If I Were a Fish - Misplaced Pages

"If I Were a Fish" is a song by American singer-songwriters Corook and Olivia Barton, released on April 21, 2023. Prior to its release, the song became a viral hit on TikTok via a video of the artists performing the song on acoustic guitar, which reached over 16 million views by May 2023. Upon its official release by Atlantic Records, the song debuted on several Billboard charts, including Hot Rock & Alternative Songs and Digital Song Sales, and received airplay on BBC Radio 1.

Background and composition

"I was having a very emotional day, feeling insecure and out of place. So I cried to Olivia and after feeling through it, we wrote this song in 10 minutes to remember the joy in being different. Happy Tuesday."

Corook's caption on the original TikTok video.

Corook and Olivia Barton are Nashville-based singer-songwriters and romantic partners, who met in 2018 at Berklee College of Music. Prior to "If I Were a Fish", both Corook and Barton had established music careers: Corook had opened for K.Flay, JP Saxe, Jukebox the Ghost, and X Ambassadors and released their debut EP, Achoo! (2022), on Atlantic Records, while Barton had released two studio albums and toured with Illuminati Hotties and Enumclaw. Corook had also been active on TikTok, previously going viral with the song "It's OK!".

One day in early April 2023, Corook experienced a flood of negative online comments on a song they had posted. Corook had long felt excluded due to their colorful fashion sense, genre of music, and non-binary gender identity, and the negative comments had highlighted those feelings. As they later explained to The Boston Globe:

"It's not that the hate comments affected me, it was more that the hate comments were shining a light on something I was really thinking about in my life, which is I feel like I don't have a place. I just felt like I didn't really have any way to identify myself in any boxes I fit in and communities that felt like just mine."

To help console them, Barton suggested that she and Corook create a deliberately "weird" song to process these emotions. Corook responded with the idea that "if I were a fish, all of the things that make me different would be cool to people", which became the basis of the song. Corook and Barton wrote the initial version of the song in ten minutes and took an additional 10 to 15 minutes to film the original TikTok video.

Following the song's viral popularity, Corook and Barton spent a few days writing additional lyrics. Barton said, "What I loved about continuing to write it was that I really wanted to hold on to the energy it was created from. We finished writing it in the car and the shower and the night before the recording session. And it came from a pure place."

Musical style and lyrics

"If I Were a Fish" is primarily built around acoustic guitar. Its sound has been compared to the protest folk of Woody Guthrie and to the Juno soundtrack, particularly "Anyone Else but You" by The Moldy Peaches. It is in the key of F major, with a vocal range of A₃ to C₅, and is set in common time with a moderate tempo of around 90 beats per minute.

Lyrically, the song uses several metaphors to subtly illustrate themes of self-love, body positivity, queer acceptance, and embracing individuality. The verses each imagine how the singer would be admired as a fish ("Shimmerin' in the sun / Such a rare one, can't believe that you caught one...Heaviest in the sea / You'd win first prize if you caught me"), a rock ("skippiest on the lake / plop, plop, plop, I'm the perfect shape"), and a sock ("happiest as a pair / you found me, now I'm not scared"), while the chorus addresses Corook's experiences with online negativity ("Why is everybody on the Internet so mean? Why is everybody so afraid of what they've never seen?") with what Kamrin Baker of Good Good Good called "a thesis of radical acceptance and glee". Rolling Stone described the song as "a simple ditty about wishing to fit in" that started "an online movement about being proud of the things that make you unique."

Corook has described "If I Were a Fish" as a "self-acceptance, self-love kinda song" and being about "how cool it is to be different. Boxes don’t matter, and being yourself is the best.” Barton sees the song as exemplifying Corook's uniqueness, saying "I don’t know anybody that would want to write this song, this way, this weird."

TikTok virality

Corook and Barton posted a video of the song to Corook's TikTok account on April 11, 2023. The 50-second clip shows Corook, wearing a green frog-shaped bucket hat, and Barton performing the song's first verse and chorus at home while sitting and facing each other, both singing while Corook accompanies on acoustic guitar.

The video subsequently went viral on the platform, reaching 1 million views in two hours and 16 million by the following month. Various users made duet videos adding harmonies, dancing, lip-synching, drums, bass guitar, and even bluegrass banjo to the song. Other users posted covers of the song, including musician Chloe Moriondo, Broadway actor Kevin Chamberlin, and the Texas Girls' Choir; Corook duetted the latter video with the caption "This made me cry cause I could have used this song as a kid." Illustrator and Robby Novak collaborator Brad Montague created a hand-illustrated mini-music video for the song, and Hank Green, Elamin Abdelmahmoud, Dodie, Rina Sawayama, and Tori Kelly were among those who praised the song on TikTok and Twitter.

Speaking on the song's popularity, Corook said, "The kinds of videos people are making to the song and the kinds of the emotional reactions people are having and their feeling of connectedness with themselves and with each other has shown me is actually really special. It’s literally the fastest community builder. So as a musician, you have to be a part of it. But as a human, I want to be a part of it."

Release and promotion

On April 14, Corook and Barton announced via TikTok that a full version of the song was forthcoming. This version was released as a single on April 21 via Atlantic Records. A music video, directed by Luke Harvey and showing Corook and Barton recording the song, was released the same day.

The following week, Corook held an impromptu singalong of the song at Washington Square Park; while they expected a small turnout, an estimated 300 people attended the performance. While on tour with Lizzy McAlpine, Barton played the song at an April 25 show at New York City's Brooklyn Steel venue, bringing Corook onstage to perform with her.

