10 musicians who stick to one colour scheme

It is a challenge to stick to one colour as you venture out as a performer and artist. After all, shouldn’t all colours be put at your disposal to mix and match as you please? And yet, there have been several music artists, rappers and bands who have often stuck to one colour when it came to clothing, photo shoots and videos. The reasons for this unorthodox choice range from imparting a specific message subconsciously to using them to distract audiences from behind-the-stage issues or simply using a single hue to help pull all your focus and unlock your creativity in a unique way.

1. The White Stripes: Red, white and black

The White Stripes are best known for their song “Seven Nation Army”. Comprising Jack and Meg White, the band follows a ‘red, white and black’ aesthetic – often using stripes (hence the band name). “Red, white and black was a sacred part of what Meg and I were doing,” Jack White once commented. “For a label not to understand that meant there were a lot of other things they wouldn’t understand.” 

Jack selected these colours to resemble peppermint candy. In fact, their fandom is called Candy Cane Children. According to Sonja K. Foss, red-black-and-white symbolizes childlike simplicity. Understandably, the tricolour complemented the Stripes’ youthful songs like “We’re Going To Be Friends”. Sticking to three colours freed the band to focus on other aspects, like songwriting. 

Another reason they chose this tricolour was a distraction. Jack admitted to the New York Times that the “cartoonish” candy cane aesthetic helped distract listeners from the fact that Jack and Meg were White musicians playing Black music – the blues.

2. Caroline Rose: Red

Caroline Rose is an artist from Long Island, and renowned in the indie scene. She dons bright red on her album covers, music videos and shows. Around 2014, Rose used to wear basic black-and-white to be taken seriously as a musician. It is a go-to uniform for many musicians because it doesn’t distract audiences from the music. But Rose was self-conscious.

While on a journey of self-discovery, she stopped wearing black-and-white. She challenged herself to wear only red to take herself less seriously. It was liberating. Rose got wild in her shows and more carefree. Ironically, this attitude made her care more about her artistry. She was inspired by director Pedro Almodóvar’s use of saturated reds. “I love monochrome. When you see everything in one colour, that person really thought out what they’re doing,” the artist told Rolling Stone.

But there’s no symbolism in her choice of hue. “It’s not symbolic or anything”, she said. It was simply her favourite colour. The shade nicely complements her surname, though.

3. Ashnikko: Blue

Ashnikko is an alternative singer based in London. She gained notoriety with “STUPID” and “Slumber Party”. The artist commands our attention with her striking blue hair.

Blue is visible in all her photoshoots. It is present in almost every shot in her music videos. In “Daisy”, she wears blue diamonds. In “Make You Sick”, her backup dancers have blue wigs. And it is never a soft tone. Ashnikko’s blue is cobalt or ultramarine. These bold shades accompany the artist’s dark, dystopian vision. Her world has violent machines and vengeful faeries. No powder blues to be found here. 

The singer never explained why she chose blue, but it seems to be her favourite. But it wasn’t always her best friend. Before 2019, her signature tone was green. She had green hair in the “Blow” music video and a green-themed CLASH photoshoot. But these days, Ashnikko is loyal to Blue.

4. Ppcocaine: Pink

Ppcocaine is the stage name of Californian rapper Liliane Diomi. The rapper shot to stardom when her tracks like “Three Musketeers” went viral on lesbian TikTok. Ppcocaine is known for her pink hair and pink clothes. Often, she wears pink leotards, bikinis, minidresses and pink dyed-ponytails.  Sometimes, she wears a pink afro. The colour is often in a baby pink shade. These shades appear in her music videos and many photos. 

The light pink colour is meant to go with Ppcocaine’s online persona. The rapper has an e-girl-meets-anime-girl aesthetic and pink lends well to that. Ppcocaine is a big fan of anime and has an unreleased song called “She Watch Anime”. Her singles’ covers depict the artist in anime-style art and her voice sounds like the bad English dubbing of an anime. But Ppcocaine isn’t happy with being the kawaii, an innocent girl. She often mixes her art with hentai-inspired visuals and lyrics, throwing in swear words generously.

Moreover, “Ppcocaine” stands for “pretty pink cocaine”. Seems like pink is here to stay for the controversial performer.

5. Greentea Peng: Green

Greentea Peng is a neo-soul singer from London. Her music is spiritual and political, often advocating for peace. Aria Wells got the idea for the name Greentea Peng when she saw a tea box in a Peruvian shop. The brand was Green Tea Seng and the cover displayed a pretty (“peng”) woman wearing a tea-leaf bikini. Thus, Greentea Peng was born.

