These 11 Songs Are Particularly Orange

Reading Time: 11 min read

These 11 Songs Are Particularly Orange features music courtesy of Kehlani, Led Zeppelin, Melanie Martinez, Rick James, and Zach Bryan.

Prepare to be smothered by the color ORANGE! That’s right, this playlist – 🎧 These 11 Songs Are Particularly Orange – features songs that reference the color orange in some form or fashion. It is NOT a requirement for the keyword to be used explicitly in the song title, hence why it is perfectly fine for things like fire 🔥 and tangerines 🍊 to represent the orange-ness. 🎧 These 11 Songs Are Particularly Orange features music courtesy of 🎙 Kehlani, 🎙 Led Zeppelin, 🎙 Melanie Martinez, 🎙 Rick James, and 🎙 Zach Bryan among others. So, without further ado, let’s jump right into this great big orange pool of songs, shall we?!

1. Zach Bryan, “Something in the Orange”

💿 American Heartbreak • 🏷 Belting Bronco / Warner • 📅 2022

“Please turn those headlights around,” 🎙 Zach Bryan begs on 🎵 “Something in the Orange.” Uh-oh – it’s those pesky matters of the heart at work! “Something in the Orange” appears on the country’s singer’s gargantuan, two-hour-long, triple-disc album, 💿 American Heartbreak.  So, what’s going on with Zach’s relationship on “Something in the Orange?” Well, it seems as if Bryan is working hard to mitigate damage, if the damage isn’t already too severe. Throughout this superbly penned, heartfelt number, Bryan tries to convince her to say and that “Somethin’ in the orange tells me [him] we’re not done.” He states,  “It’ll be fine by dusk light, I’m tellin’ you, baby,” but it seems to be easier said than done. He makes it clear that she means the world to him – “To me, you’re all I am.”  Furthermore, without her, he is hopeless.  Sadly, he realizes, “I poisoned myself again, somethin’ in the orange / Tells mе you’re never comin’ homе.” The orange, of course, is the sun.  Oh, that American Heartbreak stings something awful, but the song itself is epic!

Appears in 🔻: 

2. Kehlani, “Tangerine”

💿 blue water road • 🏷 TSNMI / Atlantic • 📅 2022

“I get jealous, jealous of every sip / Pineapple water, I can taste it on your lips.” Ooh wee, 🎙 Kehlani! The bops are endless on the 🏆 Grammy nominated R&B artist’s third studio album, 💿 blue water road. 🎵 “Tangerine” marks another elite moment. Kehlani serves up sexy vocals and sweet lyrics. “Tangerine” is supported by a rhythmic beat and sound production by 🎛 Happy Perez and Pop Wansel. The backdrop isn’t earth shattering but sufficiently fits the sensual vibes. “Fireplace in wintertime / Heat me up, I’ll keep you warm,” Kehlani sings in the second verse, adding, “My sugar cane dangerous / Nectar on my face again.” Of course, the centerpiece is the tuneful chorus:

“Raspberry tangerine, honey (I can taste me on you)

Vanilla bean, so sweet

And you can get it in the mornin’, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

When you want it, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah

Raspberry tangerine, honey.”

Appears in 🔻:

Tangerine 🍊: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 45 (2023)

3. Baby Keem, “Orange Soda”

💿 Die for My Bitch • 🏷 Baby Keem • 🗓 2019

“Lil’ bitch, shut the fuck up / Tell your best friend, shut the fuck up, ayy.” Wow, that’s not very nice… It’s worth noting that the song at hand, 🎵 “Orange Soda” isn’t about soda. “Orange Soda” hails from 🏆 Grammy-winning rapper 🎙 Baby Keem. It appears on his colorfully titled 2019 project, 💿 Die for My Bitch. Maybe he will indeed ‘die for his bitch,’ but that lyrical excerpt doesn’t give me much confidence that is actually the case. “Orange Soda” is a total banger, produced by Keem and 🎛 Keanu Beats. While Keem does mention orange soda (“Messy, you my orange soda shorty”), it’s actually about sex and drip. In the chorus, he also manages to reference “smokin’ cat piss” (weed).

