"Firework" is a song by American singer
Katy Perry from her third studio album, Teenage Dream (2010). Perry co-wrote the song with
Ester Dean and the song's producers
Stargate and
Sandy Vee. It is a
dance-popself-empowermentanthem with inspirational lyrics, and Perry felt it was an important song for her on the record.
Capitol Records released it as the album's third single on October 26, 2010.
The song was commercially successful, reaching number one on the
Billboard Hot 100 and the top five on 20 charts around the world. "Firework" has sold over 1 million copies in the United Kingdom and was certified
12× platinum by the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of over 12 million copies in the
United States. "'Firework" received mixed to positive reviews from critics upon release, lauding Perry's vocals but finding the lyrics "clunky".
An accompanying music video, directed by
Dave Meyers, was released on October 28, 2010. It portrays Perry singing and dancing around
Budapest, with interspersed scenes of young people becoming confident in themselves. An open
casting call for the music video drew an unprecedented 38,000 applicants. On
MuchMusic's top 50 videos of 2010, "Firework" reached the top position. The music video was said to be a more upbeat take on
Christina Aguilera's message in "
Beautiful". It was nominated for three awards at the
2011 MTV Video Music Awards, eventually winning one of those, the
Video of the Year, the main and final award. "Firework" was nominated for
Record of the Year and
Best Pop Solo Performance at the
54th Grammy Awards. On January 5, 2012, "Firework" was ranked the fifth-most-played single on US radio during 2011 by
Nielsen Broadcast Data Systems, with 509,000 plays.[1]
Production and composition
"Firework" was written by Perry,
Stargate, Sandy Wilhelm, and
Ester Dean while
produced by Stargate and Sandy Vee at Soapbox Studios in
Atlanta,
Georgia. It was recorded at Roc the Mic Studios. It was
mixed at The Bunker Studios by Vee.
Audio engineering was done by Carlos Oyanedel and Damien Lewis. All instruments were done by Stargate and Vee.
Lead and
background vocals were provided by Perry.[2] Perry said that "Firework" is her favorite song on Teenage Dream.[3] She explained that:
"Now, people are coming back and almost adopting it as their own anthem, and it's hard, I think, to write an anthem that's not
cheesy, and I hope that this could be something in that category. I hope this could be one of those things where it's like, 'Yeah, I want to put my fist up and feel proud and feel strong. But I also don't want to be cheesy, it's a fine line, and I think 'Firework' ... would be like the opus or my one song — if I had to pick a song to play — 'cause it has a great beat. But it also has a fantastic message. Many people refer to the lines 'like the 4th of July'; however the original lyrics were 'like a firefly' as they reminded me of fireworks at night whenever I saw them. However the trend caught on and in live performances I now sing 4th of July, which happens to make great sense for the song name."[3]
According to Perry, "Firework" is influenced by
Jack Kerouac's novel, On the Road. The line "Cause baby, you're a firework / Come on, show 'em what you're worth / Make 'em go, awe, awe, awe" is based on Kerouac's line "burn, burn, burn, like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes 'Awww!'"[4][5][6]
MTV praised Perry's vocals, though felt the lyrics were "clunky".[9]Slant Magazine stated that the song is "not an actively painful listen. Sure, the would-be inspirational lyrics ('Baby you're a firework/Come on show them what you're worth') are nonsensical, ... but the chorus gains some momentum and the song would work well enough in a club setting that you could forgive its otherwise glaring weaknesses."[10]Stephen Thomas Erlewine of
AllMusic chose "Firework" among the top tracks on the album,[11] Nick Levine of
Digital Spy gave the song five out of five stars, calling it "a straight up self-empowerment anthem wrapped in a
Coldplay-on-poppers club banger from the
Stargate team. "[12]PopMatters wrote that "Firework" is "the record's last hurrah; though nothing particularly memorable.....'Firework' has at least a bit of staying power".[13]The Washington Post described the song as "too mushy".[14] Al Fox of
BBC Music said that the song "displays a breezy maturity and serious set of pipes, a true demonstration of Perry's musicianship without contradicting the kittenish mischief of the bigger picture."[15] The song was nominated for
Grammy Award for
Record of the Year at the
