This sweet pop ballad about lost love finds Katy and her guy get matching tattoos on her 18th birthday. Later she hears that he's got his tattoo removed, so she knows the relationship is over. The singer penned the song with Dr. Luke and Max Martin with the latter two also producing the track.
The song finds Perry calling out her love for Radiohead ("We make out in your Mustang to Radiohead") and Johnny Cash ("I was June and you were my Johnny Cash").
The song was chosen to be the sixth single from Teenage Dream. "I'm so pleased to select 'The One That Got Away' as my sixth single because this song shows a very different side of me that I haven't shown with my past singles on this record," said Perry. "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. It's a bittersweet story. Hopefully, the listener learns from hearing it and never has to say they had 'The One' get away."
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