Flooded with online hate, the musician corook decided to keep swimming
corook was having a bad day.
After reading a slew of hate comments online directed at their gender identity and how they dressed, the 28-year-old Nashville-based musician needed cheering up, so they and their partner turned to what they do best: music.
"My girlfriend was supporting me and wanted to do something to make me feel better and decided: 'Let's write a song about it, let's make like a really weird song. Because you know, I love that you're weird and it's wonderful that you're weird. So what's the weirdest idea that you can come up with?'
"And so I said, 'I think if I were a fish I think that all of the weird things about me would be cool,' and she was like, 'that's weird, let's do it.' "
The result is the hit song "if i were a fish."
Originally a 49-second TikTok, corook (also known as Corinne Savage) goes on to sing about rocks and socks, followed by the question that started it all: "Why's everybody on the internet so mean?"
corook explains that the lyrics came from a moment of vulnerability as they were coming to terms with their gender identity and feeling out of place.
"I was obviously going through a lot, personally, of accepting the fact that I'm non-binary. ... I think it's hard to not fit into a box whenever everybody kind of wants to be able to define you simply."
Living outside of the box is also something corook does musically.
"I don't really have a genre," the musician says. "Like, I love making music. I love making songs that tell a story. And some of them sound more like a [singer] songwriter, and some of them sound more like a pop tune."
Their blend of styles shines on "if i were a fish." While the original TikTok recording was written on just a guitar, the full length version features guitar, percussion, and corook's favorite instrument, the kazoo.
The musical mixture adds to the song's positive spin on a tough situation, a practice corook is known for bringing to their music.
"I think that using an upbeat tone to talk about something serious is kind of my specialty. ... And whenever I figured out that I could do that in music, it just felt like a really big missing puzzle piece for me," they say.
And "if i were a fish" is resonating with audiences. With over 7 million streams on Spotify, the song has become a self-acceptance anthem.
"I think it's an interesting thing that I wrote the song from a place of like, 'I don't fit in, I don't have a community. I don't feel like people get me' and then to have a response of millions of people say, 'I get you and I want more of this, and I feel this way, too,' " corook says.
"I think that has been profound, not only as a musician in my career, but just as a human being. It has been really healing to be seen and heard by so many people."
You can hear "if i were a fish" on corook's forthcoming EP serious person (part 1) out June 2.
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Transcript
COROOK: I am corook, a singer-songwriter-producer living in Nashville.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I WERE A FISH")
COROOK AND OLIVIA BARTON: (Singing) If I were a fish, and you caught me, you'd say, look at that fish, shimmering in the sun. Such a rare one. Can't believe that you caught one.
COROOK: "If I Were A Fish" was written when I was feeling out of place and like I didn't fit in. I was getting a lot of hate comments online.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I WERE A FISH")
COROOK AND BARTON: (Singing) Why is everybody on the internet so mean?
COROOK: And so my girlfriend, Olivia Barton, wanted to do something to make me feel better. She was like, let's make something weird. Like, what's the weirdest thing that you can think of? And I said, well, if I were a fish, I think that all of the weird things about me would be cool. And she was like, that's weird. Let's do it.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I WERE A FISH")
COROOK AND BARTON: (Singing) Flopping around and singing my song. I'd say, damn, they're cute, and sing along.
COROOK: We just sat in the car writing the song, just slapping on the steering wheel, clapping our hands. Just writing it like that.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I WERE A FISH")
COROOK AND BARTON: (Singing) Bop, bop, bop, I'm the perfect shape.
COROOK: I don't think that we intended on making a happy song. It just kind of happened. And I personally just love kazoo, and so I had to bring some kazoos on there.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I WERE A FISH")
COROOK AND BARTON: (Singing) If I were a fish, do do do do do do do do do...
COROOK: I also wanted percussion. And it was really fun. There was three or four of us in the room. We were all just banging on different things. I think somebody was banging on a light pole. Somebody else was just patting on their knees. Olivia had a kazoo in her mouth. And I was just kind of banging away on this kick drum. And we just did maybe two takes and layered it over the acoustic take that we did. And that's really the song. It was very simple but, like, very fun.
Using an upbeat tone to talk about something serious is kind of my specialty. I think I've used humor to get through really hard times. Whenever I figured out that I could do that in music, it just felt like a really big missing puzzle piece for me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I WERE A FISH")
COROOK AND BARTON: (Singing) If I were a rock, you would pick me up and say, that's a nice rock. Skippiest (ph) on the lake - pop, pop, pop, I'm the perfect shape.
COROOK: I think I'm constantly having to learn to accept new parts of myself because I'm constantly learning about myself. You know, I recently came out as nonbinary, and that was really scary and a hard thing to learn about myself, but has been so wonderful, accepting that part of me and embracing it. I was actually on tour whenever I kind of came out. My bandmates and I were in the car, and they were talking to me about pronouns and asking me what I wanted to do, and I was like, I just don't know. I'm not sure. I'm so scared to make the jump. And they were just like, why don't we just call you they/them for the rest of the tour and see how it feels? And a month later I was like, this is it. There's no going back.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I WERE A FISH")
COROOK AND BARTON: (Singing) How lucky are we, of all the fish in the sea? You get to be you, and I get to be me.
COROOK: You know, I think it's an interesting thing that I wrote the song from a place of, like, I don't fit in. I don't have a community. I don't feel like people get me. And then to have a response of millions of people say, I get you, and I want more of this, and I feel this way too. I think that has been profound, not only as a musician in my career, but just as a human being. It has been really healing to be seen and heard by so many people.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I WERE A FISH")
COROOK AND BARTON: (Singing) If I were a fish, do do do do do do do do do...
AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
That's musician Corinne Savage, professionally known as corook, and their song "If I Were A Fish." You can hear it on their upcoming EP, "Serious Person Part 1."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IF I WERE A FISH")
COROOK AND BARTON: (Singing) If I were a fish, do do do do do do do do do do. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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