Greentea wears green in all her public appearances. She loves the colour because it is associated with all that she loves – nature, forests, herbal tea and cannabis. It makes her feel at peace.

“When I’m around green I just feel better,” Peng explained to Crack Magazine. “I wish I could just wear all green clothes every day, but I don’t have them, and I don’t have any money to buy all green clothes. But one day I’ll have accumulated enough green clothes to do it.” Her best green outfits are in the visuals for “Mr. Sun (miss da sun)”, “Nah It Ain’t The Same” and “Hu Man”.

6. GIRLI: Pink

GIRLI is a singer-songwriter from London who is known for her signature dark pink hair. While she has often switched her hairstyles, the colour and shade have always remained. The artist has explained to many magazines how she uses the colour pink as a weapon.

Pink is a colour often associated with femininity – and in turn – fragility, weakness and passivity. The feminist GIRLI was bothered by this narrative and wanted to flip this notion by wearing pink while making aggressive music. She reclaimed pink as a strong, bold colour. Her songs like “Girls Get Angry Too” and “Imposter Syndrome” range from punk to power pop, and bear an empowering message.

But the artist admitted that she was open to altering her hair dye if she felt so in the future. Life, after all, is about change and growth.

7. Jack White: Blue, white and black

Jack White was not only known for maintaining the strict black, white and red policy for The White Stripes. In his solo venture, White loyally adheres to blue, black and white. The rockstar believes in the power of three: three colours and his record label Third Man. All his music videos have this hue and in his shows, the lighting produces this look as well. One can also see his album cover art with this colour scheme, whether it is ‘Blunderbuss’, ‘Lazaretto’ or ‘Fear of the Dawn’. 

Director Jim Jarmusch once described Jack White as being “meticulous” about style; he was adamant about the colours of the amp covers. Sometimes, he also dyes his hair blue to fit this aesthetic, with mixed results.

8. Madishu: Purple

Madishu is a Dutch independent singer who makes pop music. She is also well known for always wearing purple. Truly, it is very hard to find a promotional picture of her that doesn’t have this cover in her clothes, props or the set. Madishu explains on her website how she loved purple ever since she was gifted a purple notebook with a Walt Disney quote printed on it: “If you can dream, it can do it”. Her fascination for the colour was ignited when she was gifted a pair of pants with this tone. It was her favourite outfit.

Today, purple is more than just a pretty colour Madishu uses to make herself stand out from other music artists. To her, purple symbolises “magic, power and ambition”. It also reflects the non-binary and asexual flags in the LGBTQ+ community of which she is an outspoken advocate. Her music videos, such as “Naive”, are splashed with all shades of lavender, orchid, phlox and heliotrope.

9. The Blue Man Group: Blue

The iconic Blue Man Group are a New York-based band and art performance group. They make music, do miming, comedy, acting or just walk through the city in their iconic blue paint as walking pieces of art. Usually wearing suits, these men paint themselves head to toe with a bright avocado-based cerulean paint. The message behind this routine isn’t as deep as you’d think: the idea came to its founders as a way to be confident in one’s strangeness and connect with audiences without verbal cues. Just with hand and face gestures and props. 

The idea to paint themselves blue probably came from a round of different inspirations as this colour played a significant role in the members’ lives. There was a photo of a tribe of people painted blue which was stored – for some reason – in the wallet of one of the Blue Man Group members. Another member used to draw blue men in his doodles as a child and happened to find this drawing one day just before the Group was formed.

The blue has been interpreted as a symbol of commitment. A bold shade like this cannot be hidden. To be bald and colour yourself this, then walk through the streets of New York City or interact with people takes guts. But it has also become the Blue Man Group’s liberation – and their cause of fame.

10. Black Sabbath: Black

Black Sabbath is a British band (from Birmingham) who have been credited with possibly creating the metal genre as we know it. The band are also known to have worn black in all their public appearances. The colour appears in Black Sabbath’s music album covers, clothes and photos. Black is a colour most popular with fans of various such genres, be it death metal, black metal, heavy metal or nu-metal. Bands and their fans are all united with this unspoken agreement of wearing black at concerts.

Metalheads wear black to express their sense of rebellion and untamed spirit. Metal songs are often about pain, suffering, death and angst. And what better colour to represent these intense themes than the darkest of all shades? Black also helps the bands in keeping the attention of fans focused on their music more than anything.

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