Paint 🎨 | 3 to 5 BOPS

Paint 🎨: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 67 (2023), features musical BOPS courtesy of Arctic Monkeys, Doja Cat, Polo G, The Rolling Stones, and Skrillex.

Ah, you know what time it is! It’s 3 to 5 BOPS time – WOO! On 3 to 5 BOPS, it’s all about brevity and sweetness… for the most part! There’s a theme/topic, 3, 4, or 5 songs, and a blurb – two paragraphs or less.  3 to 5 BOPS, hence, is a mini playlist that shouldn’t take much time to consume.  In the 67th edition of 3 to 5 BOPS (2023), we select songs that are associated with PAINT 🎨 in some form or fashion. The BOPS arrive courtesy of 🎙 Arctic Monkeys, 🎙 Doja Cat, 🎙 Polo G, 🎙 The Rolling Stones, and 🎙 Skrillex. Okay, let’s get into it!

1. Doja Cat, “Paint The Town Red”

🎵 “Paint The Town Red” • 🏷 Kemosabe / RCA • 🗓 2023

“Said pop make money, now you try, bitch / You could use a revamp with a new vibe, sis.” 🏆 Grammy-winning artist 🎙 Doja Cat (Amala Dlamini) is locked-in in aggressive mode on her single, 🎵 “Paint The Town Red”. Produced by 🎛 Earl on the Beat, Amala gets a lift as the beloved, classic soul cut, 🎵 “Walk on By” by Dionne Warwick (1964) is sampled overtly.  In fact, Warwick kicks things off, setting the tone for “Paint The Town Red.”

The first thing we hear from Doja Cat is the chorus, in all its assertive glory. “Yeah, bitch, I said what I said / I’d rather be famous instead,” she bites, continuing, “I let all that get to my head / I don’t care, I paint the town red.” WOO! If the chorus weren’t feisty enough, the post-chorus certainly is, adding to the infectious nature of “Paint The Town Red”   

“Mm, she the devil 

She a bad lil’ bitch, she a rebel  

She put her foot to the pedal 

It’ll take a whole lot for me to settle.”

Gah-day-ummm! Beyond the chorus, the biting, unapologetic bars continue in the verses.  The first verse commences with a bang: “Said my happiness is all of your misery / I put good dick all in my kidneys.”  Holy shit! Oh, and in verse two, there is no back down: “I’m a demon, Lord / Fall off what? I ain’t seen the horse.”  Fully embracing all things rap and hip-hop, Doja Cat shines on 🎵 “Paint The Town Red”. 

Appears in 🔻:

• These 13 Songs Bleed 🩸 Red (2023)

2. Skrillex & Bibi Bourelly, “Painting Rainbows”

💿 Don’t Get Too Close • 🏷 OWSLA / Atlantic • 📅 2023

“This is the original / but don’t run it up / Don’t run it up / D-Don’t run it up…” 🏆 Grammy-winning DJ/producer 🎙 Skrillex (Sonny Moore) and German American singer 🎙 Bibi Bourelly join forces to paint 🎨 rainbows 🌈… Okurrr! 🎵 “Painting Rainbows” appears as the 12^th and final track off 💿 Don’t Get Too Close, one of two albums released by Skrillex in 2023. Moore produced “Painting Rainbows” alongside 🎛 Deputy with positive results (infectious groove and colorful keys and synths). Of course, Bourelly handles the vocals, which intriguing from the explicit intro onward (“They want, me to / Ask to speak, fuck that”).  Clearly, nobody tells her what to do!

Bibi Bourelly has quite the voice – commanding, distinct, and expressive.  The power she brings on “Painting Rainbows,” whether rapping or singing, draws the listener’s attention.  In the first verse, she sounds a bit more enigmatic, with unique effects on her rapped vocals.  Soon enough, the singing comes through on the titular lyrics (verse two), where Bibi asserts, “Paintin’ rainbows when it storm, when it rain / Paintin’ rainbows on the seats in a train / I paint rainbows when I speak, when I sing.” Woo! As the track progresses, there is no shortage of profanity, as Bibi flexes her sunshine hard for the dreamers.  At the end of this entertaining record, she reiterates one of its surefire mic drop moments: “I stand fit, I will never fall back / If you inauthentic, you’re my doormat.” While 🎵 “Painting Rainbows” features some traditional sections, the form should not be characterized as traditional itself.

