select lyrics that I'm making more meaningful than they should be from Surrender

A new Maggie Rogers album came out at the exact same time as the new Beyonce album so am just now getting to actually listen to it and have vague opinions about various lyrics! I first listened to Maggie Rogers after a breakup, which is kind of the prime time to listen to her first album, Heard It In A Past Life, an album about growth, transition, heartbreak, and what happens when the person you were conflicts with the person you are trying to be.

This album is similar, with elevated style. There are the familiar beats of heartbreak and longing, the metaphor of change and becoming someone new, the transition from a past self into a public new self. Pitchfork has a good review of it which highlights her skill as a special type of singer along with charting some of the ways this album fails to deliver.

But I’m not here for a complex review, just to pick apart lyrics that I liked, because this is a project for fun and vanity, not artistic integrity!

These verses from Shatter

I see it in your teeth againThere's a tightness when you're smilingIt creeps in through the backdoor whenYou play pretend and break down crying

Which explains my experience listening to her first album!

And I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't scaredI'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scared, I'm scaredI'm scared and I've got all this anger trapped so deep inside

I particularly identify with this idea of anger trapped deep inside. I’ve done a lot of work to let this irrational anger disappear, but sometimes it lingers there like it’s waiting to strike. Strangely enough, Heard It In A Past Life really helped me work through some of that anger I felt.1

That’s Where I Am

I’ve already written something dumb about this lyric, but:

It all works out in the endWherever you go, that's where I amEven boulders turn into sandWherever you go, that's where I am

I’m really just obsessed with any metaphor of love that talks about rocks or geology. Perhaps because my brother makes a lot of art with rocks as a metaphor and I’ve always really loved the intelligence behind that.

Anywhere With You

Would you tell me if I ever started holding you back?Would you talk me off the guard rail of my panic attack?Look me straight in my center and tell me from the heartAre you ready to start? Are you ready to start?

Probably because it outlines some of the exact anxieties I feel: constantly assuming that I am holding people back from what they want to accomplish. Also because it highlights an intense feeling I had when deciding to get into a new relationship two years ago, knowing that someone was “Ready to start” and honest about it sort of tore me up. There’s particular anxiety that comes from accepting that someone actively wants you in their life when you’ve spent so much time internally debating your worth and value to every person in your life.

Begging for rain

The more you wait, the more you breakThe longer that it takes to undoAll the knots that you've been tyingOn cherry stems and black barbed wire, too

Standing on the precipice of change can be haunting. It can also feel a bit dangerous to build something up for so long. I don’t think it’s exactly novel thought or belief, but there are those times when I am certain that I am just waiting for the things around me to break. This twisted anxiety you can have when you’re waiting endlessly for the obvious end of something, knowing that the longer it goes on the harder it’ll be to fully recover from it. 2

Symphony

Hold on, babyDon't break, maybeWe could spend the night or an hour watching your favorite show

Lol, this really just describes my exact identity and personality.3