True Colors
by Zedd

Album: True Colors (2015)
Charted: 74
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Zedd wrote this acoustic song with the Rock Mafia duo of Tim James and Antonina Armato. The production/songwriting team have penned a number of tracks for Selena Gomez, Zedd's girlfriend, including "Naturally," "Love You Like a Love Song" and "Do It."
  • This is the title track of Zedd's second album. The German producer explained to Billboard magazine why he named the record after this song. "I think it is a really important statement," he said. "The song means showing somebody your true colors, who you really are, what you're really about."

    "The same thing goes for the album: this is my way of showing people what I'm about," Zedd continued. "I love every sort of music, I've worked with a rapper for the first time which I probably would have been afraid to do before; I've worked with rock bands; and now I had the courage to go ahead and do the title song and do it fully acoustic."
  • Zedd recorded a revised version of the triumphal ballad with vocals by singer-songwriter Kesha. Released on April 29, 2016, it was Kesha's first new recording since 2013.

    The collaboration came about after Zedd contacted Kesha on Twitter as a result of her high-profile legal battle with Dr. Luke. He tweeted: "Very very sorry to hear about the whole situation. I'll be happy to produce a song for you if you want my help."
  • Speaking during an interview on 97.1 AMP Radio, Zedd said of his revised version with Kesha: "I read about her story online, I didn't think much aside from sending her a tweet because I didn't know her or how to get in touch with her. I just said, you know, that I feel very bad and sorry for her situation and the one thing I can do to help is to make music with her. That's what I offered."

    Kesha's team then reached out to him. They performed together at Coachella, and also worked on adapting this tune, changing some of the lyrics to make it her own. "We started recording the song without really thinking we could release it because of the whole legal situation," Zedd said. "We just made it because we wanted to record music. Sometimes as an artist it just feels good to make music…It was kind of a miracle that we were able to put this out."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Paul Williams

Paul WilliamsSongwriter Interviews

He's a singer and an actor, but as a songwriter Paul helped make Kermit a cultured frog, turned a bank commercial into a huge hit and made love both "exciting and new" and "soft as an easy chair."

Church Lyrics

Church LyricsMusic Quiz

Here is the church, here is the steeple - see if you can identify these lyrics that reference church.

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

90s Metal

90s MetalFact or Fiction

Test your metal - Priest, Maiden, and Beavis and Butt-head show up in this one.

Charlie Daniels

Charlie DanielsSongwriter Interviews

Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.

Peter Lord

Peter LordSongwriter Interviews

You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.