Music Review: Cash Cash & Julia Michaels "Surrender"

Cash Cash & Julia Michaels

Surrender

Album: N/A

Year: 2014

            Julia Michaels gives into her feelings for her crush in the marveling               “Surrender.”

                 Yielding synths open the single,  setting an enlightened tone. She couldn’t feel. She could flirt and touch but it left her wanting. She wouldn’t allow herself. She would look into her new crush’s eyes and think of how the ways he could damage her. She let the men sleep with her but never learn anything about her. Some would push for a commitment, other would hold back, hoping she would close the distance. But her current crush has made her come alive. (“I was running on an empty heart/Not a trace of gasoline/Trying to dim every single spark/That could hurt, that could burn all of me/Like a soldier on the battle ground/Lying wounded on the field/I was fighting along with the broken heart/Now I'm caught in a war with no shield.”)

            In the chorus, she wants to crash into his arms and she can let go of the hurt and pain. She can finally be whole again. (“If you hold me now/And leave me never/Say you'll stay, we'll be forever/Then I surrender, surrender/If you hold me now/And leave me never/Say you'll stay, we'll be forever/Then I surrender, surrender/Surrender, surrender.”)

                For years, she could recover easy from past relationships. There was little to no emotion. The emotional  impact wasn’t there. Then, one day, she realized she had no one who actually knew her. It was her crush that she made her see she wasn’t really living. (“I push and pull all the ones that try/Then I'll wash and fade away/As I look around the vacant room/I see nobody left here to play/Cause I made myself a prisoner/Shackle up all my fears/But I feel you're breaking away out the walls/Make them fall, make them all disappear.”)

              The chorus is sung again.

            A variation on the chorus ends the single. (“Hold me now/And leave me never/Say you'll stay, we'll be forever/Then I surrender, surrender/Then I surrender, surrender.”)

             Michaels has her epiphany. She knows now what she must do. Her vocals are adequate. However, the imperfection  works to her advantage. She tries to reach the high notes but given the well-written material, it elevates her revelation even more. It makes seem natural.

           Cash Cash’s arrangement has a pulse, bubbling with newfound life. He efficiently matches the vocals and the emotions behind them to the lyrics. It give the popping synths a point.

            The good “Surrender” finds Cash Cash improving and getting better.