California Gurls was released early 2000s.
`` California Gurls '' is a song recorded by American singer Katy Perry for her third studio album , Teenage Dream ( 2010 ) . Originally intended to be sent to mainstream and rhythmic airplay on May 25 , 2010 , the song debuted on May 7 , 2010 , after clips from the Teenage Dream album were leaked online . It was subsequently released to iTunes on May 11 , 2010 as the album 's lead single .