--- title: Owl City: Band Responds to 'Fireflies' Lyrics Memes description: Owl City helped Internet users clarify some questions regarding lyrics to their 2009 pop hit, "Fireflies." canonical: https://time.com/4827042/owl-city-fireflies-meme-response/ author: Lena Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-06-21T18:22:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:44.736Z og:title: Owl City Answers Your Question About the Viral Hit 'Fireflies' og:description: No, you would not believe your eyes og:url: https://time.com/4827042/owl-city-fireflies-meme-response/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted96a4bb3a8ffd82/6988d2ad096a94e06c69e747/owl-city-fireflies-lyrics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: AOL BUILD Speaker Series: "Owl City" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Owl City Answers Your Question About the Viral Hit 'Fireflies' twitter:description: No, you would not believe your eyes twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted96a4bb3a8ffd82/6988d2ad096a94e06c69e747/owl-city-fireflies-lyrics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Owl City Has Answered Your Long-Simmering Question About Viral Song 'Fireflies' > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d99b6242-1b91-4d43-b069-c62bc9626c7b&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1) by [Lena Grossman](https://time.com/author/lena-grossman/) ## Lena Grossman Jun 21, 2017 6:22 PM UTC  Adam Young attends the AOL BUILD Speaker Series: "Owl City" at AOL Studios In New York on July 14, 2015 in New York City. Adam Young attends the AOL BUILD Speaker Series: "Owl City" at AOL Studios In New York on July 14, 2015 in New York City. Dave Kotinsky—Getty Images by [Lena Grossman](https://time.com/author/lena-grossman/) ## Lena Grossman Jun 21, 2017 6:22 PM UTC Throwback to 2009 when Owl City released their pop hit “Fireflies,” which lit up iPods with synthesized piano and some [baffling lyrics](https://www.buzzfeed.com/juliareinstein/owl-city-discourse?utm%5Fterm=.hmXxDm0B29#.wr6WnoRY53). Though the song was released eight years ago, the anthem has been revived through [Internet users](http://time.com/4825752/jaws-lessons-learned-internet/)‘ favorite medium: [memes](http://time.com/4816788/tom-cruise-laughing-memes/). In many of the memes and gifs that have surfaced online, tense situations are juxtaposed with the upbeat rhythm of Owl City’s chorus. > [](https://twitter.com/FiImFeed/status/876885655401398277) What confuses Internet users the most is the sheer possibility of receiving “a thousand hugs from ten thousand lightning bugs,” which leads the[ second verse of the song](https://genius.com/Owl-city-fireflies-lyrics). One Twitter user went straight to the source — Owl City — and asked about the logistics of being hugged by ten thousand fireflies. > [](https://twitter.com/pryce%5Fd/status/870057518051012612) > [](https://twitter.com/pryce%5Fd/status/870057606978686976) Owl City provided the Internet with a detailed response, as [Buzzfeed reported](https://www.buzzfeed.com/juliareinstein/owl-city-discourse?utm%5Fterm=.vyE9YoGPp#.pwyWgQevn): “As the lyrics of the song clearly state, the average layperson would not believe their eyes if 10,000,000 [fireflies](http://time.com/41757/fireflies-time-lapse-video/) were to illuminate planet Earth, nor would the average person conclude by natural instinct that 10,000 lightning bugs, acting as a collective group, are capable of embracing a human being 1,000 times without difficulty.” So, in fact, we would not believe our eyes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4827042/owl-city-fireflies-meme-response/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4827042/owl-city-fireflies-meme-response/"},"headline":"Owl City Has Answered Your Long-Simmering Question About Viral Song 'Fireflies'","datePublished":"2017-06-21T18:22:37.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:44:44.736Z","description":"Owl City helped Internet users clarify some questions regarding lyrics to their 2009 pop hit, \"Fireflies.\"","url":"https://time.com/4827042/owl-city-fireflies-meme-response/","keywords":["Newsfeed","viral","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted96a4bb3a8ffd82/6988d2ad096a94e06c69e747/owl-city-fireflies-lyrics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Lena Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/lena-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted96a4bb3a8ffd82/6988d2ad096a94e06c69e747/owl-city-fireflies-lyrics.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"AOL BUILD Speaker Series: \"Owl City\"","caption":"AOL BUILD Speaker Series: \"Owl City\"","creditText":"Dave Kotinsky—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4827042/owl-city-fireflies-meme-response/","name":"Owl City Has Answered Your Long-Simmering Question About Viral Song 'Fireflies'"}}]}] ```