The song received international radio play on Mollie King's BBC Radio 1 show Future Pop as a "Top Pop Pick", and on Kate Bottley and Jason Mohammad's Good Morning Sunday program on BBC Radio 2.

Reception

Commercial performance

Corook and Barton both made their Billboard chart debuts with the song, which premiered at No. 16 on Hot Alternative Songs, No. 19 on Hot Rock Songs, No. 22 on Hot Rock & Alternative Songs, No. 6 on Alternative Digital Song Sales, No.7 on Rock Digital Song Sales, and No. 36 on the all-genre Digital Song Sales, and reached 1.9 million official U.S. streams and 3,000 downloads in the April 21–27 tracking week according to Luminate.

Critical reception

Allie Gregory of Exclaim! chose the song as a Staff Pick, calling it "super catchy" and noting, "While its initial 50-second clip bordered on too-cute, the subsequently released full recording adds depth in its ensuing verses, switching up its imagery to skipping rocks that are the 'perfect shape' and coupled-up socks, spreading a subtle message of queer love and acceptance."

Track listing

Digital single track listing
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"If I Were a Fish" (featuring Olivia Barton)	Corook, Olivia Barton	2:21
2.	"It's OK!"	Corook, Grant Averill	3:05
Total length:			5:28

Charts

Chart performance for "If I Were a Fish"
Chart (2023)	Peak position
US Digital Song Sales (Billboard)	36
US Hot Rock & Alternative Songs (Billboard)	22

References

^ Ganss, Will (May 4, 2023). "Musicians Corook and Olivia Barton on their self-acceptance anthem". ABC News (video). Retrieved May 7, 2023.
^ Clarendon, Dan (April 14, 2023). "This "If I Were a Fish" Song Is an Argument Not to Ban TikTok". Distractify. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
^ Giandurco, Jillian (May 1, 2023). "This Wholesome Song About Being A Fish Is Taking Over TikTok". Bustle. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
^ Clarke, Paige (April 22, 2023). "Corook Releases Viral Song "if i were a fish"". Melodic Magazine. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
^ Jones, C. T. (April 21, 2023). "They Wrote a Song to Help Them Stop Crying. Now All of TikTok Is Singing Along". Rolling Stone. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
^ Annear, Steve (April 27, 2023). "'If I were a fish': These two Berklee College grads wrote the hit song that's taken over social media". The Boston Globe. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
^ Parys, Bryan (April 28, 2023). "Viral TikTok Song 'If I Were a Fish' Is a Joyous Call for Acceptance". Berklee College of Music. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
^ Zellner, Xander (May 3, 2023). "10 First-Timers on Billboard's Charts This Week: Corook, Olivia Barton, CHINCHILLA, Jasiel Nunez & More". Billboard. Retrieved May 3, 2023.
Moore, Em (May 12, 2022). "Tours: Illuminati Hotties announce fall tour". Punknews.org. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
Hatfield, Amanda (May 11, 2022). "Illuminati Hotties announce fall tour w/ Enumclaw, Guppy, Olivia Barton & Eliza McLamb". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved April 22, 2023.
Alper, Eric (November 30, 2022). "corook Is Being "realistic"". That Eric Alper. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
Vigil, Dom (October 6, 2022). "corook Shares Video for New Single, "your mom"". Prelude Press. Retrieved April 6, 2023.
Nordhof, Erin (October 2, 2022). "corook's Music Video For "it's ok!" Perfectly Captures The Song's Message of Balance and Self-Care". Glasse Factory. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
May, Emily (July 27, 2022). "Comedic alt-pop artist corook reminds us "it's ok!", creates adult lullaby for when life is just too much; Supporting X Ambassadors for "a night benefiting reproductive rights" at The Troubadour on 8.22 ; Debut achoo! EP out now". Stitched Sound. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
^ Kircher, Madison Malone (April 28, 2023). "Farewell to Twitter's 'Stinking Badge'". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
^ "Feel-good TikTok song goes viral". BBC News. May 2, 2023. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
^ Gregory, Allie (May 5, 2023). "Exclaim!'s Staff Picks: corook and Olivia Barton's "if i were a fish" Finds Depth in the Twee". Exclaim!. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
^ Greer, Jamie (April 26, 2023). "Singer explains 'emotional' origin to viral TikTok fish song". Liverpool Echo. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
^ Baker, Kamrin (April 25, 2023). "Viral 'If I Were a Fish' is TikTok's New Mental Health Anthem". Good Good Good. Retrieved April 30, 2023.
^ Butler, Sinead (April 26, 2023). "The viral 'If I were a fish' TikTok song explained". Indy100. Retrieved May 7, 2023.
^ Heady, Taylor Alexis (April 26, 2023). "What Is 'If I Were a Fish' About? Find Out Who Sings TikTok's Favorite New Viral Song". PopCrush. Townsquare Media. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
Savage, Corinne; Barton, Olivia (May 2, 2023). "if i were a fish". Musicnotes.com. Retrieved May 13, 2023.
^ Munro, Daniel (April 14, 2023). "TikTok's latest hit 'If I Were A Fish' is the cutest trend to hit the app this year". HITC. Archived from the original on May 16, 2023. Retrieved April 16, 2023.
Ajuonuma, Chinaza (April 29, 2023). "In Focus: Olivia Barton and Lizzy McAlpine at Brooklyn Steel". NYS Music. Retrieved May 6, 2023.
"BBC Radio 1 - Radio 1's Future Pop, with Mollie King: Mia Wray Future Bop!". BBC. April 20, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.
"BBC Radio 2 - Good Morning Sunday, 30/04/2023". BBC. April 30, 2023. Retrieved May 10, 2023.

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