Commercially, it debuted at number nine on the US Billboard 200, selling over 47,000 copies in its first week of sales, and also peaked within the top-ten charts in Austria, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Mexico, Norway, and Switzerland.

One of the Boys earned Perry two Grammy Award nominations, and has sold 7 million copies worldwide, being her third highest-selling album to date.

Perry's change in record label, and adoption of a pseudonymous surname accompanied a shift from the Christian rock of her debut album Katy Hudson.

Some of the material on Fingerprints that did not make it on One of the Boys were given to other artists, such as "I Do Not Hook Up" and "Long Shot" to Kelly Clarkson, "Breakout" and "The Driveway" to Miley Cyrus and "Rock God" and "That's More Like It" to Selena Gomez & the Scene.

[4] Perry collaborated with producers Greg Wells, Dr. Luke, Dave Stewart, and Max Martin among others on the album.

Perry then collaborated again with Greg Wells, who she had also worked with on the Columbia album, creating the songs "Ur So Gay" and "Mannequin".

[9] All songs on the album were written by Perry, assisted by musicians Greg Wells, Max Martin, Dr. Luke, Cathy Dennis, Desmond Child, Andreas Carlsson, Sam Hollander, Dave Katz, S*A*M and Sluggo, Ted Bruner, Scott Cutler, Anne Preven, Dave Stewart, and Glen Ballard.

[14] The opening track is the title track "One of the Boys", where Perry express that she does not want to "be one of the boys of her love interest", describing the song, Charles A. Hohman from PopMatters noted that "she used to belch the alphabet and tape down her tits, but one summer, the tomboy lifestyle just didn't hold her interest, so she started 'studying Lolita religiously' and noticing guys noticing her.

[23] "Ur So Gay" was composed as a tool of revenge by the singer on her ex-boyfriend,[24] where Perry satirizes his exaggerated emo style and metrosexual attitude.

[25] In the seventh track "Hot n Cold", Perry discusses the theme of uncertainty and the ups and downs of relationships.

[29] "Lost" and "I'm Still Breathing" are both ballads, in the latter, she sings: "I leave the gas on/Walk the alleys in the dark", the verse use a metaphor for a dying relationship.

[40] The song was criticized by the local headquarters of the evangelical Havens Corners Church, which has set the following sentence in its garden in September 2008: "I kissed a girl and liked it.

The album's lead single, "I Kissed a Girl" was released in late April and subsequently soared up the charts.

The music video was shot by Joseph Kahn during March 2009 in Las Vegas and officially premiered on the iTunes Store in the US, and Australia on April 28, 2009.

"[60] Blender argued, "Perry's creative-writing-class punch lines don't always justify her self-congratulatory drag-queen tone.

But she hiccups quirkily enough, and myriad big-name producers (from Dr. Luke to Glen Ballard) keep the new-wave synth hooks hopping.

"[61] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic initially gave the album two out of five stars, remarking it "sinks to crass, craven depths that turn One of the Boys into a grotesque emblem of all the wretched excesses of this decade";[50] however, the rating was eventually upgraded to 3 and a 1/2 out of 5.

Uncut wrote, "Gwen Stefani should be nervous", while Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine criticized Perry's vocal performances, and compared the title track to "No Doubt's 'Just a Girl' sans personality and conviction".

[59][62] Alex Miller of NME discouraged music consumers with "even a passing interest in actually enjoying a record" from buying it.

[63] Robert Christgau gave the album a two-star honorable mention in his Consumer Guide review, citing "I Kissed a Girl" and "One of the Boys" as highlights while writing, "She stopped taping her 'suckers' down, and kissing her girlfriend was just an experiment, but trumpeting her vulnerability she's as loud and laddish as a hockey fan".

[67] The album has sold 1,730,000 pure copies in the United States as of August 2020 and has been certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

[72] In Australia, it debuted at number eleven, and has been certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), denoting over 70,000 copies sold.