June 22, 2011 12:00PM ET

The Complete Guide to Katy Perry’s Music Videos

From ‘Ur So Gay’ to ‘Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)’

Rolling Stone's Most Recent Stories

Goofy, sexy and above all else a savvy marketer of herself, Katy Perry has made herself both relatable and completely out there. She's girlier than Gaga and edgier than Beyonce – the kind of suburban superstar who probably still has all her Lisa Frank gear in a box at the back of her very insane closet. In honor of her spot on our cover, we've put together the ultimate in LED, candy-striped, heart-fluttering trips – a Katy Perry videography. Come with us, won't you? It's bright and shiny in there.

By Mallika Rao

"Waking Up in Vegas" reignited Katy's momentum after the slow run of "Thinking of You," pushing her album One of the Boys back into the Billboard 200's top 50. In the video, Katy and her boyfriend (played by Bones' Joel David Moore) run the span of their luck in Vegas, making enough to kick Penn and Teller out of a fancy bedroom and hang with hotelier George J. Maloof Jr., only to lose it all midway through. In an unsurprising twist, they win it all back again. That's how it works when you get to write the scripts.

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Conceived as a response to Jay-Z's "Empire State of Mind," "California Gurls" sat at Number One on the Billboard Hot 100 for six consecutive weeks. The video was a trippy hit, taking inspiration from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Candyland and the work of artist Will Cotton. It also features an elaborate storyline in which Snoop Dogg holds various women captive in a land called Candyfornia as Katy makes her way through, distracting all attention from any plot whatsoever with the unleashing of a pair of whipped cream gun bras.

We named it 2010's catchiest tune, a tough title for any video to live up to – and yet this one's just about perfect. From the convertible to the beach party to the motel to the pool, the colliding scenes are teenagehood at its Platonic best: when the wind makes everyone's hair look good and actions have no consequences. Katy's team shot in her hometown of Santa Barbara and enlisted her childhood friends as extras so as to capture the spirit of her own teenage years. There may be nothing realistic about the results, but that's why it's called a dream.

In the video for "Firework," Katy stands on a balcony in Budapest sparking fireworks from her chest, inspiring the people below to recognize their own inner light. If that sounds too idealistic, never fear. The single also marked the start of a savvy union between Katy and European telecom giant Deutsche Telekom, who auditioned for extras and helped market the song. Someone has no reason to feel like a paper bag.

"E.T." is by far the kookiest video in Katy's bag, a mystical outer space free-for-all in which Kanye drops awkward rhymes about being an astronaut with a big head, and Katy ends up with an albino soul mate. The intro has shades of Wall-E and Gaga's "Born This Way," but the rest of it is totally its own. Did we mention Katy has gazelle legs?

The pop-cultural references come hard and fast in this take on a classic Eighties teen movie, which landed up on YouTube after an aggressive guerilla video campaign. While Katy's impersonation of a nerdy 13-year-old is more off-putting than funny, the casting is rock-solid, with Debbie Gibson and Corey Feldman as the returning parents who've come home to see the wreckage of a Friday night party. No surprise, this flash-in-the-pan receptacle also stars Rebecca Black.

The Complete Guide to Katy Perry’s Music Videos

From ‘Ur So Gay’ to ‘Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)’

Rolling Stone

Rolling Stone's Most Recent Stories

‘Ur So Gay’ (2007)

‘I Kissed a Girl’ (2008)

‘Hot n Cold’ (2008)

‘Thinking of You’ (2009)

‘Waking Up in Vegas’ (2009)

‘California Gurls’ (2010)

‘Teenage Dream’ (2010)

‘Firework’ (2010)

‘E.T.’ ft. Kanye West (2011)

‘Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)’ (2011)

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