Colors are a beautiful addition to our lives. The meaning attached to each color differs from one person to the other. Like love and hate, colors can be used to represent different feelings and emotions whether in painting or songs.
Singers have used colors in their different ways to pass messages across.
Why are colors significant to our expression of feelings and what are the best songs that we should have on our playlists?
1. Black or White- Michael Jackson
- Album: Dangerous
- Release Date: 1991
- Songwriter: Michael Jackson, Bill Bottrell
- Producer: Michael Jackson, Bill Bottrell
- Genre: Pop,
- Award: Won Billboard Music Award for No.1 World Single
Lyrics:
I said if you’re thinkin’ of being my brother
It don’t matter if you’re black or white
The late king of pop, Michael witnessed racial prejudice firsthand while growing up. He used the colors black and white to show that all the races are all the same as we share a common humanity.
This song is one of the best songs with color that has remained timeless making the color black and white two interesting colors.
2. Blackbird- Beatles
- Album: The Beatles, also known as the White Album
- Release Date: 1968
- Songwriter: Paul McCartney, ohn Lennon
- Producer: George Martin
- Genre: Folk
Lyrics:
Blackbird singing in the dead of night
Take these broken wings and learn to fly
This song has a message of empowerment during the civil rights movement. McCartney first had the thought of a black woman but he later turned it to blackbird to pass his message.
He is writing to encourage her and every other person facing a challenge to hold on.
3. White Flag-Dido
- Album: Will & Grace: Let the Music Out
- Release Date: 2003
- Songwriters: Dido Armstrong, Rick Nowels, and Rollo Armstrong
- Producers: Dido and Rollo Armstrong
- Genre: Pop
- Award: Won Best Single at the 2004 BRIT Awards
Lyrics:
I know you think that I shouldn’t still love you
Or tell you that
But if I didn’t say it, well I’d still have felt it
Where’s the sense in that?
Dido wrote White Flag after she broke up with her ex-fiancee. The English singer and songwriter say she never gets tired of singing the song despite its being about a messy period.
4. Brown Skin Girl-Beyonce
- Album: Soundtrack forThe Lion King Album: The Gift
- Release Date: 2019
- Songwriter: Beyonce, Carlos St. John, Adio Marchant, Shawn Carter, Stacy Barthe, Anathi Mnyango, and Michael Uzowuru
- Producer: Beyonce, P2J
- Genre: R&B, Soul
- Award: Won Grammy Award for Best Music Video. Won Soul Train Music Award for the Ashford & Simpson’s Songwriters. It also won BET HER Award. Won MTV Video Music Award for Best Cinematography
Lyrics:
Brown skin girl
Your skin just like pearls
The best thing in the world
Never trade you for anybody else
The color in the title of this multi-award-winning song sets the theme for the celebration of dark-skinned women.
The release of this song caused the #brownskingirlchallenge to go viral on social media.
5. Back in Black-AC/DC
- Album: Back in Black
- Release Date: 1980
- Songwriter: Brian Johnson, Angus Young, and Malcolm Young
- Producer: Robert John ‘Mutt’ Lange
- Genre: Hard Rock
The successful AC/DC song was a tribute to a dead band member, Bon Scott but instead of making it a sorrowful song, they made it celebratory.
6. Little Black Dress- One Direction
- Album: Midnight Memories
- Release Date: 2013
- Songwriter: Loius Tomlinson, Liam Payne, Julian Bunetta, Teddy Geiger, and John Ryan
- Producers: Julian Bunetta, John Ryan &Theordore Geiger
- Genre: Pop
Lyrics:
Little black dress
Just walked into the room
Makin’ heads turn
Can’t stop looking at you
Colors go beyond what the eye looks at, yet One Direction found a way of conveying a man’s attraction to a woman. Since he does not know her name yet, he refers to her as a Little Black Dress, a common attraction among men.
