ROYGBIV: A Prism of Sound
Art can be how we view space, and music can be how we view time. But what about bridging both together through colors?
Written by Audrey Kendrick
Illustrated by Kate Glenn
Interpreting feelings as pigments, some artists paint with sound. Either making metaphors based on universal associations or highlighting a new experience with a certain color allows them to drive a song’s narrative. Each glimpse into each wavelength is a creative curiosity that when combined with the others makes an entire spectrum.
“Red Hearse” — Red Hearse
Revving up with a skid-marked synth, “Red Hearse” launches into shockwaves of contagious energy. A restless start with vivid lyrics about waking up in the midnight and getting caught in the undertow fills the song to its edge with red. The verses bubble into an earnest declaration of love and promises to be better. An effortlessly magnetizing chorus solidifies its ruby outlook. It echoes the flush excitement of letting your heart rule over your head and exploring the unexpected, giving the warmth and sincerity of its namesake.
“ORANGE” — CLAY
An often overlooked color is given the spotlight in CLAY’s ode to a monochromatic breakup. As a climbing piano riff opens up space to project emotion, “ORANGE” gets pulled down by the gravity of her voice and the memories it slowly begins to illustrate. With images of the world in orange, in the afterglow of a past love, she vocalizes all the places the color resurfaces, personifying each little reminder of a past person. A daydream-like melody gives life to the color of the setting sun, of summer, of cheetos, of mangoes, and goldfish, leaving a mess of different shades for the listener to reflect on, similar to a collage of past memories after a split.
“yellow is the color of her eyes” — Soccer Mommy
Suspended in the light of faded, million-year-old stars, “yellow is the color of her eyes” pulls you to float in the atmosphere. It's slow-moving, beautiful, sinking, revolving between moods like a kaleidoscope, leaving questions of what is yet to come. Abandoning the assumed optimism and relentless energy of yellow and bringing in the mellow awareness of how we are all stained by mortality, it's more of a softened, matte gold. The track ends in a yellow echo and a literal high note, subtly acknowledging the lone hope laying at the bottom of Pandora’s box.
“That Green Gentleman” — Panic! At The Disco
The freedom in recognizing the little things while understanding that life will be not perfect is evident as Brendon Urie belts out the comforting words, “I’m on my way.” Green, a pretty odd and ubiquitous color, is found in the song’s message of growth and its grounding chords. The song builds up a reassuring truth, mimicking the comforts of light reflecting off the trees and laying in the softness of grass. Bells and yells and wholehearted singing all unify a restoring anthem. A rising voice creates an image of an altered person, now new and green, ready for more of the ride.
“Blue World” — Mac Miller
Mac Miller serves up the light of navigating life by letting go of disappointments, staying on the right track, and holding on to the love of others. Departing from the crooning, surrendering the style found in most songs that reference blue, this track spins the color into a celebratory song about enduring by keeping a cool and unaffected attitude. A healthy level of realism and commitment to authenticity ripples in easygoing lifts and falls, giving an icy impression. His words move through a current of electronic beats, never stationary like restless, blue water.
“Indigo” — Magnolian
With a natural swing, Magnolian’s folk settles into a deep blue. The shade of dark-stained blue jeans and the sky right before it loses all its color is mixed throughout a consistent pull of four loose, repeating notes. Expressing introspective truths alongside admissions about an all-encompassing love, it carries the depth of the color circularly, lacing it around the entire emotion of the song. Spacey, sweet, and unassuming, it fades in and out, swirling in the space between purple and blue.
“Purple Haze” — Jimi Hendrix
On the edge, Hendrix’s guitar hovers above two notes before hitting the ground with purple-shaded grit. It doesn’t stay on the pavement, though. Floating in with the lightness of a “Purple Haze,” it layers in lilac with loose riffs and background voices. Lyrics of sudden confusion and feeling funny mark the mysterious color as another element intertwined in the song. With a feel-good energy that is easy to pick up on and ride with, it's hard to imagine purple being better represented by any other song.
Shading in each color with emotions, melodies, and lyrics makes a vivid display of life experiences. The variety of each outlook or moment in life is a spectrum, much like the colors we see each day, and each hue used by musicians makes a message more accessible, visual, and overall beautiful. Ultimately, we each are trying to relate the experiences we come across and the way we perceive them, and both colors and music make it more possible, especially together.