All it took was a wave of TikTok virality to bring back a side of Katy Perry many had forgotten: raw, emotional, and far from the glossy pop sheen of her later hits. “Thinking of You,” a soulful ballad from her 2008 One of the Boys era, is finding new life online—even though it’s absent from the setlist of her current Lifetimes Tour.
Originally peaking at No. 29 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song has become a surprise darling of TikTok. Some users parody Perry’s dramatic delivery; others use it as a wistful soundtrack to stories of longing, heartbreak, and memories that don’t quite fade. The momentum is real: U.S. streams for the track nearly doubled in a single week, jumping from 279,000 to 539,000 by May 1.
But beyond the numbers lies something deeper: a collective craving for songs that speak plainly and powerfully about loss, desire, and melancholy. “Thinking of You” captures Perry before the candy-colored world of Teenage Dream—when her voice carried the ache of another era, closer in spirit to Alanis Morissette than pop spectacle.
This unexpected revival reminds us of a timeless truth: a great ballad never really disappears. It just waits patiently, ready to resonate with a new generation that still knows how to feel.
