A music video for the song was filmed in various locations around Perry's hometown in Santa Barbara, California and was directed by Yoann Lemoine (a.k.a.

There was a final version that was based around the metaphor of "trying me on" comparing clothes to sex, in a similar manner to Madonna's 1985 single "Dress You Up".

I thought about watching Baz Luhrmann's 'Romeo and Juliet' and putting on a little mini disco ball light and just dreaming of Leo.

McKee tried to approach Luke about her idea, but he was upset about the amount of time he had spent working in the chorus, so he banned them from changing it.

"[6] "Teenage Dream" is a midtempo love song with a strong beat that follows the retro sound of previous single "California Gurls".

[12] These intervals are played on guitar throughout the song, but with the addition of different bass notes from halfway through the first verse, the overall harmony can be heard as E♭maj7 – Gm – Fsus4.

[3] They also talk about taking the relationship further in lines such as: "Let's go all the way tonight / No regrets, just love / We can dance until we die / You and I / We'll be young forever".

Pallett notes other classic pop songs, such as Fleetwood Mac's "Dreams" and Coldplay's "Viva la Vida", that employ the same device.

Perry begins singing each verse on the beat ("you think I'm pretty ...") but then falls off it before the end of the first line ("... makeup on"), syncopating the melody, and creating additional tension.

Craig Marks of Billboard said that along with "California Gurls", the songs "are textbook summer singles whose ingenious pop hooks and zillion-dollar drum tracks are stamped with Perry's knack for a memorable line and frothy, gum-snapping persona.

[19] James Montgomery of MTV commented that "Teenage Dream" showed a "definite change of pace for Perry.

"[3] Amos Barshad of New York said, "Right now, it's feeling a bit too earnest, and not nearly as catchy as the follow-up single from Perry's first album ('Hot n Cold', most definitely still a jam).

"[16] Alyssa Rosenberg of The Atlantic dismissed the lyrics as "simply annoying and incoherent" and added that "the hook and chorus aren't nearly compelling enough to pull me back into it.

Entertainment Weekly praised the song, saying it captures "all the contact-high euphoria of falling in love for the first time [...] minus the awkward bits of being an actual adolescent [...] in one pure, radiant blast of let’s-go-all-the-way-tonight bliss.

[29] Glamour compared the song to Michael Jackson's "Thriller", Madonna's "Like a Prayer", and Britney Spears' "...Baby One More Time" and called it "one of the best pop tunes ever crafted".

[30] New Zealand musician Lorde cited "Teenage Dream" as an influence, stating "When I put that song on, I'm as moved as I am by anything by David Bowie, by Fleetwood Mac, by Neil Young.

According to Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, "Teenage Dream" set the record for most added song in a week with 64 new stations and 14.9 million plays.

[40] The music video for "Teenage Dream" was filmed in Santa Barbara, California, in July 2010, and was directed by Yoann Lemoine.

The clip showed Perry in a montage of locations around Santa Barbara including riding a late 1960s white BMW New Class convertible, kissing her love interest on the bed as well as the pool scene at the Sandman Inn on State Street in Santa Barbara, and dancing on the beach with her friends.

The 4:39 minute-long official remix was posted on Katy Perry's Vevo account on YouTube on October 27, 2010, featuring an inserted party scene.

[46] Perry performed "Teenage Dream" at the MTV World Stage 2010 held in Sunway Surfbeach, Malaysia.

[47] Perry performed her songs "California Gurls", "Hot n Cold" and "Teenage Dream" on Sunrise in Australia.

[54] Perry performed the song with actor Darren Criss for the first time on the Trevor Project Live on December 5, 2010.

The show begins with a video screen introduction which tells the story of a girl named Katy who lives in a colorless world wasting her life cutting meat for a mean old butcher.

One night, Perry escapes her dreadful reality by falling asleep and visiting a vibrant candy land in search of her pet cat, Kitty Purry and also of the love of her life, the Baker's Boy, played by Nick Zano.

Perry then appears on stage and starts performing "Teenage Dream" with her dancers, while wearing a white dress with spinning peppermints.

[57] For Obama's 2012 presidential candidacy, Perry performed several of her hit songs dressed as a ballot, including "Teenage Dream", "Firework", and "Wide Awake".

The Beelzebubs, a male a cappella group from Tufts University, covered "Teenage Dream" and gained prominence when it was used on the American musical television series Glee in the episode "Never Been Kissed".

[169] The cover sold 55,000 copies through the iTunes Store on the first day, breaking the group's first-day sales record previously held by "Empire State of Mind".

[170] Selling 214,000 copies over the week, the song debuted at the eighth position on the Billboard Hot 100, surpassing "Don't Stop Believin'" for the highest first-week sales of any Glee song, and first top ten by Glee Cast on the chart since "Don't Stop Believin'".