When Perry first burst onto the scene with "I Kissed a Girl" in 2008 she had been dating Gym Class Heroes singer Tris McCoy for over a year after appearing in the band's "Cupid's Chokehold" video, but they split up that December. McCoy, who had spent time in rehab that year for prescription drug addiction, announced the news on his blog on New Year's Eve with lyrics borrowed from Main Source's "Kickin at the Front Door"—all about a volatile relationship that's great when the couple isn't arguing, which is never. (So, "Hot n Cold"...)
"When you break up with someone, you move on," Perry reportedly told an audience at the Hotel Cafe during an intimate performance a couple weeks later. "You don't really want to move on…but you he to because they don't give you any choice. But I'm over it!"
When "Circle the Drain" leaked before Teenage Dream came out in 2010, everyone assumed it was about McCoy, about which he told MTV News: "I heard she put out a song that's about me, or about some old habits or whatever...I look at it like this: I'm just stoked that she finally has a song with some substance on her record. Good job."
But apparently time heals some wounds, because McCoy reportedly told London's Mirror in 2012 after Perry's divorce that she was "there for me through my hard times when things were really bad. Life goes on. I he regrets about the way we ended. But there are no grudges any more between us. I'll always be there for her, she knows that."