Released alongside 2025’s album ‘Essex Honey,’ “Vivid Light” perfectly illustrates what makes Blood Orange so singular in the alternative R&B scene – a moody, immersive meditation on grief, longing, and the fleeting moments of clarity that cut through the haze, rendered through lush, enveloping production and quietly devastating lyricism.

 follow our Today’s Song(s) playlist

Stream: “Vivid Light” – Blood Orange

One thing about New York winter? It’s always three months longer than you want it to be.

This year, especially, was absolutely awful. Thankfully, I had the foresight to book a trip somewhere tropical for early January, around the time I really started revisiting Blood Orange’s discography.

I was walking along the Miami Beach Boardwalk to meet a friend for dinner. By some divine intervention, “Vivid Light” came on just as the sun was starting to set.

It’s a fallen fallacy
Waiting at your window
In the corner, reaching out
Nothing makes it better
Still you try and book a room
Hoping something comes to you
And still you’re dry

It’s like you’ve never touched
A six string guitar
And the more you write
You never get far

It was a comfortably humid 70 degrees. I could just barely hear passersby chatting and laughing through my headphones. I could smell salt air mixed with whatever food a nearby restaurant was cooking. I said to myself and then immediately scolded myself for sounding so stupid: this is a vivid light.

Blood Orange does what very few artists can, which is make me levitate out of my body upon hearing the first few notes on the piano.

The punchy drum track is definitely the driving force behind this track, but the flute and piano help give it an added airy quality. “Vivid Light” also feels really dynamic when paired with Dev Hynes’ unique vocals and the juxtaposition of the cello during the outro.

The instrumentals are paired with equal parts heartbreaking and genius lyrics about the immediate emotions following the death of his mother.

He has seen the vivid light
Thievish in his disdain
As a life of honor falls
I find myself in rage
I don’t want to be alone
Naked on the sixth floor
Then the music starts

The artist also frequently features unique voices in his inner circle – Caroline Polachek, Lorde, and Brendan Yates from Turnstile included. For “Vivid Light,” Blood Orange sings alongside best-selling author Zadie Smith.

Atwood Magazine previously described the album as “a sensory experience that allows everyone to escape.” For me, Essex Honey feels meticulously curated yet gentle and soothing  – an album you can easily listen through the whole thing and then instantly press play again.

“Essex Honey is an album tinted with grief and loss, working towards acceptance and resolution, at a time when the culture is collectively feeling grief and loss, collectively trying to work towards resolution and acceptance,” the album’s press release states.

It also feels like a departure from Blood Orange’s earlier albums. My personal favorite is Cupid Deluxe, though now I can’t listen to “Uncle Ace” without thinking of Challengers.

And when I saw Blood Orange was one of the last performers of the night at Coachella, along with equally as moody Not for Radio, I wasn’t surprised. A set with a full band (including a violinist and backup vocals naturally,) in the middle of the desert once the blinding sun has set only feels right.

For those that missed the Coachella live stream, Blood Orange will be playing at Salt Lake City’s Kilby Block Party on May 17, as well as on June 6 at New York’s iconic Governors Ball Music Festival.

— —

:: stream/purchase Essex Honey here ::

:: connect with Blood Orange here ::

— —

Stream: “Vivid Light” – Blood Orange

— — — —

Connect to Blood Orange on
Facebook, TikTok, Instagram

Discover new music on Atwood Magazine

 © Vinca Petersen

:: Today’s Song(s) ::

 follow our daily playlist on Spotify

:: Stream Blood Orange ::