Why you always doing that?
Breaking up with me then making up just to make me mad…
Lana Del Ray’s ‘Watercolor Eyes’ is an outstanding song about young love which was featured in the fantastic show Euphoria, staring Zendaya. Euphoria’s music director has good taste as there are at least two songs on our top500 all-time songs that are featured on the show: Lorde’s Liability and Randy Newman’s “Same Girl”.
Watercolor Eyes explores a lot of the themes that you would normally find in songs about young love. The song will leave you feeling either nostalgic or seen—depending on where you are in your life. Both powerful emotions, which is why it resonates so strongly.
The narrator’s descriptions are very sensual, as if she lacks the vocabulary to describe her complicated feelings in words, so she compares them to things she has experienced using simile and metaphor to get her thoughts out. Her love is sweet—like candy and beaches. But it is a young love that won’t last forever; at times the love stings like lemon and she feels the sandy remains of the beach rather than the sweet memories of the sunsets.
All of this leaves her with “watercolor eyes” which is a great description of a woman whose makeup has been ruined with tears. All the careful work that went into looking great is ruined when her tears blend the colors. But not all is lost, just as watercolor tends to be less permanent medium, we imagine that the narrator and her lover will probably reconcile just as quickly as things turned sour. Young love tends to be more volatile.
The sound of the song can best be described as dreamy and deliberate. Del Ray’s voice is purposely not quite so crisp which creates that unique vocal sound. (There is also an echoing effect on the vocal). Also, the music signature flows pretty freely, and chords reverberate into each other lazily rather than distinctly changing. It effectively creates the perfect mood for a show featuring teenage love and drug use.
Watercolor Eyes Lyrics
Why you always doing that?
Breaking up with me then making up
Just to make me mad.
I think that you taste like rock candy
Sweet like beaches, leave me all sandy
Why do you leave me with watercolor eyes?
Young love don’t always last forever
Wild horses can’t keep us together
So what if you taste just like heaven
That don’t make it right
Hot summer and cold watermelon
Your love stings like blood and a lemon
Why do you leave me with watercolor eyes?
Watercolor eyes, watercolor eyes, watercolor eyes
That don’t make it right.
Why you always doing that?
Playing guitar while I’m sleeping
Acting like a brat.
I think that you’re sweet like rock candy
Warm like beaches that leave me sandy
Why do you leave me with watercolor eyes?
Young love don’t always last forever
Wild horses can’t keep us together
So what if you taste just like heaven
That don’t make it right
Hot summer and cold watermelon
Your love stings like blood and a lemon
Why do you leave me with watercolor eyes?
Watercolor eyes, watercolor eyes, watercolor eyes
That don’t make it right
Watercolor eyes, watercolor eyes, watercolor eyes
That don’t make it right.
Why you always doing that?
Breaking up with me then making up just to make me mad
Oh oh, hey hey, why?
That don’t make it right.
written by Lana Del Ray