5 Songs to Inspire the Paint on Your Wall

By M. Rakinul Islam

Music has been an integral part of the human civilization for as long as 30,000 years! To add to that, extensive research has provided insight of how music affects the human mind in various astounding methods. To add to the mystic effects of music, let us start by phrasing an interesting question; “Can music be only heard? Or can it be seen and felt and indulged in?’.

To briefly answer this question let us talk about a condition called ‘synesthesia’. Synesthesia is a neurological phenomenon persistent in only 7.2% of the total human population that allows them to represent sound with a color, every note is perceived as a shade of a specific color where low notes are compared to dark colors (negative) and high notes to bright colors (positive). This information got me thinking about the possibilities of songs inspiring us to paint an image, or maybe our walls?

In this segment we are going to look at 5 songs that has the potential to inspire the paint on your wall. We will take a look at different genres and how they might inspire your mood like it inspired mine.

1. We Are Young – Fun ft. Janelle Monae

The first song on our list is an all time favorite of mine, a song that never fails to get me pumped up. This song was released back in 2012 under the genre alternative/indie and it took the youth by storm becoming an all time favorite for many. The song talks about a wild night out and talks about the importance of good friends even at your worst and completely drunk, it radiates a vibe of ecstasy and submission in a weird mix that will definitely get your hormones rushing.

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Whenever I listen to this song, I experience a bright splatter of deep purple with shades of light pink ambiance painted in the center of the purple canvas spreading ever so slowly to the edges. It paints a dominant existence of a canvas with the center of attention being a group of friends facing away. The black borders of the figures are emitting a light ambiance of pink indicating the unity and trust or rather love? Between the group while the background of deep purple emits the rage and wildness that will pursue in the expedition of standing beside a friend and doing everything you can to help them through whatever situation. In summary the song inspires a color combination of purple and pink with the idea of focus being friendship and unity.

2. Raabta by Arijit Singh

This melodious song by the phenomenal Arijit Singh was featured in the movie ‘Agent Vinod’ starring the glamorous duo Saif Ali Khan and Kareena Kapoor. The movie revolves around the exhilarating journey packed with action and the romance of a RAW agent with an ISI agent. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that the song Raabta, when released back in 2012, took my little heart flying, draped with the thoughts of romance, painting it red for someone special.

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Whenever I listen to this song, I am immediately pushed into a mind palace with zero gravity levitating around a blissful shade of red embracing the sweet memories of childhood love, filled with innocence and hope. The picture I am trying to portray here is a burst of red with perhaps prints of roses set all through the canvas. To better experience this thought cycle, close your eyes and travel back to that first time your heart skipped a beat looking at that someone who you thought was ‘the one’, now play this song in the background and feel the red take over your mind and maybe someday, your wall.

3. আমি শুনেছি সেদিন – মৌসুমি ভৌমিক

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This beautiful masterpiece from the album ‘Aamar Kichu Kotha Chilo’ was released sometime in the 90’s. During the wild era of urban-folk-songs in Calcutta along big names such as Sumon and Anjan, Moushumi Bhowmik took the crowd by surprise with her album ‘Tumio Chil Hou’ and since then her music has left a mark in the minds of Bengal. My exposure to this song came early on while I was still a child through the musky sound system of a cd-player my father loved listening to, I can still remember the soothing melody of this song capturing my attention and bathing me in a scenic melancholy of rural Bangladesh.

There is something very powerful about this song, something that immediately dawns a feeling of melancholy upon the listener urging them to indulge in the beauty of sadness. This song inspires you to take the brush in your own hand, stand in front of the wall and apply slow soothing strokes painting it blue with rays of yellow. This song is a mixture of infinite and hope where the blue represents the endless sky and with it all the possibilities, while the yellow represents the sun, shining bright covering the blue with rays of yellow spreading hope to whoever can reach out and grab it. An inspiration that reminds you of the challenges and the opportunities, everything that can and cannot be yours.

4. Raater Kotha by Popeye

This song in my opinion is a beautiful representation of the chaos that goes through our mind through the most soothing of musical touch. It was published sometime in the year 2015 through the album ‘Amar Shorgo’ licensed by G-series Music and soon became a fan favorite through its intrinsic lyrical representation of the sadness in the mind of a lone star gazer.

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Whenever I tune into this song, I am lost under the star lit night of a dark black sky with a hint of greyish white from a moon hidden somewhere behind the clouds. This song also requires the soothing stroke of a brush against a vast wall painting it black first and then lighting it up with stars, or fairy lights maybe? But it doesn’t end there, what is a dark sky with no moon. To perfect the canvas, it is necessary to smear grey and white at the top right corner of the wall to indicate the radiation of moon light through dense dark rain clouds.

Imagine staring at a wall as mentioned with this song playing in the background, take a deep breath and lose yourself in the sorrows you have been holding back for decades, let it all spill and lose yourself to infinite.

5. Remember the Name by Fort Minor

This exhilarating piece by Fort Minor released back in 2005 under the genre of hip-hop/Rap in the album ‘The Rising Tied’ and boy did it deliver! This song has the ability to motivate a person and fill them with a burst of energy, strong enough to get someone moving. In all honesty this is my go-to song before any big event, I always find a calming yet determined vibe from this masterpiece of a creation.

When thinking about this song I tried for a long while to assign a specific color to it, but I failed. This song is a burst of colors painting the canvas abstract. It’s a mixture of rage, melancholy, happiness, sadness and determination and that paints a picture like none other in this list. The most prominent color I could associate with the song was orange but painting this song on a wall would require a large variety of colors to bring perfection into it.

What do you think this song should be painted with?