Say What Now? Katy Perry Just Revealed We’ve Been Singing ‘Firework’ Wrong All This Time

Published Mar 10, 2022

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4:54pm

Katy Perry is setting the recording straight on how to correctly sing “Firework."

The American Idol judge posted a clip from Sunday’s episode on Instagram, where she explains common misconceptions about the 2010 smash hit. The video starts with fellow Idol judge Luke Bryan started jumping and singing one of the lyrics from the song. Perry decides to cut him off, saying, “It's not ‘up, up, up’ and it's not ‘ah, ah, ah.’”

The California Gurls singer says the real lyrics are, “Awe, awe, awe.” Then, she looks straight into the camera and tells viewers another very important message: “It’s not ‘Fireworks,’ It’s ‘Firework.’”

In the next slide, Perry explains that her hit song was inspired by a famous line written in Jack Kerouac’s 1951 book, On the Road.

The excerpt reads, “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but 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!’”

“Firework” was featured on Perry’s third studio album, Teenage Dream. The song became a commercial success following its release. At the time, the empowerment anthem reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and climbed to the top five on 20 charts around the world.

We’ll be singing the song correctly in our next karaoke sesh.

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Karelle Mckay

Assistant Editor, News And Entertainment

Covers all things news and entertainment
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