Owl City puts the debate on ‘1,000 hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs’ to rest

Remember 2009? When life was simple, some of our greatest icons were still alive, and people went gaga for a song called "Fireflies" by Owl City?

It turns out, a mystery was also born during this year and it has to do with a line from that song: "I get a thousand hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs."

The question posed by inquisitive fans was, "Does each firefly hug you 1,000 times or do only 1/10th of the bugs give you a hug?"

@owlcity  Does each firefly hug you 1,000 times or do only 1/10th of the bugs give you a hug?

— pryce (@pryce_d) May 31, 2017

Owl City, real name Adam Young, on Wednesday posted an official response. Young identified himself as "the recipient of 1,000 hugs from 10,000 lightning bugs for a grand total of 10,000,000 hugs."

Taking the question with sufficient seriousness and answering it sincerely, Young explained:

As the lyrics of the song clearly state, the average layperson would not believe their eyes if 10,000,000 fireflies 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.

By the same token, a gathering of lightning bugs in such vast numbers form a sort of “swarm," and a swarm can collectively surround a human and deliver a “hug” that a single firefly, acting according to the dictates of his own conscience, simply cannot. Consequently, I was embraced 1,000 times by 10,000 luminescent insects.

Young also exhibited an impressive knowledge of a firefly's physiology and invited more questions from fans.

One great mystery solved. On to the next! — AT, GMA News