"I Surrender" is a

power ballad A sentimental ballad is an emotional style of music that often deals with romantic and intimate relationships, and to a lesser extent, loneliness, death, war, drug abuse, politics and religion, usually in a poignant but solemn manner.J. M. C ...

written by Louis Biancaniello and

Sam Watters Samuel Joshua Watters (born July 23, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive. Watters was a member of the multi-platinum selling 1990s R&B group Color Me Badd and co-authored many of their hits including ...

, and recorded by Canadian singer

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

from her seventh English-language studio album, '' A New Day Has Come'' (2002). A lushly orchestrated

love song A love song is a song about romantic love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. A comprehensive list of even the best known performers and composers of love songs would be a large order. ...

that has been covered numerously, it is about an enamoured individual who would surrender everything just to be with their lover.Review: Celine Dion, A New Day Has Come
by the

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Background

Having a

tempo In musical terminology, tempo ( Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (ofte ...

of 57

beats per minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

with

syncopation In music, syncopation is a variety of rhythms played together to make a piece of music, making part or all of a tune or piece of music off-beat. More simply, syncopation is "a disturbance or interruption of the regular flow of rhythm": a "plac ...

, the song is written in the key of

G minor G minor is a minor scale based on G, consisting of the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has two flats. Its relative major is B-flat major and its parallel major is G major. According to Paolo Pietropaolo, it is the ...

and it would feature

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

string ensemble A string orchestra is an orchestra consisting solely of a string section made up of the bowed strings used in Western Classical music. The instruments of such an orchestra are most often the following: the violin, which is divided into first ...

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

and a

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis ...

. The chorus uses the common

chord progression In a musical composition, a chord progression or harmonic progression (informally chord changes, used as a plural) is a succession of chords. Chord progressions are the foundation of harmony in Western musical tradition from the common practice ...

of vi–IV–I–V, with Dion's vocal range spanning from note D₃ to D₅. It uses a

Neapolitan chord In Classical music theory, a Neapolitan chord (or simply a "Neapolitan") is a major chord built on the lowered ( flatted) second (supertonic) scale degree. In Schenkerian analysis, it is known as a Phrygian II, since in minor scales the chord is ...

Ab major A-flat major (or the key of A-flat) is a major scale based on A, with the pitches A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has four flats. The A-flat major scale is: : Its relative minor is F minor. Its parallel minor, A-flat m ...

before a

suspended chord A suspended chord (or sus chord) is a musical chord in which the ( major or minor) third is omitted and replaced with a perfect fourth or a major second. The lack of a minor or a major third in the chord creates an open sound, while the dissonan ...

at the end of the verses. The song was described as a "bombastic, heart-pounding" ballad, which has become a popular song choice for contestants on reality television singing competitions like ''

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''. The song was produced and arranged by

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award winner and

Golden Globe The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...

nominee

Simon Franglen Simon Franglen (born Westminster, London, England) is an English composer of classical and film music. He is also a record producer and former musician. His credits include four of the list of top grossing films and six of the list of best-sell ...

Reception

According to Chuck Taylor from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'', "Dion does not disappoint with ballads like the rafter-shaking 'I Surrender' where she sings of forbidden love amid a firestorm of utterly volcanic instrumentation". ''

People Magazine ''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People'' had the l ...

'' wrote, "When Dion sings about letting down her defenses and giving in to love on "I Surrender", it's the song that gets belted into submission." ''

'' critic Sal Cinqueman states that 'I Surrender' is a "power ballad only a singer with Dion's voice could pull off." Christopher Smith from TalkAboutPopMusic said that it "has much drama and theatrics, so much so that you almost begin to think the producers are really looking to shape Celine into the next

Barbra Streisand Barbara Joan "Barbra" Streisand (; born April 24, 1942) is an American singer, actress and director. With a career spanning over six decades, she has achieved success in multiple fields of entertainment, and is among the few performers awar ...

rather than herself."

Live performance

Celine Dion performs this song in her video album '' Live in Las Vegas: A New Day...'', where she is surrounded by artistic backup dancers, who visually and dramatically express the song's lyrics in a miming manner. The clip is on her

VEVO Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, ...

account on YouTube, acting as the official music video of the song, and has over 37 million views of as January 2019. The music video starts when backup dancers are running to their positions and imitating statues, the Versailles-style crystal chandelier was used to make the song performance more romantic "I Surrender" from the DVD was first released on the deluxe edition of Dion's album '' Taking Chances'' from November 2007. The song was also performed in most her concerts from her second Las Vegas residency show, '' Celine (concert residency)'' from 2015 through 2018.

