Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)

Background and artwork

Perry has revealed that she was inspired to write the track after running naked through a park with her friends. According to Music Rooms, Perry claims that after a wild night of partying and streaking, she wrote the song about her antics and what she remembered the next day. Perry revealed: "There's nothing better than an impromptu dance party with my friends. My track 'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)' is a song about debauchery because I had one of those nights in Santa Barbara. We went out to this place called Wildcat and got crazy," Perry admitted: "We had a couple of beers and danced until we died, then brought the party back to the hotel room." She added: "Most of that song is actual truth, apart from the ménage à trois..... unfortunately! But, yes, streaking in the park, that's what we did, so we had to write a song about it the next day!" One of the friends in this trip was co-writer Bonnie McKee, who said the song encapsulated "Katy and my wild drinking days" from their younger days. McKee stated "TGIF is pretty much a word for word description of our trip to Santa Barbara, so I love that one. It's really catchy and fun and makes me nostalgic." The official artwork for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" using scenes from the music video, shows Perry both before and after a makeover. She revealed the cover artwork for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) Remixes!" on her Facebook page. The photo features Perry in nerdy gear, including mouth guard and glasses, and was taken when she hosted the Teen Choice Awards in summer 2010. The image is surrounded by 1980s-style neon colors and swirly graphics. A remixed version of "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", featuring Missy Elliott, was released on August 8, 2011 to radio and digital downloads. It was released as the album's fifth single on June 6, 2011 through Capitol Records.

Composition

"Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" is a dance-pop song, which runs for three minutes and 50 seconds. It is set in common time and has a moderate tempo of 126 beats per minute. It is written in the key of D♯ minor, and Perry's vocals span one octave, from C♯₄ to F♯₅. It follows the chord progression B–G♯m7–D♯m7–C♯.

Critical reception

Allmusic picked it among the top tracks on the album, and said that Perry "salutes fellow attention-whore Kesha on 'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)'". Rolling Stone said that "Perry likes her songs chatty; in the kegger romp "Last Friday Night," she chirps, "Think I need a ginger ale/That was such an epic fail". Slant Magazine said that "'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)' is a lifeless roller-rink jam with a 'T! G! I! F!' shout-along that will no doubt provide the soundtrack to any number of trashy sorority parties this semester". Spin Magazine said that "Last Friday Night recounts an evening of nonstop naughtiness – think streaking, skinny-dipping, and ménage à trois-ing.”

Jason Richards from Now wrote, "The singer recently said that the catchy 'Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)' is her version of 'I Gotta Feeling'. With lyrics about photos ending up online after a debauched evening, it's also reminiscent of Lady Gaga singing about drunkenly losing her keys and phone on 'Just Dance.' Derivative, sure, but the song strikes a perfect equilibrium between Perry's sex appeal and goofy, self-effacing charm". Marc Hawthorne from The A.V. Club said that "assuming that everything here is based on real life also means we have to accept that she's had a ménage à trois on the indie-rock-meets-American Idol cut Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)".

Chris Richards from The Washington Post said that "Over strummy guitars and zigzagging keyboards, Perry recounts an evening of debauchery with no repercussions, her innocent transgressions (streaking, skinny-dipping) mentioned in the same breath as more serious trouble (mysterious bruises, a blackout), but..... [when] it's time for Perry to reflect on her 3 am follies, she stiffly sings, "That was such an epic fail." It sounds like a clueless parent's attempt to speak teenager." Billboard included the song in their Five Potential Pop Hits for 2011 list. Tom Hawthorne from Future Music Charts said that it sounds like a pop song as it should be without any auto-tune voice changes and hard DJ beats, which is the song's strength and weakness at the same time".

In the form of an open letter to Perry, comedian Rob Delaney takes her to task for glamorizing binge drinking, unsafe sex, and possibly date rape in the song. He comments on it lyric-by-lyric, sometimes humorously (in response to the line "Yeah we maxed our credit cards", Delaney writes "Suze Orman would be so angry if I told her this.") but more often seriously. To the line "Don't know what to tell my boss", he says:

Why do you have to tell your boss anything? Were your exploits reported in the paper? Is your boss also your landlord? Wait—aren't you international pop superstar, Katy Perry? I would have thought you were your own boss. Uh oh, I think we're arriving at why this song is not just awful, but is in fact dangerous. You are playing a character in this song! A character based on the young female demographic you target your music at: young women who do have jobs and bosses and mothers and fathers and necks and vaginas which sure as hell will be damaged and violated if they subscribe to the ideas you foist on them with your songs and the confusing "goofy slut" persona you've created.

Chart performance

"Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" made Perry the first and only female artist to have five #1 singles from one album in Billboard Hot 100, tying Michael Jackson's Bad, with his last #1 single being "Dirty Diana", on July 2, 1988. Perry's song debuted at number 67 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also charted at number 49 on the Canadian Hot 100 chart that same week. Following its single release, the song re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 on June 18, 2011 at number 63 and at number 31 on the Billboard Pop Songs. The following week, the song jumped 63-31 with the Hot 100's "Greatest Gainer" award. In its fourth week on the chart, "Friday" leaped to number four, spurred by a number one ranking on Hot Digital Songs. This made Teenage Dream the first album to have five songs hit number one on the chart. The song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, on July 30. The following week, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)", reached a new position of number two, where it remained for three additional weeks, behind "Party Rock Anthem" by LMFAO feat. Lauren Bennett and GoonRock.

