The Colour Of A Song

You probably questioned that title the second you read it. Honestly when it came into my head a few weeks ago in the middle of a university studio class, so did I. My studio teacher was droning on about how as an audio engineer, he is faced with a stream of interesting musicians, who convey the way they want their songs to sound, in interesting ways.

“I had this one guy right, he told me he wanted his song to sound green. What does a green song sound like?”

And while the rest of the class chuckled along, a ‘green’ song popped into my head straight away. So I jotted it down in my iPhone Notes, and now I’m here trying to formulate that thought into an entire post about the colour of a song.

Colour and music have been combined before, especially through art. One specific case I found myself reading about recently was that of Melissa McCracken, who has synesthesia. I don’t want to try and explain it in depth, or even try to convey what it is so here:

“Until I was 15, I thought everyone constantly saw colors. Colors in books, colors in math formulas, colors at concerts. But when I finally asked my brother which color the letter C was (canary yellow, by the way) I realized my mind wasn’t quite as normal as I had thought. Basically, my brain is cross-wired. I experience the “wrong” sensation to certain stimuli. Each letter and number is colored and the days of the year circle around my body as if they had a set point in space. But the most wonderful “brain malfunction” of all is seeing the music I hear. It flows in a mixture of hues, textures, and movements, shifting as if it were a vital and intentional element of each song. Having synesthesia isn’t distracting or disorienting. It adds a unique vibrance to the world I experience.”
– Melissa McCracken.

Her art is wicked. You know what Gravity by John Mayer sounds like, but here’s what it looks like:

And Imagine, by John Lenon?

They’re beautiful. So over the past few weeks since my teacher asked himself what the heck a green song sounded like, I’ve been trying to answer it too…but for a bunch of colours.

I guess I should start with the song I thought of as ‘green’ since it started this whole spiral of thought. I don’t want to elaborate on each one, because I reckon that would ruin the whole process of you finding the colour in the song if you choose to give them all a listen. Though I can guarantee…they’re all amazing songs. So you probably should.

ALSO

There will definitely be more than one song for each colour. Some of them will be stark contrasts to the others. They won’t all sound the same. But I assure you…you can try to find the colour in all of them.

 

GREEN
 – Bloom (Online Bonus Track): The Paper Kites
– Trophy: Charli XCX
– You Get What You Give: New Radicals
– Brontosaurus: Tkay Maidza, Bad Cop

PURPLE
Oblivion: Bastille
Smooth Lady Wine: Matt Corby
 Doubt It: Kyle
 Selfish: Jordan Rakei

WHITE
Confetti: Tori Kelly
I Won’t Dance: Fred Astaire
Back From The Edge: James Arthur
How To Love: Lil Wayne

RED
BRIGHT: Zayn
Need You Now: Dean Lewis
Berzerk: Eminem
Naked: James TW

BLUE
Keep On: Kehlani
Working For It: ZHU, Skrillex, THEY
About You (Fortunes Remix): Penthouse Penthouse, Maribelle, Fortunes

YELLOW
Fluorescent Adolescent: Arctic Monkeys
Show Me Love (Skrillex Remix): Skrillex, Chance The Rapper, Hundred Waters, Robin Hannibal, Moses Sumney
Fall: Chloe x Halle

ORANGE
Bun Up The Dance: Dillon Francis, Skrillex
Cookie Jar: Gym Class Heroes ft The Dream
I’m A Fantastic Wreck: Montaigne 

BLACK
Do It Like A Dude: Jessie J
Doctor: Josh Levi
Wild West: Jaxon

PINK
Orbit (Hazey Eyes Remix): Syde, Ashe
Swear Down: Tiggs Da Author, Younger
1 Thing: Amerie
Call Me: NEIKED, MIMI

 

 

My head kind of hurts thinking about all of these, but nonetheless, it was actually really fun. Let me know if you could find the colour in any of these songs or if I’m just overthinking everything as per usual. It’s a 50/50 chance to be fair. Up to you.

Also, if you didn’t catch my post a few weeks ago where I explained a bit more about myself and shared some of my own music, you can find that here!

x

p.f

PS – make sure you’re following You Should Here on Instagram! I share updates on new blog posts, new artists I’m loving, and my InstaStory artwork is A level stuff!
– youshouldhere xx

MORE GOOD STUFF!

So recently I’ve been chatting with a lovely dude on Instagram about music, playlists and all that goodness, and thanks to him and an amazing app he’s currently working on, you can now find The Colour Of A Song playlist, and play it from anywhere! Stream it on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Amazon Music, Google Play Music and Tidal! My playlist! On all those platforms!!! A huge thank you to playlistrad.io who you should DEFINITELY follow in Instagram, for using my blogpost as one of the first few playlists up on the app! Definitely check it out, you can stream The Colour Of A Song by clicking the link below!

http://www.playlistrad.io/playlist/THE_COLOUR_OF_A_SONG/760220170907

While you’re there, check out the other amazing playlists also up, you’re guaranteed to find some great tunes!

p.f