TV Girl’s “Blue Hair” Lyrics Meaning

TV Girl is yet another musical act whose stage name is an act of misdirection, in that the members of the band – frontman Brad Petering buttressed by keyboardist Wyatt Harmon and drummer Jason Wyman – are all guys. 

Their group name was apparently inspired by the band’s preference to sample 1960s’ era, i.e. ‘the Age of Television’, content in their music. But to note TV Girl, who hail from San Diego, did drop a collaborative album with Jordana, a female singer, in 2021 (titled “Summer’s Over”). And with this band being around since the early 2010s, they have thus far dropped four studio albums as well as a quartet of collaborative LPs.

About “Blue Hair”

With a release date of 8 May 2018, “Blue Hair” is from TV Girl’s third standard LP, “Death of a Party Girl”. The song was written by Brad Petering, and it has been suggested that the track samples “The Minx”, a 1970 tune by a 1960s’ band known as The Cyrkle.

The Lyrics of “Blue Hair”

There have been many colorful (no pun intended) interpretations posited concerning “Blue Hair”, such as it being about suicide, drugs or hair itself. But more likely, what TV Girl is speaking to appears to be beauty ideologies and how that affects the subject, who is this lady that the vocalist fancies.

The narrative reads as so. When they first hooked up, she did literally have blue hair. And apparently, that aspect of her character was something that fascinated Brad. Or in any event, it came to symbolize the trajectory of their relationship. In other words, “getting older” and “cut(tin) her blue hair off” almost marked the clear point that their romance deteriorated.

Where beauty ideologies come into play is in the second verse. This is actually the most-complex part of the song, but we will take liberty in attempting to explain it nonetheless. The girl has self-esteem issues when it comes to her looks, but in Brad’s eyes, such is foolishness. 

So with him deciding not to confront the matter, i.e. entertaining her negative self-image, she, already being psychologically affected, takes that as some sort of an insult.

In other words the addressee values his opinion so much that a lack of proper response causes her self-esteem to dip even lower. Thus, the “dumb blonde” referred to in the passage would be Petering himself, though he is making that statement in terms of how the addressee perceives him. 

Or put differently, due to her stereotypical thinking, she believes that someone with his looks, if you will, would naturally be preoccupied with beauty.

Don’t cut your hair

So as further implied, Brad proceeds to try to prevent her from ‘cutting off her beautiful blue hair’. That is to say that the vocalist likes the addressee as is. But ultimately none of that mattered, since she personally  grew to dislike the style or associate it with some type of youth recklessness. 

So when she cut it off, that was also symbolically the period in which she and Brad could no longer connect. And now the addressee has moved on to date “a boy who acts his age”, i.e. a likeminded individual who would agree that rockin’ blue hair is a no-go.

So positing earlier on that this piece revolves around beauty ideologies was perhaps a bit hasty, as more exactly it seems to deal with age-related norms. That is to say that the addressee apparently became disinterested in the vocalist due to his inability to likewise conclude that she was too old to have blue hair.

“And I tried to hold her
But it didn’t really last long
And she’s getting older
I guess she’s gotta cut her blue hair off”

An Important Song

“This song speaks to a larger societal issue of people feeling like they have to conform in order to be accepted, and the toll that can take on a person’s sense of self. It’s a powerful message, and I hope that it encourages people to embrace their quirks and individuality rather than hiding them away.”

– Kojo Enoch

“Blue Hair” is a very special song to me

“I’m disappointed that ‘Blue Hair’ is now a big hit on TikTok. It’s frustrating when something that used to have such personal meaning to me becomes mainstream. However, I realize that the meaning of a piece of art is subjective, hence no one can take away my personal connection to the song.”

– Maggie