Appears in 🔻: 

• Skrillex & Bibi Bourelly, Painting Rainbows: Dance Gemz 🕺 💎 🎶 16 (2023)

3. Arctic Monkeys, “Body Paint”

💿 The Car • 🏷 Domino • 🗓 2022

“So predictable, I know what you’re thinking.” After a four-year hiatus, 🏆 Grammy-nominated alternative collective 🎙 Arctic Monkeys returned with their seventh studio album, 💿 The Car. 🎵 “Body Paint” served as the absolutely, utterly stupendous second single. The music is gorgeous, with warmer keys (and synths), strings, and eventually, a more raucous electric guitar. Arctic Monkeys never fail in the instrumental department.  Furthermore, 🎙 Alex Turner serves up sublime vocals and colorful lyrics.  Honestly, not just anybody could commence a record with, “For a master of deception and subterfuge / You’ve made yourself quite the bed to lie in.” It doesn’t stop there either.  In the second verse, “My teeth are beating, and my knees are weak / It’s as if there’s something up with the wiring.” Yep, that is some serious pain, particularly that toothache! Uniquely, the chorus is one line – “So predictable, I know what you’re thinking” – while there is also a bridge, instrumental break, and a refrain.  What is Turner getting at thematically? It seems to be a mix of covering up and masking feelings, deception, and cheating. All told, 🎵 “Body Paint” is a cleverly written, well-performed, and well-produced.

Appears in 🔻: 

• 13 Songs Associated with the Body, Vol. 2 (2022)
• Awesome Songs: October 2022
• 50 Best Songs of 2022

4. Polo G, “Painting Pictures”

💿 Hall of Fame • 🏷 Columbia • 📅 2021

“God, I know I’m nothin’ like them / I’m just different, I’m built different / I feel as if we all got a purpose and we all special / But me, my potential is unmatched / I’m the chosen one.” Heavy words from rapper 🎙 Polo G. Honestly, 🎵 “Painting Pictures,” the opening track from his 2021 album, 💿 Hall of Fame, is a lot.  This 🎛 1040 / yungfuel production impacts the first time you hear it as the rapper remembers numerous family and friends who are deceased including Lil Wooski, Uncle Lamp, TimTim (Devonshay Lofton), and The Bryant Twins. Their deaths are all associated with gun violence, sadly.  It should be noted that Polo G himself was a gang member, which checks out given the content of his music.  Here, however, he seems to understand the responsibility he carries as being alive given how many members of his circle have been lost.

“Tryna choose your thoughts over your feelings, that’s the hardest fight

Had to prove ‘em wrong, they said my dreams was out of sight

Now it’s 50K up in my jeans on chartered flights

And we rock the hardest ice.”

5. The Rolling Stones, “Paint It, Black”

💿 Aftermath • 🏷 ABKCO Music & Records Inc. • 📅 1966

“I see a red door and I want it painted 🎨 black.” Early on, 🎵 “Paint It, Black” is one of the darker songs from 🎙 The Rolling Stones’ illustrious catalog.  It’s set in a minor key, and even if it wasn’t, the lyrics confirm the depression and morbidity of the track.  Dark it may be, but that didn’t inhibit it from earning the band one of 23 top 10 hits.  Precisely, “Paint it Black” is one of the band’s 8 no. 1 hits, spending two weeks at no. 1 on the Hot 100 in 1966. 🎙 Mick Jagger continues singing in the first verse of the 💿 Aftermath gem, “No colors anymore, I want them to turn black / I see the girls walk by dressed in their summer clothes / I have to turn my head until my darkness goes.” You know it’s bad when girls in summer clothes anger you…

The first verse only sets the tone as far as Jagger’s mood.  The second verse provides more insight into what has happened to cause his anger, depression, and ultimately grief.  He mentions cars all painted black, which suggests a funeral procession.  He follows up with “With flowers and my love, both never come back,” which confirms the lover is deceased.  As “Paint It Black” progresses, Mick continues to struggle with depression, shocked about her death in the fourth verse, and viewing things once seen as bright and cheerful as, well, black, of course.  The blackness The Rolling Stones desire includes the sun, “Blotted out from the sky / I wanna see it painted, painted, painted / Painted black, yeah.” Fun fact: 🎵 “Paint It, Black” features 🎙 Brian Jones playing sitar, adding to the unique sound of this classic.  A less fun fact: Did you know The Rolling Stones – an iconic band – has only won three 🏆 Grammys? Make it make sense!

Appears in 🔻:

• The Rolling Stones, Paint It, Black: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 127 (2023)

Paint 🎨: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 67 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; ABKCO Music & Records Inc., Columbia, Domino, Kemosabe / RCA, OWSLA / Atlantic; Pablo de Haro, Rafael Barros, Renato Bezerra from Pexels]