The Wild Reed: Black Pumas’ “Colors”: A Celebration of Family, Connections, Movement, and Life

Friday, June 19, 2020

Black Pumas’ “Colors”: A Celebration of Family, Connections, Movement, and Life

In the spirit of Juneteenth, I share this evening for “music night,” the video for the Black Pumas’ song, “Colors.”

Black Pumas is an American psychedelic soul band based in Austin, Texas, led by singer Eric Burton and guitarist/producer Adrian Quesada. The group received its first Grammy Award nomination earlier this year for Best New Artist at the 62nd awards.

“Colors” is from Black Puma’s 2019 self-titled debut album, an album described as “perfectly realized” by The Guardian, and as “a polished, timeless-sounding debut album,” by Headliner Magazine. Pitchfork declared the band’s sound to be “acutely cinematic,” while Rolling Stone complimented frontman Eric Burton’s “tireless, charismatic energy.”

Kristian Mercado, who directed the music video for “Colors,” said that he and lead singer Eric Burton wanted to capture the complicated experience of growing up; to “capture the feeling that is both beautiful and sometimes imperfect.”

I'm thinking that after viewing Mercado's video, you'll agree with me that he definitely succeeded in his goal.

I woke up to the morning sky first
Baby blue just like we rehearsed
When I get up off this ground
I shake leaves back down
to the brown, brown, brown, 'til I'm clean
Then I walked where I'd be shaded by
the trees by a meadow of green
For about a mile I'm headed to
town, town, town, in style

With all my favorite colors
All my favorite colors
My sisters and my brothers see them like no other
All my favorite colors
It's good day to be, a good day for me,
a good day to see my favorite colors
My sisters and my brothers,
they see them like no other
All my favorite colors

Now take me to the otherside
Where the baby blues birds fly
In grey clouds, or white walls,
or blue skies we gon' fly, feel alright
Now we gon' woo ooh woo ooh woo ooh ya
They sound like woo ooh woo ooh woo ooh ya
The least I can say I anticipate
a homecome parade as we renegade in the morning

All my favorite colors
All my favorite colors
My sisters and my brothers see them like no other
All my favorite colors

All my favorite colors
All my favorite colors, yes ma'am
My sisters and my brothers see 'em like no other
All my favorite colors

It's good day to be, a good day for me,
a good day to see my favorite colors
My sisters and my brothers, they see them like no other
All my favorite colors

Following is an excerpt from American Songwriter magazine’s article about the video for “Colors.”

The cinematic [video] – a powerfully intimate, Melanin-packed depiction of the joys and hardships of life colliding – was directed by Kristian Mercado, fresh off his Best Music Video win at this year’s SXSW Film Festival for Hurray for the Riff Raff’s “Pa’lante.”

“I really wanted to capture how powerful the sounds and vocals of Black Pumas are,” says Mercado. “I’m driven by emotion and felt a strong connection to the music. I was on a trip in Florida at Banana Records, when I heard ‘Colors’ playing. I was instantly moved and asked tons of questions about who they were. It was such a powerful song and experience that I sought out to do the music video for the song. We shot the whole film in the Bronx, wanted to show the Bronx as a place that was alive and vibrant. We wanted to celebrate family, connections, movement, and life. We explored the idea of the Bronx as a living garden, always growing always moving forward, and finding a cinematic landscape in places people often ignore.

“[Lead singer] Eric [Burton] and I spoke in great length about perspective and growing up, and how sometimes it’s a complicated experience,” says Mercado. “And we want to capture the feeling that is both beautiful and sometimes imperfect. We wanted to show both the joys and hardships of life colliding and expressing things in movement with images colliding together. Black Pumas are an extraordinary band and the visual needed to share the timeless quality of the song.”