Katy Perry is known to be the sugar popstar. She’s a 2010’s sex symbol with a childlike personality and became famous for her witty lyrics and colourful world, which most of her music videos represent. In high school, I was a huge Perry fan. I even attended the California Dreams Tour in Montreal with my best friend. I’ll never forget the moment Katy was singing “Thinking of You”. She was floating over the crowd and I saw her looking over my bff and I. We were both holding our flashy signs and screaming our lungs out. We could tell she noticed us because we were the only crazy loud voices with signs in our section. It was a special 2-min victory for 16 year-old me. Anyway, here are what I believe to be the best music videos by the California Queen.

“Thinking Of You“

It’s the classiest, most moving video of the One of the Boys era. It isn’t annoying like “I Kissed a Girl”, neither over-the-top ridiculous like “Ur So Gay” or “Hot N Cold”. It’s perfectly simple. It is obviously Katy’s most vulnerable hit from her first album and the clip portrays this exactly: a (soft) side of Katy that the other music videos didn’t show.

“Waking Up In Vegas”

The most underrated hit of One of the Boys, but one of the best. The clip fits perfectly with the pop-rock sound of the song. In fact, it’s Madonna-meets-old-Avril-Lavigne (remember “Complicated”?). It’s pure fun, yet a satire of the Las Vegas life.

“Last Friday Night”

The clip has over a billion views. It has everything you want: artists and actors (Rebecca Black, Kenny G…), the kind of high school party you wish you were invited to, Katy Perry being relatable as hell (for all of us who felt- in the past- like the character she played), and costumes! It’s an 8-minute colourful video. Again, pure fun!

“Wide Awake”

After her divorce in 2012, Katy Perry re-released Teenage Dream. It had a couple of new hits, one them being “Wide Awake”, a powerful ballad about growing and learning hard lessons. The music video is inspiring: the first part represents the dark time, the suffering, the obstacles, the challenges… The second showcases the victory: growing from the past and reconnecting with our inner child. It’s beautiful and personally, the most relatable to me.

“Roar”

Post-break-up pop song with a clip that has 3.5 billion views. What more is there to say? Check out the video and you’ll know why it went viral.