Songfacts®:

• "Indigo" is a collaborative country song by Sam Barber featuring Avery Anna, released in 2024 as part of Barber's debut album, Restless Mind. It depicts Barber grappling with the consequences of leaving a relationship. He feels miserable and wonders if his suffering is a divine lesson.
• I used to shine bright like gold, now I'm all indigo
  My colors are darker and cold
  
  Indigo is a deep shade of blue, and in the context of this song it's an emotional paint swatch hovering somewhere between sad and utterly crushed. The darker tones, as Barber points out, are the natural habitat of melancholia - a place where the happy yellows and sunlit oranges have gone AWOL.
• The song is structured as a duet, with Avery Anna taking the lead as the girl Barber walked out on.
  
  Originally from Flagstaff, Arizona, Avery Anna is a country music artist known for her expressive songwriting and piano-forward sound. Her debut EP, Mood Swings, released in 2022, includes the viral hit "Narcissist," which did well on SiriusXM radio. Anna performed at the 2023 CMT Music Awards where she was nominated for Breakthrough Artist of the Year. Along with "Indigo," she also duets with Barber on Restless Mind's title track.
• Thematically, "Indigo" dwells on the universal feeling of regret after a breakup. It might be inspired by Barber's own observations, though not his state of affairs at the time. He married in 2023, suggesting that the song is more likely a product of fiction or secondhand inspiration.
• Barber and Anna co-wrote "Indigo" with the Ohio-based songwriter Andy Sheridan, who also co-wrote Anna's "Narcissist" and has lent his talents to acts like Parmalee ("Gonna Love You") and Dustin Lynch ("Somethin' That Makes You Smile").
• Producer Joe Becker keeps the production in "Indigo" simple, letting the raw emotion shine. There's a gradual build-up, particularly as the song rolls into its chorus, but nothing that overshadows the intimate, stripped-back style that has become Barber's hallmark.
• "Indigo" went viral on TikTok in December 2024 thanks to a trend where users latched onto the "I used to shine bright like gold, now I'm all indigo" lyric, which they used to soundtrack stories of grieving parents and partners. Some subvert the lyrics with an uplifting twist, describing how their lives have become "like gold."