Giving Up

Album: Soon Come (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • This soulful track from LA-based singer-songwriter Teddy Grossman is about coming to terms with unrequited love. In a 2022 Songfacts Podcast interview, Grossman said the single, which is featured on his debut album, was based on a real-life relationship that fizzled. "It's about a friend, but there was a time when the relationship had a romantic tilt," he explained. We've all been there, but it was a situation where I pined after someone for a long time and we eventually started dating. I was new to town and there were a lot of wonderful memories, but it became pretty apparent that it wasn't going to be 'the thing.' It's an age-old story where you're just not seeing the love reciprocated, and it can drag on you for a while, but then eventually it comes to this point where it's like, okay.

    There's that Frank Ocean line [from 'Self Control'] where it's like, 'wish we grew up on the same advice and our time was right' - and timing being such a crucial piece in all this. I finally turned a corner on this and that is really what the song is about at its core in a simple, sweet way."
  • Grossman was influenced by a 2012 cover of Bob Dylan's "Heart Of Mine" by Blake Mills and Danielle Haim. He explained: "Bob's the most savage songwriter ever when it comes to relationships and his whole thing was hiding your feelings away. I took a lot of that same energy, not showing any vulnerability. I was poking a little bit of fun at myself about how much my ego was getting bruised. I was almost trying to write a song that was a caricature of myself. It was so therapeutic for me and got me to a wonderful place."
  • The climactic sax solo was performed by Alekos Syropoulos, a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer who also played on tracks by Dent May, JMSN, and Ellen Rowe, among others.

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