Other covers

*American singer Billy Gilman covers this song on

season 11 A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

of The Voice with standing ovation from all four judges. For a second week in a row, Gilman's performance, this time for "I Surrender" featured at number one on iTunes allowing him to benefit from the five times multipliers vote totals again. *Taiwanese singer Terry Lin covers the song in 2008. *Filipino singer

Alisah Bonaobra Alisah Nina Luz Salacot Bonaobra (born April 22, 1995) is a Filipino singer who participated in the second season of ''The Voice of the Philippines'', in which she finished as runner-up. In 2016, she was a finalist in ''Eat Bulaga's'' Just Duet ...

performed "I Surrender" in the second season of ''

The Voice of the Philippines ''The Voice of the Philippines'' is a Philippine reality television singing competition on ABS-CBN. It is based on the reality singing competition ''The Voice of Holland'', which was originally created by Dutch television producer John de Mol ...

''. *Filipino-American singer

Jessica Sanchez Jessica Elizabeth Sanchez (born August 4, 1995) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to prominence following her finish as the runner-up on the eleventh season of ''American Idol''. Early life Jessica Elizabeth Sanchez was born in Chula ...

performs the song on the first season of ''

America's Got Talent ''America's Got Talent'' (often abbreviated as ''AGT'') is a televised American talent show competition, and is part of the global ''Got Talent'' franchise created by Simon Cowell. The program is produced by Fremantle (as well as distribu ...

'' at the age of 11. Singer and judge

Brandy Norwood Brandy Rayana Norwood (born February 11, 1979), better known by her mononym Brandy, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, actress and model. She is known for her distinctive sound, characterized by her peculiar timbre, voice-laye ...

predicts, "You’re gonna be huge, I promise," after seeing her perform it. The cover has over eight million views on YouTube. *American Idol winner

Kelly Clarkson Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of '' American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her de ...

covered the song in ''1990s'' week, as a top 4 finalist. *American Idol finalist

Anthony Fedorov Anatoliy Vladimirovich "Anthony" Fedorov (russian: link=no, Анатолий Владимирович Фёдоров; born May 4, 1985) is an American singer and actor who is former lead singer for the Chicago band 7th Heaven. He rose to fame as ...

performed the song on the show's fourth season. *Spanish singer

Abraham Mateo Abraham Mateo Chamorro (born 25 August 1998), is a Spanish singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer. He is known for his soulful and dance-oriented music. Mateo was only seven when he began winning prizes on television shows and at the ag ...

covers the song on his YouTube account in 2010 at the age of 12. The video has over 5 million views. * Cosima DeVito performed the song for her audition on the first season of ''

Australian Idol ''Australian Idol'' is an Australian singing competition, which began its first season in July 2003 and ended its initial run in November 2009. As part of the ''Idol'' franchise, Australian Idol originated from the reality program '' Pop Ido ...

''. *British singer

Nicki French Nicki is a given name, and may refer to: Film and television * Nicki Aycox (1975-2022), American actress best known for her roles as Syl on the series ''Dark Angel'' and Stella Vessey on the dramedy ''Ed'' * Nicki Chapman (born 1967), English te ...

recorded and released a dance version of the song as a single in 2004. *American singer Mary Griffin's version of 'I Surrender' was recorded before Celine's, and released on her 2002 album 'Purified'. *Polish singer

Edyta Górniak Edyta Anna Górniak (; born 14 November 1972) is a Polish pop singer with a career spanning 3 decades. Górniak started as a musical theatre actress in 1990. She performed in the most popular musical in Polish history, the Tony Award-nominated ...

recorded a polish version of the song. The cover is called "List" ("Letter"). *English singer and Steps member Claire Richards covered the song on 2012 Steps tour, “The Ultimate Tour”. * Jeanick Fournier, the second-season winner of '' Canada's Got Talent'', performed "I Surrender" as her first audition, receiving the golden buzzer from host Lindsay Ell.Jamie Samhan
"'Canada's Got Talent': Golden Buzzer Recipient Jeanick Fournier Is 'On Par' With Celine Dion"
''

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'', April 5, 2022. After winning the season, she released her major label debut album, which also included a cover of the song.

References

External links

* {{authority control 2002 songs Celine Dion songs Pop ballads 2000s ballads Songs about heartache Torch songs Songs written by Louis Biancaniello Songs written by Sam Watters