“It’s all about popular / It’s not about aptitude / It’s the way you’re viewed / So it’s very shrewd to be / Very, very popular.”
– Galinda, from the musical “Wicked.”
“I like that one,” I say, pointing to a small gray brushstroke that is next to other hues of small gray brushstrokes on our living room wall. “What is it called?”
Allison looks at the color and the little paint jars that sit below each one. She reads the name and when I hear what it is called, my sunny mood turns overcast.
“Popular Gray,” Allison says.
It was as if Sherwin-Williams had just performed a Jedi mind trick on me, because it is not in my nature to join in, to conform, to go with the herd, to choose what others choose because it is popular. But right there in our living room, I had chosen the popular choice and picked Popular Gray (SW 6071).
Speaking of Sherwin-Williams, the company offers a hefty number of gray palettes to pick from, each with its own indelible name and personality … think Snow White and the seven other fellows. May I introduce you to Serious Gray, Versatile Gray, Sedate Gray, Proper Gray, Agreeable Gray, Sensuous Gray, Lazy Gray, and Mindful Gray. Heigh-ho, heigh-ho.
Some gray color options do not have a personality but associate themselves with objects, places in the real world, or the facial hair on a man who hasn’t shaved for a while. Maybe Gray Screen, Gray Clouds, Gray Shingle, Cloak Gray, Summit Gray, Homburg Gray or Grizzle Gray would look nice on a south-facing wall in your own home?
But what’s in a name? Dovetail, Repose Gray, On the Rocks, Anew Gray, Light French Gray, Worldly Gray, and Dorian Gray, if called by any other name, would still look, uh, gray. Still, I find Amazing Gray (SW 7044) comforting because it reminds me that I can make mistakes as an interior decorator and still be forgiven.
I do not know what to make of Grayish (SW 6001). All I can assume is that its creator has never been honored with the title Employee of the Month and their photo placed on a grayish wall.
By the way, Sherwin-Williams does not currently offer Disillusioned With My Job Gray as a color choice, nor does it offer Bluish, Orangish or Purplish.
Kudos to the person who gave Popular Gray its name. They could see past its neutral tone and recognize that this color’s big, bubbly, infectious personality would lead to stardom. During its unprecedented rise to fame, I expect that Uncertain Gray and Unusual Gray and many other gray paint tinges lived their lives in quiet desperation and secretly desired to be just like Popular Gray. But as is the case with humans, when you attain such success and find yourself painted on so many walls, other paint swatches get jealous and work together to bring you down. It’s an old story that keeps repeating itself — see the ides of March.
Just this past year, Sherwin-Williams announced its most popular gray color and it wasn’t Popular Gray but Agreeable Gray. Since the announcement, Popular Gray has been looking more like Existential Crisis Gray.
I hope spending more time with Mellow Yellow (SW 9015) will have a positive influence on Popular Gray and it will come to realize that there is more to life than being popular. If someday Popular Gray decides to change its name to Gratitude Gray, that will be alright with me.
