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Sofi Hess
Dr. Cassel
Eng 101E-13
19 October 2018
Sigala vs. The Jackson 5

In recent years, the music industry has been thriving off of remade versions of older

songs. For example, everyone and their mother knows the song “ABC” by the Jackson 5. A

classic, family friendly beat sung by pop star Michael Jackson and his family band was easily

revamped by electronic giant Sigala in their song, “Easy Love.” Music videos for both songs

include outrageous color and happy vibes, but only one conveys a deeper meaning than the

other. The “ABC” video shows the Jackson 5 standing in a line, singing their song. This is a

simple and unimaginative video; conversely, “Easy Love” and its music video gives the audience

a grasp of how free and happy younger children can be than their elders; this is shown by using

fewer lyrics and a more powerful and engaging music video.

Color can make or break what people think about clothes, music and even experiences.

Certain colors can evoke specific feelings. For example, blue is commonly associated with

happiness; red, according to Kendra Cherry in the article, “The Color Psychology of Red,” “is

often described as warm, vibrant, and intense. It is often seen as an exciting and

even aggressive color.” Feelings are often embodied and create attachment to items, people,

and experiences. As a result of this, it can be concluded that colors give you an attachment to

an idea and tune you into a certain message through visual imagery. In the study of the

“Relationship Between Color and Emotion: A Study of College Students” by Naz Kaya PhD, Dr.

Kaya says that “black white and shades of gray are called neutral (achromatic) colors”.

Therefore, they should not evoke a large amount of emotion when they are seen. The music
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video for “Easy Love” by Sigala begins with a deserted world in all greyscale. A little boy dressed

in sweats sits on a bench with an unopened box in front of him. He opens the box to find a

dusty pair of sunglasses. He quickly dusts them and puts them on; instantly, color bursts onto

the screen and the music begins. With an upbeat tropical tone, the sounds of Michael Jackson’s

voice beams singing, “Sit down girl. I think I love you!” At the chorus of the song, a girl and boy,

dressed identically, are dancing in unison, surrounded by spray painted walls. At the beginning

of the video, when the scene is in grayscale, there is little emotion evoked. It is simple and

neutral. After the burst of color and the music begins, the video invites the viewer to dance

along with the kids.

In the Jackson 5 original version of “ABC,” the Jackson family is dressed head to toe in

groovy, colorful outfits that set a family-friendly tone. Even though this song is meant to make

an audience want to sing along, it is less compelling because of the lack of explanation on how

to love told throughout the music video. While this song was made in 1970 where music videos

hadn’t reached much popularity yet, the song could have benefitted from a story being told in

the actual lyrics. With a song that is teaching how to, “Sing a simple melody, that’s how easy

love can be!” there isn’t much talk on what type of love we are talking about.

The most recent song “Easy Love” includes the same exact lyrics as the original “ABC”

song, and even less as a matter of fact. Throughout the newer video, kids dance together

without any regards to the borders of what brand clothes they wear, race and gender. At the

beginning of the song, when the little boy is opening the box and the world is in grayscale,

Sigala is representing how the little boy is blind to people’s true colors. He sees the world as he

has been taught; he sees the barriers of the previous generations. Once he dusts off the
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sunglasses and puts them on his face, color and music erupts. There are other kids everywhere

and he finally is seeing how life should be. The video shows people of all different races and

backgrounds working together and living in harmony. The sunglasses are showing the young

boy that people should be able to live in harmony and that he shouldn’t have to live by the

traditions of the old generation. This is further proven when the boy takes off the glasses for a

split second. With the glasses on he was seeing another kid spray-painting a flower onto a wall.

With the classes off, the young boy sees an adult, sitting on a bench, not having the same

colorful and lively personality that the kid spray painting the flower had. This new rendition of

“ABC” shows all of us how to be blind to the curbs adults choose to set for the social norms of

our generations.

Even though “Easy Love” and “ABC” are nearly the same song, the meaning of unity and

emotion is lost in the Jackson 5 version, but is amplified in Sigala’s version. Through the

integration of color and use of diversity, the music video for “Easy Love” extenuates the moral

of the simple song which is to love and see beyond common human borders. Sigala’s “Easy

Love” calls for everyone to be more childlike in the sense of not looking down on everyone’s

differences, but to celebrate what makes us all unique.

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Works Cited

Cherry, Kendra. “Color Psychology: What Does Red Mean?” Verywell Mind, 6 Jan. 2018,

www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-red-2795821.

The Jackson 5. “ABC.” ABC, Motown, 1969. Youtube.

Kaya, Naz. Relationship between Color and Emotion: a Study of College,

irtel.uni-mannheim.de/lehre/expra/artikel/Kaya_Epps_2004b.pdf.

Sigala. “Easy Love.” Brighter Days, Ministry of Sound, 2015. Youtube.