girls; she brags to a suitor that he can't afford her, parties till she's face-down in the porcelain, drops brands as if they were weapons, curses casually, and trades under-the-table favors. In short, she's styled herself as a Montag monster. Perry is not untalented -- she writes like an ungarbled Alanis and has an eye for details, as when she tells her emo meterosexual boyfriend to hang himself with his H&M scarf on "Ur So Gay" -- but that only accentuates how her vile wild-child persona is an artifice designed to get her the stardom she craves. Maybe if the music were as trashy as the style, she could get away with it, as it would have a junky thrill, but that's where all the high-thread-count producers actually work against One of the Boys. They flatten everything out, turning the stomping Gary Glitter beat of "I Kissed a Girl" into a leaden stumble and burying Perry's voice underneath Pro Tools overdubs so it all winds up as a faceless wash of sound designed to be placed in TV shows, movie trailers, and malls -- which is of course part of the plan, as this is music designed to be everywhere after Perry's taboo flirtations break down doors. The problem is not with Katy's gender-bending, it's that her heart isn't in it; she's just using it to get her places, so she sinks to crass, craven depths that turn One of the Boys into a grotesque emblem of all the wretched excesses of this decade.