7. Behind These Hazel Eyes-Kelly Clarkson
- Album: Breakaway
- Release Date: 2004
- Songwriter: Kelly Clarkson, Dr. Luke, and Max Martin
- Producer: Max Martin and Dr. Luke
- Genre: Pop Rock
Lyrics:
Seems like just yesterday
You were a part of me
Colors can reflect the deep feelings of hurt and pain that we feel. Clarkson was inspired by the pain and hurt she felt after her boyfriend left her and married someone else.
It is a must-listen for anyone who is going through the pain of losing someone they really loved but can’t be together with.
8. Red-Taylor Swift
- Album: Red
- Release Date: 2012
- Songwriter: Taylor Swift
- Producer: Taylor Swift, Dan Huff, Nathan Chapman, and Christopher Rowe
- Genre: Country, Soft Rock
Lyrics:
Loving him is like driving a new Maserati down a dead-end street
Faster than the wind, passionate as sin, ending so suddenly
The color red as used in this sad Taylor Swift song portrays the pain of a girl’s heartbreak. This song gives the color red another meaning that is far from its being a romantic color. Red can be an expression of pain and loss.
9. Blue- Beyonce
- Album: Beyonce
- Release Date: 2013
- Songwriter: Boots, Knowles
- Producer: Boots, Knowles
- Genre: Pop
Lyrics:
Sometimes
These walls seem to cave in on me
But when I look in your eyes
I feel alive
The color Blue is a portrayal of a mother’s love for her child. Beyonce passed the message in her song to show how much she cared about her daughter Blue Ivy.
If blue is your favorite color, here is another reason to love this song that is all about love, care, and affection.
10. Greenlight-Pitbull
- Album: Climate Change
- Release Date: 2016
- Songwriters: Amando Perez Lukasz Gottwald, Henry Walter, Tramar Dillard, and Gamal Lewis
- Producer: Dr. Luke and Cirkut
- Genre: Dance Pop
Lyrics:
Red light, green light
Everybody take a shot
This upbeat song gives the color green a message of liveliness.
11. Red Lipstick- Rihanna
- Album: Talk That Talk
- Release Date: 2011
- Songwriter: Nash, Fenty, James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, William Kennard, and Saul Milton
- Producer: Chase & Status, Harrell
- Genre: Pop
Lyrics:
Red lipstick, all on the paper
Let me take a hit while you sit and rush
The singer and songwriter is not afraid of her confidence in getting what she wants. Well, wearing red lipstick can have that effect.
She compares sex and drugs as two addictions that she finds satisfying
See Also: Songs About Betrayal- 15 Best Songs To Get You Back Up
12. Black and Yellow- Wiz Khalifa
- Album: Rolling Papers
- Release Date: 2010
- Songwriter: Cameron Thomaz, Mikkel S. Eriksen, Thor Erik Hermasen
- Producer: Stargate
- Genre: Pop Rap
The inspiration for this song lies in Khalifa’s yellow car and his hometown of Pittsburg. Here is a song in celebration of a proud heritage.
13. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road- Elton John
- Album: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
- Release Date:1973
- Songwriter: Bernie Taupin
- Producer: Gus Dudgeon
- Genre: Soft Rock
Lyrics:
When are you gonna come down?
When are you going to land?
I should have stayed on the farm
I should have listened to my old man
Have you ever woken up and promised yourself to take back control of your life? Well here is a song that is full of positivity. Though wealth and fame are good, they can stop one from enjoying the freedom of simple life.
14. Forever Yellow Skies-The Cranberries
- Album: To the Faithful Departed
- Release Date: 1996
- Songwriter: Dolores O’Riordan
- Producer: Bruce Fairbairn and The Cranberries
- Genre: Pop, Rock
Lyrics:
Yellow skies, I can see the yellow skies
See you again, I see you again
In my dreams, in my dreams, in my dreams, in my dreams
Many have described this song as a feel-good song and if yellow is to be interpreted so, then here is a song you should play on repeat.
15. So Blue- Akon
- Album:
- Release Date: 2013
- Songwriter:
- Producer: Jerry Duplessis
- Genre: R&B, Soul
Lyrics:
There are times that one cannot be with the one you wish to be with. While this may feel so wrong, the singer does not mind.
