Ur So Gay was written by Katy Perry and Greg Wells. The song was meant to be a "soft hello". It describes her relationship with a former boyfriend who "should have been gay". Madonna gave the song much publicity when, in an interview both on the KRQ 93.7 JohnJay & Rich morning show and on Ryan Seacrest's morning show, that Ur So Gay was her "favorite song right now". Katy had a reaction, she said "I'm still floored by that. It's like, you're Madonna - you don't have time to be listening to my songs!"
eSingle
The eSingle was released on iTunes on November 20, 2007 as an EP. The EP featured a club remix of single by DJ/producer Junior Sanche and an Outfield cover of the song "Use Your Love." The track "Lost" from the album, One of the Boys also appeared on the extended play. Ur So Gay was played on several radio stations like the LA station, KROQ as the "Catch of the Day", according to Katy Perry.
Though the song is a eSingle, it was released as a promo CD single in the United States and as a 7 Vinyl, with "Use Your Love" as a B-side.
Background
Katy Perry told prefixmag.com that Ur So Gay "wasn't meant to be a big single or show what the album [ One of the Boys ] is going to be all about. That was for my Internet bloggers, so I'm not coming out of nowhere. UR So Gay was meant to be an introduction and a background. The album will have a lot of the same characteristics, though."
She also stated in an online interview with thenewgay.net that "This song is about my past relationships, and how in this world of 2008 girls are thrown into a lion’s den of ‘who’s on this team and who’s on that team?” I was dating this boy who was very metrosexual. I always end up with these guys who are very sensitive and good looking and clean-cut and smell good. But this one in particular, I thought “In another life, you are a gay man.” I’ll just leave it at that."
Controversy
The song received a lot of negative reactions, especially from homosexual listeners. Many reviewers called the song "disgusting", "insulting", and "homophobic". Katy responded to all of this, defending that
"It’s not a negative connotation. It’s not “you’re so gay,” like “Your so lame,” but the fact of the matter is that this boy should’ve been gay. I totally understand how it could be misconstrued or whatever. The video we did a while ago on a budget of little to nothing, it paints that same picture. Everyone played with that Ken Doll and they were changing his outfits." - Katy Perry
She also went on to say that the song is not a generalization about gay people, just about her specific situation and that it shouldn't be taken that way.
Versions
Studio Version
There was, originally, a demo of the song that had an alternate intro and bridge. There were background vocals placed during the bridge saying "why don't you just go and do something with your life". In the final album version, the intro was fixed and the background voice during the bridge were removed. Unlike the demo (and explict) version of the song, the album version censored the word "jacked" with a record spin, that was heard in the intro of the demo edition. The album version kept the word "penis" in the end, as for the clean EP version edited the line out, along with "jacked" in a different way than the album version did.
- Demo Version
- Album Version
Live Version
Katy performed this song in the Warped Tour and the Hello Katy Tour. A few times, in the live performances of the song, Katy has changed some words. For example "Myspace" would be changed to "Facebook" and Katy even added "John Mayor" to the line "I can't believe I fell in love with someone who wears more make up than...".