Analyse of Spectrum lyrics

In my opinion I think that this song is about the world and Florence + The Machine's is trying to get her point across to her audience to awaken them about the Earth and the way we live. I also believe that this song is about Christianity and how were all on Earth because of God.

When we first came here
We were cold and we were clear
With no colors on our skin
We were light and paper-thin

In this verse Florence is explaining how when we all arrived on earth we were all the same and we were all dull (compared to nowadays when everyone grows into their individuality they have colour and are no longer dull).

And when we first came here
We were cold and we were clear
With no colors on our skin
'Till you let the spectrum in

In this verse Florence is explaining how when we all arrived on Earth we were boring and we were all ordinary, however that all changes when we grow up and decide to become individual and become different from everyone else ('Till you let the spectrum in).

[Repeat: x3]
Say my name
And every color illuminates
We are shining
And we will never be afraid again

In this verse she is explaining how when we first arrived on earth we were all the same however now she's awakened and now she can see the truth as she is illuminated. Then she because is shining she is not afraid as she is now expressing herself.

And when we come for you
We dressed up all in blue
With the ocean in our arms
Kissing eyes and kissing palms

In this verse Florence says 'We dressed up all in blue' blue connotes peace and unity, and as the ocean is blue Florence is describing how everyone will be connected and peaceful. This verse also represented humanity and how we are all brothers and sisters and are all united.

When it's time to pray
We dressed up all in gray
With metal on our tongues
And silver in our lungs

In this verse Florence explains how when we pray were all dressed in grey, the connotation of grey represents sophistication an strength, this is ironic as when people pray they usually do not have strength as they have turned to God for help.

[Repeat: x3]
Say my name
And every color illuminates
We are shining
And we'll never be afraid again

And when we come back we'll be dressed in black
And you'll scream our names aloud
And we won't eat and we won't sleep
We'll drag bodies from their graves

Within this verse Florence is explaining how the world are ready to do everything in their power to not let humanity get sent to their graves - as the colour black connotes power and authority.

So say my name
And every color illuminates
And we are shining
And we'll never be afraid again
Say my name
As every color illuminates

[Repeat: x2]
Say my name
And every color illuminates
We are shining
And we'll never be afraid again

Say my name
We are shining
Say my name
Say my name
And we will never be afraid again

Overall I think that the message Florence is trying to get across in this song is that we (humans) are destroying the Earth we live on, and it's our job to stop destroying the Earth, for example poverty, greed, pollution and war. Therefore it's our job to work together and stand up and stop ruining the Earth.

My groups analyses was similiar to my analysis although Meghan thought the meaning behind the lyrics about religion and how we need to keep our faith and not be afraid of society to make us lose faith.  Me and my group would like to create a concept or narrative based music video, one of the micro-elements we would like to use is to edit our music video so that the visuals and music are parallel as this is a dance/electro-house genre convention. As we would like to make a concept/narrative music video we discussed how we could use high key lighting to make our music video higher in verisimilitude.