“Bitch, sit on my face, I attack that

Choose up, lil’ junt, I’m finna pack him

When it comes to my bitch, I’m straight active

Dirtball in the coupe smokin’ cat piss

Lil’ bitch, shut the fuck up

Tell your best friend, shut the fuck up, ayy.”

Appears In 🔻:

4. Rick James, “Fire And Desire” (Ft. Teena Marie)

💿 Street Songs • 🏷 UMG Recordings, Inc. • 🗓 1981

“I’ve got a new lady now / And it’s a little different than when I was with you,” the late, great R&B singer/songwriter, 🎙 Rick James (1948 – 2004) asserts in the intro of 🎵 “Fire And Desire”. “Fire And Desire” appears on James’ platinum certified, 1981 album, 💿 Street Songs. He expounds on the seven-minute-plus, sixth track, “I think of how you changed me with your love and your sensitivity.” Although James is with someone new, he touts how much his ex-girlfriend changed him – taught him how to love. In the first verse, he sings about how bad he treated his girlfriends: “I was cold as ice long ago, baby, baby / I wasn’t very, very, very nice, you know / Sugar, sugar, sugar / Then I kissed your lips.” Notably, the centerpiece of “Fire And Desire” is the chorus, which finds James showing gratitude to his ex for teaching him how to love and be a better man:

“And you turned on my fire, baby

And you burn me up within your flame

Took me a little higher

Made me live again

You turned on my fire, baby

Then you showed me what a love could do

Fire and desire, baby

Feel it coming through

And I thank you baby.”

Rick James sounds fantastic, showing off his robust, soulful instruments. As electrifying as he is himself, penning, producing, and singing this epic ballad, he is joined by another late legendary R&B artist, 🎙 Teena Marie (1956 – 2010). Notably, Marie and James dated briefly. Clearly, the chemistry is awesome between the two, specifically in the collaborative chorus and outro. Marie doesn’t enter until well into the song (second verse), flaunting an exquisite tone and an awe-inspiring range. When Teena sings, it sounds effortless and utterly celestial. Like Rick, she attests to how he made her love better. Beyond the thoughtful, love-oriented songwriting, the sound of 🎵 “Fire And Desire” is gorgeous including the rhythm section, strings, and vibraphone. Honestly, this record deserved much more attention on the charts – it’s an 80s gem.

Appears in 🔻:

Rick James, “Fire And Desire”: Throwback Vibez 🕶️🎶 67 (2023)

5. Glass Animals, “Tangerine”

💿 Dreamland • 🏷 Wolf Tone • 📅 2020

“Hands, knees, please, tangerine, come on back to me / You got what I need, tangerine, do this for me,” 🎙 Dave Bayley sings in the chorus of the 🎙 Glass Animals song, 🎵 “Tangerine”. “Tangerine” appears on the same album, 💿 Dreamland (2020), where the collective scored a dominant no. 1 hit, 🎵 “Heat Waves”. “Tangerine” has received its fair share of spins streaming wise – it’s one of the more popular records from Dreamland. In the slickly produced second track, Bayley laments adverse changes in people, including former romantic partners: “I wish I could show you more of yourself / I wish I could make you somebody else / But I left it way too late / Are you stuck in your own ways / (I’m begging).” Early on, Bayley is perturbed by what he sees. In the first verse, he sings, “As cold as an old ice cream sandwich, as focused as Mr. Miyagi / You poke at your phone posting aerial photos of you and your smoothie.” That does sound absurd and utterly meaningless, doesn’t it? Bayley sings lovely, backed by his own picturesque production, which is anchored by a sweet beat. This tangerine is quite sweet, despite the fact that the person or persons being described are sus.

