Firework (song)
"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-pop self-empowerment anthem 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.
For other songs titled "Firework", see Firework (disambiguation)."Firework"
October 26, 2010
Roc the Mic (New York City, New York)
3:48
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]
Critical reception[edit]
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".
Chart performance[edit]
In the United States, "Firework" debuted at position 57 on the issue dated November 6, 2010.[16] On the issue dated December 18, 2010, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Perry's fourth number-one single in the US and third number-one single from the album. This made Perry the first female artist since Monica to have three consecutive singles from an album top the chart.[17] It spent four non-consecutive weeks at number one on the Hot 100.[18] The song topped Hot Dance Club Songs, Pop chart, Adult Pop Songs and Adult Contemporary chart.[19] On the week ending January 8, 2011, "Firework" sold 509,000 digital downloads in the US which is tied with Lady Gaga's "Born This Way" as the seventh highest amount ever sold by a female artist behind Adele's "Hello" (1.1 million), Taylor Swift's "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" (623,000) and Kesha's "Tik Tok" (610,000), Swift's "I Knew You Were Trouble" (582,000), Perry's own "Roar" (557,000), Swift's "Shake It Off" (544,000) and ninth highest overall.[20] The song was certified 12× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).[21] In 2014, she became the first artist in digital history to sell 5 million or more copies of six different songs with "Firework", "Hot n Cold", "California Gurls", "ET", "Roar", and "Dark Horse".[22][23] As of August 2020, the song has sold 7,400,000 copies in the United States.[24]
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]