Sometimes you can see all the warning signs, know exactly where something is heading and still decide it’s worth finding out for yourself.
That’s the feeling at the heart of Cade Hoppe’s new single Crashland, the latest glimpse of his forthcoming album Safer at a Distance.
Built around warm grooves, shimmering guitars and a chorus designed to open the song right up, Crashland explores two people chasing a connection despite knowing that perhaps they were never destined to make it work.
“This is a song about being star-crossed,” Cade explains. “Sometimes it doesn’t matter how many warning signs you get—you’ve got to learn the hard way.”
It’s a simple idea, but also a painfully relatable one. Knowing something is probably going to end badly doesn’t necessarily stop you wanting it in the first place.
Produced by Cade alongside Harper James, Crashland follows recent singles Still Turn This Around and Lake Michigan, with all three beginning to reveal what we can expect from Safer at a Distance.
And relationships aren’t the only thing Cade is questioning on the record.
The album also explores his changing relationship with music and ambition, including the uncertainty that comes with pursuing something when there’s no guarantee of where it will eventually take you. It’s a particularly fitting subject considering Cade’s own slightly unconventional route into the industry.
Before music became his full-time focus, he was studying finance and playing college basketball at New York University. Songwriting and production gradually became a bigger part of his life, before the pandemic ultimately pushed him into making a decision.
He chose music.
Cade funded his early releases by working service industry jobs while developing his own sound, eventually releasing debut EP Tell Me How It’s Worth It in 2021. Everything That’s Wrong with You followed in 2022 and Just Look At The Moon arrived a year later.
After seven years in New York, Cade has now swapped one coast for another and relocated to Los Angeles, where he’s continuing to work on his own music while also establishing himself as a producer for other artists.
Perhaps that’s what makes the themes behind Safer at a Distance particularly interesting. Cade isn’t writing about ambition after reaching some neat finishing point where everything suddenly makes sense. He’s writing about the doubts, sacrifices and questions while he’s still living through them.
And with Crashland, there’s a similar willingness to accept that sometimes knowing the risks isn’t enough to make us turn around.
Occasionally, you’ve just got to crashland and find out for yourself.
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