Title: “Such Fragile Little Things”
Artist: Maddie Urie
From: Young Blood (June 23, 2013)
Release Date: September 22, 2013
Length: 5:19
Format: CD Single, Digital Download, 7” Single, Weekly Airplay
Recorded: April/May 2013 – San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, California
Genre: Electro-Pop, Pop, Alternative
Label: Songs to Love and Die By
Written: February 2013
Writer: Maddie Urie
Producer(s): Maddie Urie, Julian Morello, Amy Meyer
‘Such Fragile Little Things’ is a song written and recorded by the American multi-instrumentalist musician ‘Maddie Urie’. Written in February 2013 and taken from her summer 2013 debut album ‘Young Blood’ it’s the highly anticipated follow-up single to ‘Put On A Brave Face’ which was a relatively successful debut solo single for the young musician, but progress within the industry has stalled due to such a delay in releasing a follow-up single, but finally the time has arrived for her follow-up single and ‘Such Fragile Little Things’ is the chosen song.
The track is just over five minutes in length, not your typical three minute radio pop song, when talking recently, Maddie Urie stated that she’s happy to avoid certain things in the industry,
“When I came into the industry as part of ‘Two Equals Three’, I was pushed in a very teen-pop direction. So I’m aware of the pitfalls of such commercial obsession. Of course I want to be successful, but I don’t want to be just a pop-chart bimbo or a teen idol. I want to be somebody who is recognised in the right way, I’ve had songs offered to me, many times but refused. I want to be my own person because if I’m not my own person and I have success then it’s not my success. Which I guess is why I’ll always write my own songs, play my own instruments and make my own decisions. I’m not afraid of success, so long as it’s done properly and you can look at me and say that I haven’t followed up on a buzz that I may have had at certain times in my career, but I’ve been happy with the decisions that I’ve made recently and I’m so excited about the direction that I’m going in.”The song was written by Maddie Urie in February 2013 and later recorded between April and May. It appeared on her debut album which was released towards the end of June and has strong electro-pop elements throughout. The production was overseen by Maddie Urie and Julian Morello with additional support from Amy Meyer. The single will be released in various formats including CD Single, Digital Download, 7” Single and Weekly Airplay and will be released through ‘Songs to Love and Die By’ on October 6, 2013.
Song DescriptionThe song’s influence draws heavily from Electronic music, the song begins with a static buzzing noise which softly fades in time for a guitar and synthesizer combination. The vocal delivery has a unique sound, it’s passionately sung with a soft tone throughout the entire five minutes plus song. It’s lyrics call for passion as Maddie asks a series of questions,
“How is it that a person can still believe even when they’ve been shot down so much/How is it that our broken hearts can still beat when they’ve bled for so long/How is it that a person can be heartbroken beyond repair and still sing the words to their favourite song/How is it that we’re all still alive when it sometimes feels like there’s nothing left to live for/How is it that we keep holding on even though it would be so much easier to let go.” to just note a few. Questions that are often unanswerable and it’s perhaps surprising that they’re being asked by someone so very young, but nevertheless it gets you to thinking.
The music feels powerful and slightly mystical at certain points in the song, the lyrics flow in a similar vein as Maddie shows her own sense of style through her writing. The chorus in particular has the potential to really hit home, the music enhances around this stage of the song as Maddie sings,
“So if you could, then I’m sure that you would/Pick up all of the little pieces/And put them back together/Because none of us are truly strong/We’re all searching for a place to belong/But it’s alright/Because the church bells always ring/And we’ll be okay/We’re all such fragile little things.”She then proves that she can give some lyrics that her fans will no doubt cling to, the type of lyrics that they’d write in their diary or get tattooed, verses like this,
“From wreckages and ruins will become something far more great/Just always remember/Love is much stronger than hate.” and again it is surrounded by a slightly mystical electronic backdrop and her vocals showing passion and tenderness all rolled into one. She ponders those earlier questions once more and leaves on the final note,
“How is it that we fall for everything that love brings/How is it that we’re all such fragile little things”Lyrics“How is it that a person can still believe even when they’ve been shot down so much
How is it that our hearts can still beat when they’ve bled for so long
How is it that a person can be heartbroken beyond repair and still sing the words to their favourite song
How is it that we’re all still alive when it sometimes feels like there’s nothing left to live for
How is it that we keep holding on even though it would be so much easier to let go
And how are we still standing when we’re surrounded by the smouldering wreckage of love and despair
How come we can still smile when the one person that we love is no longer there
How come we all go through this
Forever searching for that unattainable bliss
When you’re young, you think you know it all
But the truth is that you don’t and you’ve got to learn to fall
Because the reasons we go through struggle and hardship and pain
Is to become stronger people
These are the things that we’ll gain
A strength
An understanding
A meaning and a place
A question with an answer and the smallest piece of grace
A realisation that life is quite long
And if we’re to live it
We all need to learn to be strong
So we need somebody to take our hand and hold it up higher now
To take our heart and soul and pick it up from the ground
Because from wreckages and ruins will become something far more great
Just always remember
Love is much stronger than hate
So if you could, then I’m sure that you would
Pick up all of the little pieces
And put them back together
Because none of us are truly strong
We’re all searching for a place to belong
But it’s alright
Because the church bell always rings
And we’ll all be okay
We’re all such fragile little things
So we need somebody to take our hand and hold it up higher now
To take our heart and soul and pick it up from the ground
Because from wreckages and ruins will become something far more great
Just always remember
Love is much stronger than hate
How is it that a person can still stand the fight when the odds are against them
How is it that we can smile when our world is crumbling around us
How is it that despite our best intentions we still falter along the way
How is it that you can be in love and yet have so little to say
How is it that you can look in the mirror and not feel ashamed when you see the person you’ve become
How is it that in the slightest moment of honesty you’ll be the one to run
How is it that you can live with yourself knowing that I’m stuck here trying to picture your face
How is it that the harder I try to picture you, the harder it is to trace
How is it that we fall for everything that love brings
How is it that we’re all such fragile little things”PersonnelMaddie Urie – lead vocals, synthesizer, guitar, drums, lyrics, composition, production
Julian Morello – engineering, mixing, production
Amy Meyer - production
