"Colors" is a song by Romanian groupMorandi intended to be the lead single off the group's fourth studio album,Zebra. However, it was later included in their compilation album,Best Of (2011). The supposedZebra's mix ofclub andBritish rock served as inspiration for the track. Written by the group, the song was first released on 16 June 2009 in Romania and on 6 August 2009 fordigital download andstreaming in the United States throughUniversal Music Romania.
Commercially, the song topped the charts in theCommonwealth of Independent States (CIS), Slovakia and Ukraine, and reached the top five in Bulgaria and the Czech Republic. A music video directed byMarius Moga and Giuliano Bekor was released to promote the song, which premiered on Romanian radio station Radio 21's website and was aired onMTV in late September 2009. The song was nominated at the 2010Balkan Music Awards and at the 2010Radio România Actualităţi Awards for Best Song from Romania and Best Pop/Dance Song, respectively. The video also received a nomination in the former ceremony for Best Video in the Balkans 2009.
In an interview withMTV Romania, the group stated that following the success of their third studio album,N3XT (2007), they were busy touring and admitted that they did not have time to record new material. Following the release of "Save Me" (2008), they began working on their new album, titledZebra, which would include two types of songs, those "written forclub[s]" and the others would haveBritish rock influences. According to memberMarius Moga, the inclusion of the two different music genres acted like anantithesis, which was the inspiration behind "Colors".[1] Moga andAndrei Ropcea wrote the song.[2]
On 12 June 2009, Urban.ro reported that filming for the music video would commence soon, and the song was confirmed to be the lead single offZebra.[3][4] "Colors" was first released on 16 June 2009 in Romania.[5] On 6 August 2009, the song was released viadigital download andstreaming in the United States byUniversal Music Romania.[6] A remixextended play was also issued in the same year in various territories.[7] The track was later included in their compilation albumBest Of (2011).[8]
The music video was filmed on 15 June 2009 inBuftea Studios and was directed by Moga and American photographer Giuliano Bekor.[17] It premiered on Romanian radio station Radio 21's website on 29 September and started being broadcast onMTV the next day.[18][19] The music video was an MTV exclusive until October 6.[19] It begins with Ropcea and a woman rising from water and walking towards each other. They are shown holding each other while backgrounds change behind them and Ropcea is depicted singing intermittently with smoke floating beneath him. Thereafter, Moga starts singing underneath the water surface. The visual pans back to Ropcea's previous pose and he is then shown next to the woman inside a flaming square. Interspersed scenes throughout the video portray Moga flying in front of various backgrounds, the group's members being splashed by paint and musical instruments being submerged underwater. The video ends with the woman going down into the water and the word zebra appearing briefly from flames above her.[20] The music video was nominated at the 2010 Balkan Music Awards for Best Video.[15] On 15 October 2009, Morandi performed the song alongside "Angels" at the Slovakian Musiq1 Awards.[21] They performed "Colors" along with other tracks at Greek television networkMAD TV on 22 October 2009.[22]
^"Morandi – Colors".Spotify. Retrieved9 April 2022.Note: User may click on the three dots on the right of the track to access its credits.
^Bazavan, Cristina (12 June 2009)."Morandi filmeaza videoclip nou: 'Colors'" [Morandi is filming a new music video: 'Colors'] (in Romanian). Urban.ro.Archived from the original on 26 May 2022. Retrieved26 May 2022.
^abc"ČNS IFPI" (in Czech). Hitparáda – Radio Top 100 Oficiální. IFPI Czech Republic. Archived fromthe original on 24 September 2015. Retrieved23 March 2022.
^ab"Media Forest – Weekly Charts.Media Forest. Retrieved 23 May 2022.Note: Romanian and international positions are rendered together by the number of plays before resulting an overall chart.
^abPopescu, Marius (30 September 2009)."Morandi lanseaza noul videoclip la MTV" [Morandi launches their latest music video on MTV].Revista VIP (in Romanian).Archived from the original on 19 September 2020. Retrieved26 May 2022.
^"Media Forest – Weekly Charts.Media Forest. Retrieved 23 May 2022.Note: Select 'Songs – TV'. Romanian and international positions are rendered together by the number of plays before resulting an overall chart.
