Why Stevie Nicks Cried Watching Katy Perry’s ‘The One That Got Away’ Video
One of Katy Perry‘s most dramatic music videos is her video for “The One That Got Away.” During an interview, Stevie Nicks said the video made her cry. Notably, Nicks also narrated the trailer for “The One That Got Away.”
What Stevie Nicks said in the trailer for Katy Perry’s ‘The One That Got Away’
The first five singles from Perry’s album Teenage Dream all reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. Subsequently, the video for the sixth single, “The One That Got Away,” was preceded by a trailer. This is an unusual practice for music videos.
Nicks lent her voice to the trailer, which depicts Perry and her lover, played by Diego Luna. “The past is like a handful of dust,” Nicks said. “It filters through your fingers, disappearing little by little. I wish for one day, I could go back. In another life, I would do things differently.” While Nicks narrated the trailer, she does not appear in the video.
Katy Perry’s ‘The One That Got Away’ reminded Stevie Nicks of her relationship with Lindsey Buckingham
The plot of “The One That Got Away” is relatively dramatic for one of Perry’s videos. It depicts Perry as an older woman reminiscing about her youth as an artist. She recalls her relationship with Luna’s character. After Perry’s character and Luna’s character fight, Luna drives away angrily. He gets distracted and accidentally goes off the edge of a cliff.
According to a 2011 NME article, Nicks told Jam she found the music video gut-wrenching. “About a minute in, I just began to cry,” she said. “It reminded me of my own life and losses, and of the last fight that Lindsey Buckingham and I had.”
The director of the video explained her vision
Floria Sigismondi directed the video for “The One That Got Away.” During a 2011 interview with Entertainment Weekly, she discussed the difference between the scenes with the younger Perry and the scenes with the older Perry. “I wanted it to be such a contrast — to really show how this woman had made certain decisions and how she’d come to be,” she said. “In the beginning, her life is sort of sterile and very cold and very pristine.”
Sigismondi wanted Perry’s youth to be filled with passion. She cast Luna as her love interest because she felt he could embody that passion. The director said Luna represented a time in a person’s life when they are figuring themself out.
“Ultimately, they’re going in different directions,” Sigismondi revealed. “The main thing is how ego got in the way. If she had maybe said something, if she had not closed the door on him … It’s those regrets that you look back on and wonder if certain events wouldn’t have happened.”
“The One That Got Away” is one of Perry’s most emotional videos — and it moved Nicks.
