Teenage Dream

Teenage Dream is the third studio album by the American singer Katy Perry. It was released on August 24, 2010, through Capitol Records and follows her multi-platinum second album One of the Boys (2008). Primarily a pop record, Teenage Dream also contains elements of disco, electronic, rock, funk, house, Hi-NRG, and hip hop, that revolve around young love, partying, self-empowerment, and personal growth. Perry co-wrote the album, and worked with a number of producers such as Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, Stargate and Greg Wells.

With "California Gurls" (featuring Snoop Dogg), "Teenage Dream", "Firework", "E.T.", and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", Teenage Dream is the second album in history to have five singles (after Michael Jackson's 1987 album Bad) top the US Billboard Hot 100, and the first by a woman to do so. Its sixth single, "The One That Got Away", peaked at number three on that chart, becoming the third after Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814 and George Michael's Faith to have six top-five songs in the United States. Teenage Dream topped the album charts in Australia, Austria, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Scotland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide and received Diamond certifications in Canada and the United States while being certified multi-platinum in Australia, Denmark, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, and the United Kingdom.

Upon its release, Teenage Dream received mixed reviews from music critics, who complimented its production, themes, and Perry's vocal ability while criticism was largely focused on the lack of focus and image, and vulnerability on the album. However, retrospective reviews have praised the album, ranking it on multiple decade-end best albums lists. Billboard named Teenage Dream "one of the defining LPs from a new golden age in mega-pop" and The A.V. Club called the album "pop perfection". Rolling Stone and Paste ranked among the "The 250 Greatest Albums of the 21st Century So Far" in 2025 at number 134 and 179, respectively. The album and its singles earned Perry seven Grammy Award nominations including Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Album, and Record of the Year. It also won International Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2011.

To promote the album, Perry embarked on the California Dreams Tour from 2011 to 2012, which was also an international success and featured guest appearances from Rebecca Black and opening acts such as Ellie Goulding, Janelle Monáe, Robyn, and Marina and the Diamonds, alongside others. The Teenage Dream era officially concluded with the autobiographical documentary film Katy Perry: Part of Me, which featured numerous guest appearances from popular musicians and footage from the California Dreams Tour.

"We worked in Santa Barbara, we worked in Los Angeles. I was telling everybody I had a lot of jewels, but I didn't have the crown, and then I finally got the crown so all the jewels made sense. And now I have this thing, this crown that I'm ready to present."

Following the success of her breakthrough album One of the Boys (2008), Perry did not want her next record to alienate her fanbase, opting to "definitely keep it pop" and not shift her style, believing it would show "whether I'm meant to do this, or I got lucky". In a 2009 interview with Rolling Stone, she revealed that the album would focus on the "whirlwind" last year of her life, dealing with her newfound fame, friendships, relationships, further stating that "I'm not just gonna talk about the beat and just dancing, I like to get into the meaning". At that point, the singer described the new lyrics as "very honest, if not more honest than the last ones. But they are a little bit more mature... I know how to handle boys now". Perry also wanted the album to have more tempo than One of the Boys to make her live shows more dynamic. She explained: "I really love going to shows where I'm sandwiched between people, and you don't know if the sweat on you is yours or the person's next to you. I love that feeling, and when I was on tour I would see that I was missing that a bit".

Recording sessions for Teenage Dream began in autumn 2009 and took place at a multitude of recording studios in the United States. Work on the album involved collaborating with numerous artists and producers including Dr. Luke, Greg Wells, Guy Sigsworth, Max Martin, Ryan Tedder, Rivers Cuomo, Kuk Harrell, Greg Kurstin, Benny Blanco, Darkchild, Cathy Dennis, Esther Dean, and Tricky Stewart, who told Rap-Up in December 2009 that the sound of the album would be pop and rock, like One of the Boys, though calling it a "different gear" for himself. Perry also desired to collaborate with Calvin Harris on the record, "but he got really famous so it didn't happen". According to Luke, Perry gave him a mixtape of songs which inspired her to demonstrate how she wanted the next record to sound. The singer also claimed that working with Martin and Luke was "a wonderful collaborative effort". As for the visual component, the singer likens it to "going from Shirley Temple, Betty Boop to more of a Betty Paige [sic], pop art-sarcastic-fun-Lichtenstein picture: still bright, but the colors are more saturated, and it's more metallic fuchsia or purple than bubblegum pink."

Perry stated about the album "You're getting the sugary sweet but you're also getting the 'Oh my goodness, she had to sit down for a minute and let things off her chest'". The music of Teenage Dream is derived from a wide variety of pop genres, while heavily incorporating different musical styles not heard on her previous releases; disco and electronic are examples. Musically, Teenage Dream is considered to be a departure from One of the Boys (2008), which was pop rock and soft rock driven. The album features a very wide range of rock subgenres, which include disco rock, glam metal, indie rock, pop rock, hard rock, electronic rock, and goth rock.