The color imagery on Lover is interesting. (Obviously there’s the political angle, but let’s put that aside.)
Blue is obviously a sad color, and it’s been referenced as such in her past work (”losing him was blue like I’ve never known”).
On Reputation, we get “my love had been frozen; deep blue but you painted me golden” in a presumed reference to Joe.
Then Lover … really goes all out with relationship with Joe = blue? It’s in like every song:
- “we paint the town blue”
- “I’m with you even if it makes me blue”
- “I blew things out of proportion, now you’re blue”
- “it’s blue, the feeling I’ve got”
- “my heart’s been borrowed and yours has been blue”
not to even mention all the references we’ve gotten to his eye color.
Only on the last song, Daylight, does she resolve the tension here and complete the transition with “I once believed love would be burning red, but it’s golden.”
But why does she take the whole album to do that when it was already spoiled on Reputation? And why do we keep coming back to blue even in otherwise happy, tension-free songs? It’s kinda weird.