Appears in 🔻:

Tangerine 🍊: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 45 (2023)

6. Snoh Aalegra, “TANGERINE DREAM”

💿 TEMPORARY HIGHS IN THE VIOLET SKIES • 🏷 Artium Recordings LLC • 📅 2021

“You were supposed to be my tangerine dream / My everything / It was all a fantasy / My tangerine dream.” Ah, “Tangerine Dream,” the seventh track from 💿 Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies, the third studio album by Swedish-born and bred Iranian singer/songwriter 🎙 Snoh Aalegra (Shahrzad Fooladi). Produced by 🎛 Compass, who makes his first appearance on the album, “Tangerine Dream” retains a familiar sound within the context of Temporary Highs in the Violet Skies. The listener is given more of the same aesthetic, sensibilities, and vibe – a winning formula. The 🏆 Grammy nominated musician sings coolly, calmly, and soulfully, depicting a relationship that fell well short of expectations. “Told me I’m such a fucking singer, ‘Man, you’re too loud’ / Can you land that tone, boy, can you calm down?” marks one of the more memorable moments from the first verse. The end of the second is intriguing too:

“The other night, I was somebody that you didn’t know

Just ‘cause I ain’t text you back about a week ago

And after all that crazy shit that you said to me

How you find this personal?”

Facts, Snoh!

Appears in 🔻:

Tangerine 🍊: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 45 (2023)

7. Miley Cyrus, “Tangerine” (Ft. Big Sean)

💿 Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz • 🏷 RCA • 📅 2015

“The sun is a giant spaceship tangerine / It shoots out rays of hopeful golden morphine / Tangerine shooting beam…” Okurrr… 🎙 Miley Cyrus is a talented musician, period. She possesses a distinct voice and has plenty of personality to go along with it. She’s also polarizing, with her most polarizing period occurring in the 2010s. Following her controversial 💿 BANGERZ era, Cyrus released an album in 2015 that exemplifies polarization: 💿 Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz. Some like the album and others, well, not so much – depends on who you are. One notable moment is the five-minute-plus 🎵 “Tangerine,” where Cyrus collaborates for a second time in her career with rapper, 🎙 Big Sean (🎵 “Love, Money, Party” marked the first collab). Miley produced this weird but compelling joint alongside 🎛 The Flaming Lips. Following the first verse, where Cyrus sings about this tangerine shooting beam, Sean raps reflectively in the second verse, asserting, “Jealous of the sun, wishing I could do the same / Man, but how I’m supposed rise through when shit just hold me down?” He has a point. He also adds, “Seems like everyone I know is getting married / Everyone else getting buried / Life should come with a sign saying, ‘results may vary’.” Cyrus ends “Tangerine” intriguingly: “Try to fight the sunrise but it comes for you / Love is brighter than the fiery violent truth.” Sure…

Appears in 🔻:

Tangerine 🍊: 3 to 5 BOPS No. 45 (2023)

8. Melanie Martinez, “Orange Juice”

💿 K-12 • 🏷 Atlantic • 📅 2019

🎙 Melanie Martinez was among the most compelling contestants on NBC’s vocal competition, The Voice. While The Voice hasn’t exactly catapulted many of its alumni into big-time success, Martinez has achieved her fair share of success. Quite a quirky, alternative individual, it paid dividends on her 2015 major label debut, 💿 Cry Baby. Four years later, she returned with another distinct, conceptual affair with her ‘school-centric’ sophomore album, 💿 K-12. Cry Baby, the central character on Cry Baby, returned on K-12, which is notably accompanied by a 90+ minute film. Fitting the orangeness of 🎧 These 11 Songs Are Particularly Orange is 🎵 “Orange Juice.” “Orange Juice” doesn’t put the popular fruit juice in a positive light. That’s part of the genius of it. Martinez addresses the dangers of eating disorders, seeking to attain ‘perfection’ at the risk of poor health mentally and physically. “You turn oranges to orange juice,” she sings on the chorus, continuing, “Enter there, then spit it out of you / Your body is imperfectly perfect / Everyone wants what the other one’s working / No more orange juice.”

