Surrender

Album: Lighting Up The Sky (2022)
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Songfacts®:

  • Godsmack singer Sully Erna can't take any more of his lover's toxic behavior. They are continually at each other's throats and the singer lays all the blame on her for the poison in their union. He's already cast his feelings aside and humbled himself, and he pleads she does the same too. He tells her she needs to "surrender" for the sake of their relationship, otherwise he'll have to separate.

    "'Surrender" is about "the exhaustion we can all feel in relationships at times from the redundancy of fighting with each other," explained Erna. "At a certain point in our lives, we submit to putting aside who's right or wrong, we just want it to STOP! So we wave the white flag."
  • Godsmack recorded "Surrender" for Lighting Up the Sky. The Massachusetts band dropped it as the album's lead single on September 28, 2022.

    Erna said in an interview coinciding with the song's release that Lighting Up The Sky would be their last body of work but Godsmack won't be retiring from performing or touring.
  • Erna wrote "Surrender" with the Los Angeles-based producer Erik Ron. Erna and Ron co-produced all the tracks of Godsmack's previous album, When Legends Arise.
  • Ugly Kid Joe guitarist Dave Fortman produced the track. His production resumé also includes both of Evanescence's multi-platinum selling albums, The Open Door and Fallen, and Slipknot's All Hope Is Gone.
  • Godsmack racked up their fifth consecutive Mainstream Rock Airplay #1 when "Surrender" climbed to the top of the November 12, 2022-dated chart. It followed "When Legends Rise," "Bulletproof," "Under Your Scars" and "Unforgettable." It was the 12th #1 in total on the Billboard survey for the band.

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