Songful Style Link Party #33: “Pink” by Aerosmith

About Songful Style

Songful Style is an ageless style challenge series hosted by Shelbee of Shelbee on the Edge, Marsha of Marsha in the Middle, and Suzy of Suzy Turner, The Grey Brunette (formerly The Grey Brunette).

Each month we will share a song with the lyrics and video and we invite you to use whatever aspect of the song that inspires you to create an outfit. 

It is similar to Style Imitating Art where we use artwork to inspire our outfit creations. Except Songful Style gives you lyrics, music, video, and album artwork to inspire your fashion creativity. You may even find inspiration in a memory triggered by the selected song. It is all open to your own personal interpretation and just a fun way to discover new music and get a little bit more creative with your wardrobe.

Anyone is welcome to join us on a permanent basis or you can just play along without any obligation to do anything other than feel inspired. We are flexible and fun and just want to find more ways to play dress up because it’s what we enjoy doing! 

We will be posting on the last Monday of each month and will announce our song choice for the following month at the end of each post. You are welcome to style your own song inspired outfit and add it to the link party or link anything that you want to share even if it has nothing to do with the song. 

It was my turn to choose the song. A few years ago, I mentioned “Pink” by Aerosmith in The Thrifty Six are Tickled Pink and teased that I may use the tune for a future Songful Style prompt. It only took me three years to get there. But slow progress is still progress.

The Lyrics

Pink, it’s my new obsession
Pink, it’s not even a question
Pink on the lips of your lover
‘Cause pink is the love you discover
Pink as the bing on your cherry
Pink, ’cause you are so very
Pink, it’s the color of passion
‘Cause today it just goes with the fashion

Pink, it was love at first sight
Yeah, pink, when I turn out the light
And pink gets me high as a kite
And I think everything is going to be alright
No matter what we do tonight

You could be my flamingo
‘Cause pink is the new kinda lingo
Pink, like a deco umbrella
It’s kink, but you don’t ever tell her

Pink, it was love at first sight
Pink, when I turn out the light
Pink gets me high as a kite
And I think everything is going to be alright
No matter what we do tonight

I want to be your lover
I want to wrap you in rubber
As pink as the sheets that we lay on
‘Cause pink is my favorite crayon, yeah
Pink, it was love at first sight
Pink, when I turn out the light
Pink, it’s like red but not quite
And I think everything is going to be alright
No matter what we do tonight

About the Artist and the Song

Aerosmith is an American rock band formed in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1970, by Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer, and Brad Whitford. Sometimes referred to as “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band”, Aerosmith’s musical style is rooted in blues-based hard rock with elements of pop rock, glam metal, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues. Because they fused so many different genres of music, the band has been a leading musical inspiration for countless artists as Aerosmith continues to inspire after more than 50 years in the industry.

During the course of their career, Aerosmith released 15 studio albums and earned various industry awards including 10 MTV Video Music Awards, 2 Boston Music Awards, 6 American Music Awards, 4 Billboard Music Awards, 2 People’s Choice Awards, and 4 Grammy Awards. Overall, Aerosmith has been nominated for 86 different music industry awards, winning a total of 34.

One of those awards was a Grammy for today’s song feature, “Pink”. The song was written by Steven Tyler with the help of professional songwriters Richie Supa and Glenn Ballard. It was released as the third major single on Aerosmith’s twelfth studio album, Nine Lives, in 1997. The tune is highlighted by Tyler’s opening harmonica performance as well as the strong bass rhythm and the blending of acoustic and electric guitars throughout the song. Lyrically, the song is highly suggestive with plenty of sexual innuendo sprinkled all over like pink on a piglet.

Two different music videos for this song exist, an uncensored and a censored version. The uncensored video shows a woman in a blue jumpsuit flashing her right breast for the camera as well as a naked painted woman who pirouettes, exposing her breasts on the spin. The uncensored video caused some minor controversy, leading to several networks requesting an edited version for daytime airing. The censored video only shows the woman in the blue jumpsuit with her breasts covered while it completely cuts out the pirouette scene.

“Pink” was recorded in 1996 but not released until November 18, 1997. Directed by Doug Nichol, the music video which implemented CGI to morph the characters’ faces to other bodies was released on November 11, 1997. The video won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Rock Video in 1998 and earned the band their fourth and most recent Grammy Award in 1999 for “Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal”. As of 2007, “Pink” is one of only two songs from the Nine Lives album that is consistently played by Aerosmith in live shows.

There is so much more information written about this band that I am just going to skip regurgitating it for you. You can click here to read the Wikipedia entry for Aerosmith and get lost in that rabbit hole. Or you can read Does the Noise in My Head Bother You?: A Rock ‘n’ Roll Memoir by Steven Tyler. It is a really entertaining story!

About My Outfit

I knew I would wear mostly pink, and a very bright pink, from the moment I chose this song as our inspiration. But I also wanted to wear some green since green is actually my favorite color and the song keeps speaking of “my favorite color”. In creating this outfit, I looked to Steven Tyler to inspire me. His magenta and olive green outfit in the video is just so good that I wanted to recreate it.

Tyler’s satin top reminded me of this olive green satin kimono robe, which would have been perfect over my bright pink maxi dress if it weren’t so darn cold outside. Since it is so cold outside, I opted for my olive green velvet shirt instead. Then I topped it off with my Aztec print coatigan in neon pink and black.

Taking more inspiration from the Steven Tyler Big Book of Fashion, I added not one, but two, long skinny scarves in contrasting patterns. I wore my black metallic floral cowgirl boots because they seemed the most Tyler-esque of all of my cowgirl boots. Sticking with the pink and green color palette, I added a green ribbon scarf to my bright pink hat and then I clipped a pink crystal brooch to the hat band for some extra sparkle. My earrings are bright pink leopard print feathers which I bought specifically to wear with this wildly neon sweater. And I finally switched out my purple Teddy Blake bag for my green one for fall.

I definitely felt very visible in this outfit. In fact, when I wear this coatigan, I always forget how incredibly bright it is until I see it in photos. It’s really, really bright! How do you think I did with this musical style challenge?

I do hope you will check out how my friends have styled their outfits inspired by Aerosmith’s “Pink”.

• Marsha of Marsha in the Middle
• Suzy of Suzy Turner, The Grey Brunette

Featured Favorite from Songful Style Link Party #32: “Wildflowers” by Tom Petty

We will be taking a set break for December. But please come back on January 27, 2025, to see how we style Suzy’s next song choice, “Follow the Sun” by Xavier Rudd. I have never heard of this artist or this song, but I have become an instant fan after one listen!

Keeping it on the edge, 

Shelbee

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