The Throwback Three at Three: Is 2014 really a throwback?

He discussed how he got to collaborate with Perry. "Dr. Luke gave me a call and was like, 'Hey man, Katy Perry wants you to feature on one of her songs for her album' and I was like, 'Wow.' I couldn't believe it," he said. "He sent me the track... I did the verse and like a week later he called me again and he was like, 'She wants to meet you she wants you to come to the studio.' It was a little different. I did a lot of different versions to it. I recorded almost three verses because I wanted to make sure everything fit with the song and that she was satisfied... It was a little challenging to make, but I've been doing this for a long time and I had fun doing it so it wasn't a problem." Juicy J stated. This single striked the top of the Hot 100 after Perry performed it on the Grammy Awards. Perry said, "This number one is the most unexpected one I've ever had."

Legend explained to Fuse: "The song is saying things that balance each other out: even when I lose, I'm winning; my head's under water, but I'm breathing fine; I give you all of me, you give me all of you. At the same time as you're giving everything up, you're gaining everything, and that's what the whole song is about. If you're in love and you connect, then even when you're giving things up, you're gaining so much from it."

Most hit songs around this time were written by teams of writers, but this one was entirely composed by Pharrell Williams. He wrote and recorded this single for the animated film Despicable Me 2. Pharrell wanted this single to be uplifting and he definitely succeeded. This includes the attentive execution of backup vocals, conga, bass, claps, an electric piano and full drum elements to raise this tune to its "happiest" state.