The song finally reached the number-one position on the Billboard Hot 100 on August 17, 2011, and spent two straight weeks there. The song became Perry's sixth number-one single on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and her fifth consecutive number-one single. Perry became the first woman in the 53-year history of Billboard to take five singles from the same album to number one on the Billboard Hot 100, equaling the record established by Michael Jackson 23 years earlier. The song has also peaked at number-one on the Canadian Hot 100, and has become her fourth number-one single from the album. As of January 2015, the single had sold 3.7 million copies in the US. According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F)" was the tenth most played single on US radio during 2011 with 450,000 plays. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" peaked at number two on the Irish Singles Chart. On the New Zealand Singles Chart it peaked at number four, marking Perry's first top spot miss, though it still managed to receive platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand, making it her fifth platinum selling single from her album. The song debuted at number 40 in Australia, and later peaked at number five in the country and going platinum. In the UK, the song peaked at No. 9 in the UK Singles Chart. September 17, 2011 marked Perry' 69th consecutive week in the Top 10 with the single.

Background and release

In an interview with MTV, director Marc Klasfeld said that the video's storyline was inspired by Sixteen Candles and other works of John Hughes, as well as "all those great '80s high school movies." Including a long series of outtakes during the ending credits was influenced by a similar idea in The Cannonball Run. The costume for Perry's character, Kathy Beth Terry, was inspired by the character Betty Suarez, played by America Ferrera on the series Ugly Betty. The music video for "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" was filmed around May 3–6, 2011 at the home of John Schneider. It was directed by Marc Klasfeld, and co-directed by Danny Lockwood. Perry tweeted, "I told someone about my new music video I just filmed & they responded with 'wow, that's gonna break the internet.'..... Should I knock on wood?"

The teaser of the video was released on Perry's YouTube profile on June 4, 2011. Prior to the video's premiere, Perry created Facebook and Twitter profiles for her alter-ego of a nerdy thirteen-year-old, Kathy Beth Terry, who first appeared in one of Perry's hosting skits during the 2010 Teen Choice Awards. Starting from June 8, a series of short video clips was uploaded on the Facebook profile, YouTube and Perry's official web version premiered later on the same day on Funny or Die. On July 11, after crossing the half-million "likes" mark, Perry released an interview in character as Terry on DigitalSpy. Perry, in character as Kathy Beth Terry made various references to Rebecca Black and other guests on the video on her Twitter and Facebook. She also gave interviews to the Digitalspy, Australian Cosmopolitan, and BOP Tiger Beat.

The video went on to win Favorite Music Video award at the 38th People's Choice Awards.

Synopsis

Kathy Beth Terry (Perry), a nerdy teenager with braces, headgear, and oversized glasses, has just awakened the morning after a house party, surrounded by passed-out partygoers. A male guest, Aaron Christopherson (Glee star Darren Criss) opens the door to her bedroom and congratulates her on having the "best party ever." Puzzled as to what happened, she goes online, only to find pictures of herself in various compromising positions, including one picture of her licking the stomach of the boy in bed next to her. The video then goes into a flashback of the events that occurred the night before. While doing a Sudoku puzzle, Kathy hears loud music from the house next door, and goes over to complain. She is greeted by Rebecca Black (who appears as an homage to Black's viral video "Friday"), who invites her in. A nerdy Everett McDonald (Glee star Kevin McHale) ogles Terry from afar and fantasizes about being with her.

However, Kathy is more interested in Steve Johnson aka "The Jock" (model Richie Nuzzolese), an attractive football player, who turns her down because of her appearance. To cheer her up, Black gives Kathy a makeover, ripping off her headgear with pliers, waxing her upper lip, dressing her in tight-fitting neon clothes, and teasing her hair out. Steve becomes enamored with her, and everyone starts dancing. Kathy and Rebecca are also seen playing Just Dance 2 By Ubisoft (a game that features Perry as DLC and they are playing the song "Hot Stuff"). Musician Kenny G, despite not having played the saxophone on the song's actual recording, plays the saxophone solo on the roof while Hanson act as the house band. The entire party ends up moving to Kathy's house, where she throws up after drinking too much. Everett punches Steve for trying to fondle Kathy's buttocks (visualized by him as a medieval sword fight with Kathy as a damsel in distress).

At the end of the night, Kathy finally passes out next to Steve. The video shifts back to the next morning, where she looks at the photos with regret, but is also ecstatic to have a naked Steve passed out in her bed. The film ends with former teen idols Corey Feldman and Debbie Gibson as Kathy's parents, Kirk and Tiffany Terry, confronting Kathy about the state of the house but forgiving her after recalling their own wild youth, Feldman making several references to The Lost Boys, in which he starred. The video's ending credits feature various deleted lines, bloopers, and extra scenes from the party, as well as Everett bringing Kathy breakfast in bed. After the credits end, it repeats the shot where Kathy gets tape ripped off her upper lip; her scream is heard this time.

Live performances

On September 5, 2010, Perry performed the song live for the first time along with "Teenage Dream", "Firework" and "Not Like The Movies" in the show's launch of the Teenage Dream in Berlin. Though the song has never been performed live as part of a televised performance, the song is featured on the set list of the Teenage Dream Tour and California Dreams Tour. The first televised performance was during her presentation at Rock In Rio, which was broadcast live by the Multishow. During this song, photos of fans are displayed on the screens.

Track listing

1. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) (Album Version)" – 3:52
2. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) (Instrumental)" – 3:48

1. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) (Sidney Samson Dub)" – 6:04
2. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) (Sidney Samson Club Mix)" – 6:19
3. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.) (Sidney Samson Extended Edit)" – 4:12

1. "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" (featuring Missy Elliott) – 3:58

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from Teenage Dream album liner notes.