When serenading the devil himself, it makes sense that the color red would make an appearance – and it does, warped into The Struts ‘Too Good At Raising Hell’s saucy maneuver, which reveals a candlelit buffet within four seconds of its viewing– but what perhaps could’ve been missing from the color wheel is blue.
It’s more angelic, for one. Picture its lightness attached to things like imagination and sensitivity; however, just following the scene, we see its darker shade bounced against the wall, the band’s frontman Luke Spiller covered in the former. As we go further into the music video, those two colors constantly paint their aesthetic, with even one particular transition making them shift between each other as the drum gears up its rock n’ roll.
For that reason, we have some semblance of knowing that red and blue are important to its symbolism. It’s not just the music videos either but the lyricism as the song cleverly portrays the dichotomy of living the high life yet still not feeling fulfilled. So in an ode, we’ve picked our top five lyrics from the song and color-coded them into those two categories, those true to blue and then the other that fits the cheeky expressions fired up by the boys with red.
“Designer suits, Gucci gloves, Chelsea boots / All my demons are cocaine-fueled electric cool.”
If you were to close your eyes only to hear this couplet, perhaps the image that would come to mind is of a luxurious British man, not exactly prim, but a little rugged, think Tom Hardy. It’s rough around the edges and therefore leads us to red. It’s the sexiest shade, as studies have shown that potential partners deem it more attractive. In contrast, purple represents luxury, whereas passion and that girth are within red and therefore aid the energy of the description.
“Think I’m getting too good, too good at raising hell / But I’m wearing it well / I’m getting too good, too good at raising hell / Oh, I’m ringing the bell.”
The keywords for this particular couplet are “think,” “but,” and “oh,” as they’re all lacking a bit of confidence, coming towards a conclusion but not there yet. When paired with “I’m getting too good, too good at raising hell,” it shows the precaution of stumbling over to the dark side, like, yep, maybe this is too naughty! But we’re having fun doing it, so why not? Therefore, we’re matching it up with red again. Obviously, it represents that danger, mostly telling someone to stop, just like the traffic lights system, because they’re close to going overboard.
“I run a hotel without any beds / Run a catwalk without any threads / Driving myself right into the storm / Burning my cash to keep myself warm.”
Maybe the first rhythmic pattern of “beds” with “threads” go with red as it is once again providing that passionate description; however, what’s interesting here is the tie-in at the end. It’s giving blue, especially “Burning my cash to keep myself warm,” as The Struts rely on the material to keep them going. As the latter shade is associated with feelings of loneliness, it ties in, and what might look like a scandalous life on the outside doesn’t exactly fulfill them.
“It’s a little too easy, getting harder to please me / I know you’re starving to feed me; you know that you need me.”
The Struts even admit this is the case during the second chorus, and it’s as if their boundaries are getting firmer for those trying to vie for their attention and themselves as they grow dissatisfied. Rather than building on those lonesome sentiments, it’s taking us straight back to red as the color displays confidence.
Parking At Hell’s Gates
What’s your favorite lyric from ‘Too Good At Raising Hell?’ We’re dying to know, so tweet us @thehoneypop. Perhaps you’ll have a chance to belt it out with other fans at one of the incoming stops at their Remember The Name Tour. They’ll continue to travel across America and Canada until December 10, and if you’ve been slow to snap yours up, additional information is here! Go quickly before a ring of fire stops you from doing so; that’s not at our hands, but the horned Luke Spiller.
However, the good news is that if you park yourself in hell, other songs on our pop-rock playlist match the vibe, such as Olivia Rodrigo’s ‘vampire,’ which you can check out on our Instagram and Facebook pages!
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