Katy Perry - The One That Got Away

The One That Got Away is a song written by Katy Perry, Max Martin, and Dr. Luke. Max Martin and Dr. Luke also produced the song. The song is included in the album, Teenage Dream, and serves as the sixth and final single off of the album.

Katy Perry revealed during an interview with TheDirt.com the inspiration of the song came from looking back at a past relationship wondering where you two would be if the relationship never ended. "Its a song about the one that got away, you know? I think a lot of people will relate to it, especially if you're like a Facebook fan. People will Facebook you from your past, you know, they'll creep up on you, they'll find you and all of a sudden you are looking though their pictures and you're like 'oh my god...we were supposed to get married' or like 'those kids are supposed to be mine'. It's like this weird thing." She continued by adding "or you know when you're young and you promise the world to that other person and it just doesn't work out."

Upon the single release announcement of the song Perry released a statement from the label concerning the release

“I'm so pleased to select 'The One That Got Away' as my sixth single because this song shows a very different side of me that I haven't shown with my past singles on this record. I think that everyone can relate to this song. I wrote (it) about when you promise someone forever, but you end up not being able to follow through. It's a bittersweet story. Hopefully, the listener learns from hearing it and never has to say they had 'The One' get away."”

—Katy Perry

ARTWORK

On September 28, 2011, Katy Perry tweeted the words "The One That Got Away... It's happening!!!", along with a picture of the official single artwork, via TwitPic. The photo was taken durng Perry's photoshoot for the October issue of InStyle. The artwork shows a a pink-haired Perry looking up at the sky while wearing a disc-shaped hat. The photo gives a whimsical nod to the 70s, with its distinctively retro appearance. Billboard commented saying that Perry looked "retro and pensive". Amy Sciarretto of PopCrush commented that the artwork shows Perry in a "deep thought and remembering the one that actually did get away from her."

RELEASE

Katy Perry has said she wanted her sixth single from the album to be a 'movement' like her third single "Firework" was and different than the other songs being released. Both songs "Peacock" and "Hummingbird Heartbeat" were speculated to be the sixth single from the album since Katy Perry tweeted on September 1, 2011 "In da studio with @trickystewart I love him! He gives me that hummingbird heartbeat!!! Follow him!!!". But upon the announcement on September 13, 2011 in Irving Plaza in New York City, Perry's label confirmed that "The One That Got Away" would be the official sixth single from the album. Capitol said that they're not specifically releasing the song in hopes of it reaching number one and re-writing Hot 100 history, which most people were assuming, rather the decision came out of "Perry's fondness for the song, its ear-catching hook and her obvious track record of success at pop radio". EMI Music/Capitol Records EVP/marketing and promotion Greg Thompson told Billboard that, "if it goes to No. 1, that would be great, If not, we still have a Katy song on the radio in fourth quarter", presumably boosting sales for Teenage Dream in the Christmas season. Dr. Luke produced a "touch-up" of the song that was released as the radio edit.The edit sounds very similar to the album version, with no drastic changes.