First Aid Kit’s “Blue” Lyrics Meaning
The subject of the lyrics of “Blue” is clearly despondent. That is made evident from almost the onset of the lyrics. At first she comes off as being a bit shy – the type whom, when she’s out in public for instance, doesn’t even bother to look at other people in the vicinity. Instead she ‘buries herself in her books’.
But what she is actually doing is basically using those pieces of literature as excuses not to interact with fellow human beings.
And initially this observation on the part of Klara Söderberg doesn’t come off as condemnation of this lady per se but rather pointing to the fact that she has developed this habit because she is “so afraid”.
Where the judgmental factor sort of comes in is when the singer rather questions why she is like this in the first place. And the conclusion Klara comes to is that it isn’t the people whom the lady actually is worried about. That is to say that she isn’t afraid of human interaction in and of itself, i.e. anthropophobia.
Rather what her true concern is that if she were to become too close to someone they will learn “the truth” of her past, which we will get to later.
Her Past
Part of said past includes the fact that at one point in time she was under the impression she was going to get married, which never materialized.
In fact she was only in love once in her life, to that selfsame dude But unfortunately he met his untimely demise “in a car accident”. He was just 22 when he died in a car crash, leaving the addressee devastated. Owing to this, the said marriage obviously never came to pass.
And now instead of opening herself up to the prospect of new romance, this lady rather “decided love wasn’t for” her. And such is indicative of her overall personality and the issue First Aid Kit has against her.
Subject of the Lyrics of “Blue”
You see the subject of this song, according to Klara’s own words, is a woman that is looking back at the life she has lived and being filled with regrets. She’s full of regrets about the things she failed to do. Klara revealed this during an interview she had with MTV.
She is just a caricature, being reflective of the singers’ own “fear of the future”. But this fear of days to come isn’t founded in say the prospect of dying prematurely, living in poverty or even being husbandless. Rather what they’re afraid of is being one of those types of people, like the featured character, who finds herself later in life regretting failing to do certain important things.
Indeed the chorus of the song reveals that this lady is ‘just a shell of her former self’. That’s fundamentally another way of saying that the intrinsic joy of life, which she once noticeably possessed, has been sucked out of her.
And in the aftermath she is in fact, as implied by the first verse, “blue”, a well-known synonym for being depressed.
And as further indicated in the bridge she lacks the wherewithal to affect any type of positive change in her life. But this isn’t due to her lacking the actual ability to initiate such a transformation. Rather it’s more like she has become accustomed to her melancholic ways.
Conclusively…
And yes, the aforementioned fate is obviously a thing which the vocalists, judging by the tone of the song, dread. Perhaps it can be said that they sympathize with this lady, but they don’t necessarily empathize with her.
Instead the overall implication is more akin to First Aid Kit feeling that she should make more of a conscientious effort not to let her mind – and indeed her very life – be stuck on disappointments from the past and apprehensions about the present.
Music Video
The cinematic music video to their track was directed by Daniel Wirtberg. It features a Swedish actress by the name of Ewa Fröling portraying the role of the song’s subject.
First Aid Kit
First Aid Kit is a musical duo consisting of Johanna Söderberg and her junior sister by three years, Klara Söderberg.
The ladies are from Stockholm, Sweden, and they specialize in folk music. And whereas they may not be household names, they have experienced notable international success nonetheless.
For instance, their fourth album, “Ruins”, made it to number three on the UK Albums Chart. And as far as the UK is concerned, they also received a Brit Award nomination in 2015 and another in 2019.
Additionally their track “Emmylou“, though not experiencing monumental chart success, was still deemed the 10th best song of the entire year by Rolling Stone in 2012.
And having become professionally active in 2007, the biggest hit of the first decade of their career was 2014’s “My Silver Lining”, a song that charted in nearly 10 nations and achieved silver certification again in the UK.
In Sweden, their most successful albums include:
- “The Lion’s Roar” (2012)
- “Stay Gold” (2014)
- “Ruins” (2018)
All three albums reached the summit of the Swedish album chart.
Release Date of “Blue”
This particular track is from “The Lion’s Roar”, First Aid Kit’s second full-length project, which came out on 18 January 2012 via Wichita Records in the UK and a few days later Redeye Distribution in the US.
And at that time, in addition to the Söderberg sisters the band also consisted of drummers Mattias Bergqvist and Niclas Lindström.
And as for the more-current lineup (as at 2021), the group’s instrumentalists are:
- Melvin Duffy (guitarist)
- Steve Moore (keyboardist)
- Scott Simpson (drummer)
And as far as the Söderbergs go, they are both vocalists as well as guitarists and keyboardists.
Notable Usage of “Blue”
This song was prominently featured on a 2012 episode of the British reality TV show titled “Made in Chelsea”.
