Yoko Ono’s Cover of “Firework” Makes Everything Okay

Carmen’s Team Pick:

When I was fourteen I listened to a lot of Yoko Ono. I love Yoko Ono. And sometimes when I’m listening to a completely normal song with actual lyrics and not a lot of guttural emotional dialogue, I wonder, where the fuck is she? 

Well, she’s back, bitches. Here’s her “cover” of “Fireworks” by “artist” Katy Perry.  To her credit, after all Katy Perry has done, well, frankly there isn’t a lot left to say.

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Carmen

Carmen spent six years at Autostraddle, ultimately serving as Straddleverse Director, Feminism Editor and Social Media Co-Director. She is now the Consulting Digital Editor at Ms. and writes regularly for DAME, the Women’s Media Center, the National Women’s History Museum and other prominent feminist platforms; her work has also been published in print and online by outlets like BuzzFeed, Bitch, Bust, CityLab, ElixHER, Feministing, Feminist Formations, GirlBoss, GrokNation, MEL, Mic and SIGNS, and she is a co-founder of Argot Magazine. You can find Carmen on Twitter, Instagram and Tumblr or in the drive-thru line at the nearest In-N-Out.

Carmen has written 919 articles for us.

21 Comments

  1. Lot of respect for this woman for managing to convince the big guys that this isn’t just screaming into a microphone…

    • This. I can’t even. I mean. What? Why? Who? And most importantly: How did this ever happen? Has her “music” always been like that? I’m very disturbed. Very.

  2. I wish someone would actually just explain the concept of why. That’s all. No judgements. Just…why

  3. Definitely a vast improvement. For those confused, it’s definitely a mashup somebody on the internets made from one of Yoko’s performance pieces a few years ago at the MoMA…

  4. Firework? Pretty sure this is a performance of Voice Piece for Soprano and Wish Tree. She’s been doing this piece for several years.

  5. I absolutley love it! would any of you all be able to get up there and let something organically flow out of you like this? free raw expression, that’s art. whats to “get”?

  6. I am old enough to remember when she started her “singing” career and believe it or not, this is an IMPROVEMENT lol.

  7. I love Yoko Ono. Always have. She’s brave, she’s smart, she’s cool and way ahead of her time as well as ours. I mean, this woman made John Lennon fall in love with her. JOHN FUCKING LENNON! Love it or hate it, it doesn’t matter. It’s art. Whatever you feel when you see it is probably what you were supposed to feel. Deal with it.

  8. OMG! This made me crack up. Especially when I realized that the person who made the mashup got the idea from when she’s saying ‘woah, woah’, just like Katy Perry.

  9. Um.. okay this is the funniest thing I have seen all day lol. I have never watched or heard Yoko Ono sing and I admire her activism. First I thought maybe Yoko was making a point about pop culture songs like “Firework” reeling in fans and a following despite it’s poor quality of lyrics and meaning with the desperation of people wanting to be known (our contemporary culture’s worship of fabricated pop stars). Not going to lie, I enjoy listening to some Katy Perry songs. After a second listening it’s starting to sound nice in a Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah kind of way.

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