"The One That Got Away" by Katy Perry // Song Review

- April 27, 2026

At the heart of it, "The One That Got Away" is about yearning for a first love, and maybe even more than that, the yearning for a version of themselves that no longer exists and is forever suspended in a different moment in time. Originally titled "In Another Life", Katy Perry describes the wild days of their youth with memories recalled in vivid detail.

"Summer after high school, when we first met, we'd make out in your Mustang to Radiohead and on my eighteenth birthday, we got matching tattoos," she sings in the opening verse. "Used to steal your parents' liquor and climb to the roof, talked about our future like we had a clue, never planned that one day, I'd be losing you".

Is it possible for one of the biggest albums in pop history to still have an underrated song? In many ways, that's exactly what "The One That Got Away" is for Teenage Dream. It has really sweet lyricism that shows another side of Katy's artistry as a singer‑songwriter, which is something she doesn't tap into nearly enough. This song is a step back from the anthemic pure pop songs that defined the rest of the album. Instead, she takes a more subdued approach rooted in storytelling, connecting back to her roots from her earliest releases just a few years prior.

It served as the sixth single from the album, which was originally released in 2010 but wasn't pushed officially as a single until late 2011. It was also the only single from Teenage Dream that didn't reach number one on the Billboard charts, which is an interesting detail considering the historic run she was on at the time in terms of commercial success and chart dominance. It ultimately peaked at number three, coming at the tail end of the original album cycle and just before the release of the deluxe edition, Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection, in 2012.

"...This song shows a very different side of me that I haven't shown with my past singles on this record," Katy said in a 2011 statement to Billboard when it was officially announced to be the next single from the project. "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." She added. "It's a bittersweet story. Hopefully, the listener learns from hearing it and never has to say they had 'The One' get away."

The details within the lyricism and the inflections in her voice bring this story to life in such an emotional way. "It's time to face the music, I'm no longer your muse," remains one of the most impactful lines of the song for that reason. The clear desire running through the song, the wish to go back and do it all over again if she had the chance to rewind time and make him stay, is so prevalent throughout.

"But in another life, I would be your girl, we'd keep all our promises, be us against the world," Katy sings in the chorus. "In another life, I would make you stay. so I don't have to say you were, the one that got away".

"The One That Got Away" is also one of the songs from Teenage Dream that has aged the best in terms of capturing a truly timeless sound and feeling. It doesn't necessarily feel tied to its very specific era in music history in the way some of the other big singles from this time can, not just on this album but across early‑2010s pop in general. On this song, Katy comes from such a vulnerable place as she fully allows the softer parts of herself carry the story.