54th Grammy Awards but lost to
Adele's "
Rolling in the Deep".[citation needed]
In Canada, "Firework" debuted at number 51 on the
Canadian Hot 100 issue dated November 6, 2010[25] and reached number one on December 18, 2010.[26] On October 31, 2010, "Firework" debuted at number 37 in Australia on the official
ARIA Singles Chart[27] and moved to number 15 the next week.[28] It peaked at number three and was certified six-times platinum by the
Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for sales over 350,000 copies.[29][30] The song debuted at number 34 in New Zealand on October 4, 2010[31] and reached number one.[32]
The song entered at number five on the
UK Singles Chart and peaked at number three.[33] "Firework" became Perry's first song to sell over one million copies in the United Kingdom,[34] and has sold a total of 1,091,743 copies in the nation as of February 2017.[35] It has also been certified
triple platinum by the
British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[36] Across Europe, the song reached the top five in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Italy, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland, while reaching the top ten in France and the
Netherlands.[37]
Music video
Development and release
The video is part of a cross-promotional deal with European telecommunications group
Deutsche Telekom. Deutsche Telekom hosted a series of activities and competitions from which fans around Europe would be recruited to be in the video.[38]MTV reported that Perry started filming the video on September 28, 2010.[3] The video was directed by
Dave Meyers, choreographed by
Natricia Bernard, and shot in
Budapest.[39] The official teaser trailer of the music video was released on October 15, 2010.[40] An open
casting call for the music video drew an unprecedented 38,000 applicants.[41] Perry dedicated it to the
It Gets Better Project.[42] The video was released on TwitVid, DirectLyrics, and Youku on October 28, 2010. It premiered on October 28, 2010, on
YouTube, and as of January 2024, has amassed more than 1.4 billion views.[43] It was presented in the anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1
aspect ratio.
Synopsis
Perry opens the video gazing down upon the city from a balcony. As she sings into the night,
fireworks burst from her soul[44] and soon inspire young people throughout the city to overcome their fears and insecurities, in the process igniting their own fireworks. A boy confronts his parents, who are in a heated argument and upsetting his little sister, and pushes them apart. A shy overweight girl, playing the role of
wallflower at a pool party, finds the courage to shed her clothes and jump in the pool with her friends. A
leukemia patient at a children's hospital proves to herself that she can show herself out on the street and in public despite her loss of hair. A
closeted teenage boy approaches his male friend in a club and kisses him. A struggling young performer walking home in a dark alley uses tricks from his magic act to win over a group of street toughs who were trying to rob him. Soon the youth of the city are converging upon the courtyard of
Buda Castle, dancing and lighting up the night with their fireworks, as the camera pans up to the sky for their popping sounds, ending the video.
Perry was the headliner of
Super Bowl XLIX halftime show, which took place on February 1, 2015, and "Firework" was the last song of the performance.[55]
On May 27, 2017, Perry performed the song at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend in Hull.[56]
"Firework" was played in the episode "Old White Men" of The Dropout on the radio in a car, when
Alan Ruck sings along to it as a fictionalized version of
Walgreens executive
Jay Rosan[70][71]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^"Katy Perry – #VEVOCertified, Pt. 9: Firework (Katy Commentary)". KatyPerryVEVO on YouTube. June 28, 2012. 1:01.
Archived from the original on December 21, 2021. Retrieved August 19, 2012. I had actual fireworks, um, on me, coming from right here: my gut. People like to think that they were coming from my upper region, but those people are perverts. Um, it was coming from my soul, my gut, from the part of me that feels.
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – RADIO – TOP 100 and insert 201108 into search. Retrieved July 5, 2021.
^"
ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Digital Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Note: Change the chart to CZ – SINGLES DIGITAL – TOP 100 and insert 201424 into search. Retrieved July 3, 2014.