Music is something that can help to calm a person, excite them or even help to release some sorrowful emotions. But some songs can take on an entirely new meaning once you listen to the lyrics behind the fun melody.
One day you’re sat in the car bobbing your head along to a happy-go-lucky tune, and then one line gets stuck in your head.
Oh, that’s not very happy, you think. Then, after a deep dive on Google to find out the rest of the lyrics, you realise it’s one of the saddest songs you’ve ever heard.
The same could be said for one of Katy Perry’s hits.
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After wowing audiences with her performance at the VMAs last night (11 September), it’s time to revisit one of her most famous hits.
Yes, she’s had some fantastic party songs such as ‘Dark Horse’, and ‘California Gurls’, which are as they seem in terms of vibe and lyrics, but the same can’t be said about one of her most famous hits.
With an eerie hidden message, it’s not the empowering jam you thought it was.
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If you go back and have a little listen, you’ll see what we mean.
The ‘Teenage Dream’ singer even explained why ‘Firework’ is lyrically different than her other work to Billboard 2010.
While many people thought that the song was about getting over bad things in life and empowering yourself to rise above the negativity, Perry actually believes it’s her final wish in life.
Chris Anokute, a music executive who has collaborated with Perry on different songs, describes it as ‘a song where I think my purpose to some people might change when they hear it’.
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That makes sense.
Anokute explained: “It’s the best vocal performance I’ve ever heard from Katy [Perry].”
But what does the actual song mean?
Well, Perry said it’s all about what she wants to happen to her body after dying.
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She explained: “Basically I have this very morbid idea...when I pass, I want to be put into a firework and shot across the sky over the Santa Barbara Ocean as my last hurrah.”
She added: “I want to be a firework, both living and dead.”
Ah, that’s a scary thought. It might be a cool thing to be remembered for though.
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The way she came up with the hidden meaning though was all thanks to a boyfriend she had in 2010.
Perry previously said: “My boyfriend showed me a paragraph out of Jack Kerouac’s book ‘On the Road,’ about people who are buzzing and fizzing and full of life and never say a common-place thing.
They shoot across the sky like a firework and make people go, ‘Ahhh.’ I guess that making people go ‘ahhh’ is kind of like my motto.”
At least now we’d be able to understand what we’re actually singing along with when it comes to jumping around at a party.
We’re not celebrating life at all; we’re celebrating our demise in a peculiar way... Going out with a bang, or something similar.
Topics: Celebrity, Katy Perry, VMAs, Music
Britt Jones