Songfacts®:

• This breakup anthem was released as the first single from Katy Perry's Teenage Dream: The Complete Confection album. It was one of three new songs from the special edition collection, which also includes four re-workings of her "Dream" hits. The song was released worldwide on February 13, 2012.
• The song was debuted at the 2012 Grammys when after starting off with a minute-long rendition "E.T.," there appeared to be a complete technical meltdown as every light on stage went dark, and the backup musical track came to a halt. Once the lights and music were restored a blue-haired Perry launched into this track.
• This pop-rock empowerment song finds Perry declaring herself unbreakable after a breakup. It originally leaked online in late 2010 with lyrics addressed to the singer's ex-boyfriend, Gym Class Heroes frontman Travis McCoy. (Perry previously documented her rocky relationship with McCoy on the Teenage Dream track "Circle The Drain.") It was reported that after splitting from her husband Russell Brand, the singer tweaked the words to make the song more pointed at the British comedian. However, despite such lyrics as, "You can keep the diamond ring, it don't mean nothing anyway," Perry told MTV News the entire song was penned during the writing and recording of Teenage Dream, several months before she married the British comedian. She said that while it wasn't directed at Brand, she could later connect with its message.
• Perry penned the song with her friend Bonnie McKee, who also collaborated with the singer on her hit singles "California Gurls," "Teenage Dream" and "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)." McKee said to MTV News of their songwriting collaborations: "We are a great team when we write together because we don't let each other settle; every single line is a philosophical debate."
• Perry is donating profits from download sales of the song to the MusiCares organization, which provides a place for musicians to turn, in times of financial, personal, or medical crisis.
• The song debuted at #1 on the Hot 100, selling 411,000 in its first week. It earned Perry her seventh career chart-topper and was only the 20th single ever to debut at atop the Hot 100. It also marked the first #1 bow for Perry's label, Capitol Records.
• The Ben Mor-directed music video was shot over several days in February at the Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base in Oceanside, California. We see Perry splitting with her beau after seeing him cheating with another girl. She then takes extreme measures to get over the break up by enlisting with the Marines and becoming an empowered G.I. Jane. "It's an affirmation of strength, so I wanted to go the strongest route I ever could," she explained to MTV News. "Literally, I was like, 'I'm gonna join the service. I'm gonna join the Marines.' We used only Marines. ... For three days, I was a wannabe Marine, which was so difficult."
  
  Perry knew that authenticity would be important and she trained hard for the clip. "Those people work hard and work out. I learned how to flip someone. I learned how to flip them on their back. I learned how to wrestle underwater," she said.