In 2010, the ex-American Idol judge disclosed the truth.
Katy Perry explained the message of her song ‘Firework' and the books that influenced its lyrics.
In 2010, everything changed drastically; Justin Bieber dropped his famous song ‘Baby', 127 Hours made us think twice about traveling alone, and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World altered our minds permanently.
In that very year, Katy Perry, who is now 39 years old, convinced Snoop Dogg to make an appearance in her seductive music video for ‘California Gurls'. She also launched her dance-pop anthem ‘Firework', which promotes self-empowerment.
From her third album, Teenage Dream, ‘Firework' topped the Billboard Hot 100 chart and sold more than one million copies in the UK.
Perry collaborated with Stargate, Sandy Wilhelm, and Ester Dean to write ‘Firework'. The song was first performed on The Late Show with David Letterman and is still loved by Perry's fans.
Yet, numerous KatyCats, the name for Katy Perry's fans, are unaware of the deep message within the cheerful song.
When ‘Firework' came out, Perry told Billboard that she wanted to be cremated and put into a firework after she passed away.
In 2010, she shared that she wants her ashes to be put into a firework and launched over the Santa Barbara Ocean after she passes away.
Perry revealed that she had reached this decision after one of her boyfriends shared a paragraph from Jack Kerouac's 1957 novel, “On the Road.”
Firework was released in 2010. (Capitol Records/Katy Perry/YouTube)
She added: “[It's] about people that are buzzing and fizzing and full of life and never say a commonplace 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.”
In March 2022, Perry specified the specific paragraph from On the Road that she was referring to when she mentioned that her fans had been singing the lyrics incorrectly for all these years.
The Californian shared a video on Instagram from American Idol where she corrected Luke Bryan on the lyrics of her song.
“It's not ‘up, up, up' and its not ‘uh, uh, uh',” she told the now 47-year-old singer.
“It's ‘awe, awe, awe' – A.W.E. Yeah it's ‘awe, awe, awe' everybody get it right.”
Following the clip, she shared a screenshot of the Kerouac quote she was referring to.
It read: “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!'”
Perry clarified in the post caption that it's “awe” not “up” and “Firework” not “Fireworksss.”
Katy Perry exited American Idol earlier this year. (Chris Jackson/Getty Images)
Perry has been a judge on American Idol for seven seasons. She joined the show in 2018 with Bryan and music icon Lionel Richie, who is 74 years old.
The singer ‘Dark Horse' said goodbye to the talent show last month. She had mentioned on Jimmy Kimmel that she needed to follow her own rhythm.
Currently, the replacement for Perry on the judging panel has not been announced.
Featured Image Credit: Capitol Records/Katy Perry/YouTube