Appears in 🔻:

11 Songs Where the Juice is Totally Potent (2019)

9. Ezra Furman, “Peel My Orange Every Morning”

💿 Transangelic Exodus • 🏷 Bella Union • 📅 2018

“I’m in love with an angel, and a government is after us, and we have to leave home because angels are illegal, as is harboring angels”. In 2018, then gender-fluid rock musician 🎙 Ezra Furman (she now identifies as a transgender woman) delivered one of best albums that few people heard with her self-described, ‘Queer Outlaw Saga,’ 💿 Transangelic Exodus. Transangelic Exodus is among the most ambitious concept albums you’ll ever come across, encompassing transangelicism, as well as topics including spirituality, body transformation, and issues affecting the LGBTQ community 🏳️‍🌈. “I eat an orange every morning / And I take my time with the peel / It’s my beginner’s meditation / To start my little journey on an even keel,” Furman sings on 🎵 “Peel My Orange Every Morning.” Despite its brevity (well under two minutes), “Peel My Orange Every Morning” is punchy, incorporating bombastic, noisy sounds, and ideas into the mix. According to Furman, it “is a short song about fruit and coping mechanisms.” Honestly, the ‘coping mechanisms’ seem most important, though she sings at the end of the song, “I am citrus: peel back my skin / Open me and expose the soft wet inside.”

Appears in 🔻:

10. Jaron, “ORANGES”

🎵 “ORANGES” • 🏷 Modern Art • 📅 2023

“Cause every time I feel you, it feels like…” 🎵 “ORANGES,” of course! Well, maybe oranges weren’t the first feeling or fruit that came to mind, but that’s what 🎙 Jaron (Jaron Steele) serves up on the 2023 single. “ORANGES” has a brief runtime, clocking in just over two minutes. Even given the brevity, Steele serves up a surefire vibe – quite the aesthetic! The orange action commences with an enigmatic, ear-catching intro. Sans beat initially, soon enough, a groove settles in, giving “ORANGES” more structure. Adding further to that structure, at about :35 in, Steele begins singing. There are only a few lyrics, mind you, with Steele singing at one point, “Can I take you back? Let me take you back home…” It leads to the key lyric, excerpted above, and capped off with citrus 🍊, sigh.

11. Led Zeppelin, “Tangerine”

💿 Led Zeppelin III • 🏷 Atlantic • 📅 1970

“Measuring a summer’s day / I only find it slips away to grey / The hours, they bring me pain.” Uh oh – #summer bummer! Let’s cut straight to the chase. 🎙 Led Zeppelin kicks ass and takes name, PERIOD 🤘! They are one of the greatest bands to ever live. On their 1970 album, 💿 Led Zeppelin III, 🎙 Robert Plant and company delivered another gem, in the form of a fruit: 🎵 “Tangerine”. Notably, “Tangerine” follows another fruity classic, 🎵 “The Lemon Song”. “Tangerine” isn’t sexual like “The Lemon Song,” however, hehe!

“Tangerine, tangerine

Living reflection from a dream

I was her love, she was my queen

And now a thousand years in between.”

“Tangerine” was supposedly inspired by Page’s girlfriend at the time, Jackie DeShannon (“Does she still remember times like these?”). Clearly, the love seems to be ended. Moving onto the sound of the record, it is unique from the jump. The unique sound is owed to the use of pedal steel guitar by 🎙 Jimmy Page which adds this folksy flavoring. The rhythmic nature of the pedal steel is quite a vibe. Page penned this gem himself, though there are some questions surrounding the lyrics. The song was first recorded with 🎙 The Yardbirds as 🎵 “Knowing That I’m Losing You”. Moving beyond songwriting, the vocals (Plant) are stellar, and the rest of the instrumentation – fat bass line (🎙 John Paul Jones), stellar drumming (the late 🎙 John Bonham), and rousing lead guitar help craft 🎵 “Tangerine” into a surefire classic 🤘.

Appears in 🔻:

These 11 Songs Are Particularly Orange (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Artium Recordings LLC, Atlantic, Baby Keem, Bella Union, Belting Bronco, Modern Art, RCA, TSNMI, UMG Recordings, Inc., Warner, Wolf Tone; Bruno Felix, cottonbro studio, Juan Ordonez, Ovid Burke, Rafael Cerqueira from Pexels; Alexas Fotos, Clker-Free-Vector-Images from Pixabay]

These 11 Songs Are Particularly Orange | Playlist 🎧

Published by the musical hype on July 5, 2023July 5, 2023