Alternative Lyrics: "Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)" 🎉🍹

Hello Teenage Dreamers!

It’s Bonnie McKee back again, diving deep into my songwriting notebooks—aka, the messy, chaotic, slightly coffee-stained pages where some of my biggest songs were born. And today, we’re taking a look at one of the wordiest, most ridiculous songs I’ve ever co-written…

Yep, it’s “Last Friday Night (T.G.I.F.)” by Katy Perry. 🎶

The Party That Started It All 🎊

Before she was Katy Perry™, global pop star, she was just Katy, my broke artist friend. We met way before either of us made it big—at a thrift store. Because that’s what you do in L.A. when you’re young, struggling, and need quick money. We were both selling our clothes at Wasteland on Melrose, trying to make rent, and somehow, in between trading old boots for cash, we became fast friends.

Actually, the same day I met her, I was throwing a party at my house and invited her over. She showed up, and from that moment on, we had many, many, many insane nights together. Our friend group was wild, we threw ragers, and we ran the streets of Hollywood like it was our personal playground.

So, fast forward a few years. Katy had put out One of the Boys, was working on Teenage Dream, and brought me in to help write for the album. Naturally, we started reminiscing about our party days—or, let’s be real, our still-happening party days. 😂

And from that conversation, “Last Friday Night” was born.

The Messy Process of Writing the Most Wordy Song Ever ✍️

I cannot stress this enough: this song has SO. MANY. WORDS.

Like, I still can’t remember all the lyrics when it comes on the radio. I don’t know how anyone else does. And I honestly can’t believe it was a radio hit because it breaks every rule of pop songwriting—instead of being repetitive and easy to remember, it’s just one long, chaotic story.

When Katy and I started writing, we brain-dumped all our wildest party memories onto the page. Some gems from our first brainstorm:

🍾 “Never again” (apparently, the hangover was bad that day)

🍾 “Born to be wild”

🍾 “We took it to the max and now we’re never going back”

🍾 “Hangover breakfast” (a major part of our lifestyle—dragging ourselves to brunch the next morning, piecing together the night before)

A lot of what ended up in the song came straight from real life.

The Lyrics That Almost Made It (But Didn’t) 🚫

When I write, I usually start with a giant list of words and phrases that fit the vibe of the song. Then, I’ll narrow it down to the best ones. Some alternative lyrics we considered:

❌ “Yeah, we took it to the max and we took a photograph.” (Boring.)

❌ “We took it to the streets and got up on our feet.” (What does that even mean?)

❌ “We slept under the stars, we went out and got it on, had a night we won’t forget.” (Vague, but dramatic!)

❌ “You had to carry me home, jump in with all our clothes, snuck into the show, laughed until we cried.”

And one of my favorites that didn’t make the cut? “Destroy the evidence.” 🔥

Honestly, that one should have made it in. 😂

Because this song was so fast-paced and super rhythmic, we had to make sure every line was either a perfect visual picture or a super conversational phrase that was easy to sing. There wasn’t a lot of repeating, so the lyrics had to do all the heavy lifting.

Some of the early versions of the lyrics were a little meh, like:

❌ “We maxed our credit cards, think we took it kinda far.” (Too chill, not chaotic enough!)

So instead, we leaned into the most insane, ridiculous, over-the-top party visuals possible.

That’s how we ended up with:

✔️ “Yeah, we maxed our credit cards and got kicked out of the bar.”

✔️ “We went streaking in the park, skinny dipping in the dark!”

✔️ “Think we kissed but I forgot!”

And suddenly, we had our story.

Why I Still Write Everything by Hand 📝

Okay, random sidebar—but I write all my lyrics by hand. I know, I know, it’s old school, but there’s something about the physical act of writing that makes the creativity flow better. Plus, when I type, I have a habit of deleting things too quickly—but when I write, I can see all my ideas at once. There is no destroying the evidence, so I have all my stupid ideas to go back and reference, cuz hey! Sometimes the dumbest ideas can inspire the right ones.

For Last Friday Night, I had so many notebooks going at once that it’s a miracle I even found these old pages again. (Pro tip: don’t be like me—stay organized. 😂)

Looking back, this song is literally just a scrapbook of our party days. It’s messy, chaotic, and kind of ridiculous—but that’s what makes it fun.

My song “Forever 21” is kind of a sister song to T.G.I.F., which I wrote around the same time:

And honestly? I love that it became an anthem for people living their best, most unhinged lives. 💃🏽

So, cheers to blacked-out nights, hangover brunches, and party anthems that somehow defy all pop music logic.

XO,
Bonnie 💖

P.S. Should I fight for “Destroy the Evidence” to make a comeback in a future song? Because I feel like it deserves justice. 😂

There’s SO MUCH more to the story of T.G.I.F., so be sure and check back for the next installment!

Check out the scans from my lyric journal for T.G.I.F. below!