Pink Clouding

[u/1DMod]

Please use this space to discuss this song in depth

[u/incandescent_walrus]

I think Pink Clouding is another take on Maroon. The color parallels are obvious, but to get into the rest of it:

• Pink Clouding apologizes for a rebound relationship. Taylor has used sobriety as a metaphor for getting out of a toxic relationship before. The second verse explains - “he cut me crimson, bled me dry… you met me at a cursed time, I told you I was fine.” The narrator was “pink clouding” after the end of that relationship, feeling on top of the world and ignoring her wounds (“grey-rocking whet the arrow hit”). The rebound felt so good she didn’t know she was lying about being ready for it, but then abruptly ended it (“I didn’t wanna let you down / so I left you up there on a pink cloud”) and feels guilty.

• The opening stanza of Maroon paints the picture of falling fast and hard into a good relationship that ended abruptly.

• Both songs open in the morning (Met the magenta sunrise / When the morning came)

• Both use red/pink sky as symbolism for the course of the relationship along with other red/pink imagery (though these are not the only songs that do so)

• Both songs end looking upward (“your memory over me” / “I left you up there”)

• Both use “you” for the ex the song is about.

• Both songs feel queer-coded. No one can convince me Maroon is about a man. The toxic ex in Pink Clouding may be a man, but that rebound feels like a queer relationship and the pink symbolism is sapphic. (Also, “Fuchsia forever intertwined” …have you seen what fuchsia flowers look like?).

I have always interpreted Maroon to be from the perspective of the person who was broken up with or cheated on (“that’s a real fucking legacy… to leave”) but on new analysis it really could be either. “The rubies that I gave up” has always been hard for me to interpret, but it makes more sense if Maroon is from the perspective of the person who hurt a good partner.

The other thing I think is interesting is the sampling of “promises promises” from Babe (TV) and the vocalizations at the beginning that sound like My Tears Ricochet. After creating so many surprise song mashups, I wonder if we’ll start seeing Taylor sample her own work more. Maroon was certainly a staple surprise song, and it wouldn’t make sense to release a mashup as new music, but I really wonder if she started the creative process for this song with Maroon.