This could have been one of Katy's hits for PRISM and she decides to release us this atrocity of a video

Who greenlit it? was it a humiliation ritual?

prismatic!

The music.

Well for starters the song was also bad

Just now, BlahBlahBlah said:

Well for starters the song was also bad

wasn't it one of the fan favorites when the album came out?

Edited June 9Jun 9 by Ghostface91

Terrible then and is still terrible now Not to mention it was the prototype to Sugar AND its music video... somehow. Literal war flashbacks

It's not a good song, plain & simple. There was no shortage of good songs on Prism which makes the choice even worse.

it's in the title

It was supposed to be TGIF of Prism era I believe, but people werent into it during their birthdays or then it was released.

You answered your own question.

Maroon 5 took that idea and made it work.. katy destroyed it (I'm talking about the music video concept)

Edited June 9Jun 9 by Sweetestsecret

1 minute ago, Sweetestsecret said:

Maroon 5 took that idea and made it work.. katy destroyed it

It drives me up a wall how similar the songs are.

I dont know if my memory is failing or im inventing stuff but i remember an interview of that time
She talked of how............ if things go wrong with birthday her career will be ruined
she threw negative words to the universe and kaboom
Someone here remember that interview?

Edited June 9Jun 9 by AvadaKedavra

I thought we left this tired discussion somewhere in 2015

18 minutes ago, Graffiti said:

It's not a good song, plain & simple. There was no shortage of good songs on Prism which makes the choice even worse.

Since when does Birthday have shooters?

The song was released at the peak of "Dark Horse" popularity, plus Katy got very into the humorous style after the aforementioned single and decided to make it even more exaggerated.

its the childrens birthday party music video for a very sexual song

bad song (awful bridge and she was starting to be too cringe to be sexy) and bad video plus she didn't have the vocals to sing that song.

Just now, Vixen Eyes said:

its the childrens birthday party music video for a very sexual song

The signs were already there

I actually liked the song when it was released (and still do), but the music video really did kill whatever momentum it could have had. It's one of her all-time worst.

I really like this song but honestly I never understand why it was released as a single like...

Walking On Air was right there.

It did pretty okay. Especially considering she already had Roar (15x Platinum), 6B global streams and Dark Horse (eligible for 2x Diamond), 7B global streams, under her belt

5 minutes ago, ugo said:

The signs were already there

i thought the song itself was great and with a good (accurate) music video with an actual plot, it would have worked in Katy's favor. idk why they chose to do a children's bday party for it lol

33 minutes ago, Graffiti said:

It's not a good song, plain & simple. There was no shortage of good songs on Prism which makes the choice even worse.

lowkey, when i was 13, i would ignore everything after International Smile up until the deluxe tracks came on.

the song is fun, it wouldve smashed in 2013 if not for that horrid video.