Katy Perry’s ‘The One That Got Away’ Was a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy

Katy Perry‘s “The One That Got Away” has a title that came true. The song became one of the only major fumbles from the “I Kissed a Girl” singer‘s early career. Interestingly, the tune is about another famous singer.

Katy Perry’s ‘The One That Got Away’ stopped her from breaking a record

Perry’s Teenage Dream made history when each of its first five singles hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. The songs in question were “California Gurls,” “Teenage Dream,” “Firework,” “E.T.,” and “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F).” Teenage Dream tied with Michael Jackson’s Bad as the album with the most No. 1 singles on the chart. That made Perry the first woman to score that milestone. 

The sixth single from the album was a piano ballad called “The One That Got Away.” It was clearly Perry’s attempt to pull at our heartstrings after all those upbeat party songs. If “The One That Got Away” reached No. 1, it would have made Teenage Dream the first album ever to have six No. 1 singles. Perry could have accomplished something that no one, not Jackson, nor The Beatles, nor Elvis Presley, nor Madonna, nor Mariah Carey did. However, “The One That Got Away” became the No. 1 that got away. It merely hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Why the song didn’t live up to other Katy Perry singles

So why did “The One That Got Away” drop the ball? Well, it might be that the track was a little too generic for its own good. Other singles from Teenage Dream felt unique whether you liked them or not. I can’t think of another disco song about the beach like “California Gurls,” another pop-rock number about virginity loss like “Teenage Dream,” or another alien-themed sexy rave anthem like “E.T.” Even “Firework,” with its combination of dance-pop and baroque strings, was an instrumental rarity comparable only to Madonna’s “Papa Don’t Preach.”

Meanwhile, “The One That Got Away” is yet another piano ballad about missing someone. Around the same time, Adele released “Someone like You,” a much more memorable and heartbreaking entry in the same subgenre. Even Lady Gaga’s contemporary “I want you back baby” single “You & I” was more interesting and surprising than “The One That Got Away.”

‘The One That Got Away’ shocked the star who inspired it

Perhaps the most unusual thing about “The One That Got Away” was the story behind it. During a 2018 episode of Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Josh Groban discussed being the one that got away. “Well, you know we did, we were both very private so we realized we were better as friends, and we’ve been very, very good friends to this day,” Groban said. He was surprised he was the subject of “The One That Got Away.” “She’s the best, but I was not expecting that,” he said. “That was a double-take and a spit of my coffee.”

Groban noted that the lyrics of the song were not a totally accurate description of him. “It’s very sweet of her to say that, and then I listened to the lyrics of the song and I’m just like ‘I never owned a Mustang, I don’t have a tattoo. Are you sure that’s about me?'” Groban added. “I was very flattered by it, but I was very surprised by it too.”