Each Measure Review: Collaborations

FEATURE

What’s the best way to start a movement?

Some might say that it’s with a song. There’s nothing that inspires action and makes hearts beat in unison like a catchy tune. Great songwriters have proven this again and again over the course of generations.

Social change and popular music have always been intimately married, but it’s not easy to make broad philosophical questions about fate and free will accessible to a pop audience, and a lot of contemporary pop songwriters tend to shy away from these cosmic questions altogether. Yet with his Collaborations project, Stratford, United States-based artist Ed Daniels is showing us that it’s possible to create pop songs that make you want to sing along and make you think.

Daniels describes Collaborations as “a dynamic music project that pushes boundaries and embraces creative freedom.” Through Collaborations, he’s brought a number of talented musicians together into the studio to craft deeply resonant musical experiences that convey messages of positive action.

The latest Collaborations single, “You Gotta Know,” was released on June 20th, 2025, and it features a collection of brilliant musical minds. Anais Preller, who also co-wrote the song, serves as the lead singer, and she has exactly the kind of strong, soulful voice needed to drive home the track’s ambitious message. Meanwhile, Kevin Monroe and the Devotion provide the sweet, airy backing vocals, while Grammy-winning bassist Scott Spray, lead guitarist Time Duff, and drummer Tom Naggy skillfully fill in the blanks. Horizon Studios producer Vic Steffens ties the sunny soundscape together, and the orchestration – which is partly responsible for the track’s nostalgic charm – was done by Matt Oestreicher.

Musically, the song takes stylistic inspiration from some of the master songwriters of the midtwentieth century. The artists name icons like the Association, Carol King, