Firework is a 2010 dance-pop song by American singer Katy Perry from her third studio album Teenage Dream. It was released as the album’s third single on October 26, 2010. The self-empowerment anthem, inspired by Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, features a buoyant club beat and lyrics about letting your inner light shine. It was written by Katy Perry, Ester Dean, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Tor Erik Hermansen and Sandy Wilhelm, and produced by Stargate and Sandy Vee, with recording at Roc the Mic Studios in New York. In Ab major at 124 BPM, the track runs 3 minutes 47 seconds and Perry’s vocal range extends from Ab3 to Eb5. Commercially, Firework topped the US, Canada and New Zealand charts and reached the top five across many European countries, selling about 17 million copies worldwide and earning multi platinum and diamond certifications. The music video, directed by Dave Meyers and filmed in Budapest, features youth overcoming fears and won Video of the Year at the 2011 MTV VMAs after an open casting call of 38,000 applicants. Perry has called it her favorite track on Teenage Dream.
