Were it not for my job, I may have never heard this song—number one hit or not. Hell, upon first listen, my gag reflex nearly triggered. Nonetheless, I have heard Katy Perry's Firework upwards of three-hundred times by now. And, though I won't buy the album or voluntarily listen to it again, it's nice to see a song with some amount of substance at the top of the pops.
A quick perusal of the last decade's number one hits reveals a litany of danceable, memorable nonsense like Bootylicious, Drop It Like It's Hot and Hey Ya. (That being said, I am a firm believer in the healing power that comes with moving one's body to music—shaking it like a Polaroid picture, if you will—regardless of lyrical content.)
Lyric-wise, Katy Perry has about as much a chance of landing in lauded future literary texts as Snoop Dogg or Outkast, but what I like about Firework is its message:
Baby you’re a firework, c’mon let your colors burst...
Yes, it's silly, but to its primary demographic—known as "tweens"—it's an inspiring metaphor. “make 'em go ‘ah ah ah’...” It's annoyingly simple, yet paints a beautiful picture of revealing one's light to the world.
With such a simplistic and vivid metaphor comes equally vivid comprehension, and when the music engages mind (lyrics), body (rhythm) and heart (melody), it gets instantly imprinted in giant bold letters on the subconscious.
Perry's natural progression is typical, from the adolescent exploratory phase of kissing girls to teaching us about opposites like hot and cold, then finally exploding in a firework—which may or may not prove analogous to her chart-topping career.
Who knows? For now, the word of the day is "Firework." And I say kudos to Katy. And kudos to anyone who can see that they truly are "brighter than the moon, moon, moon..."
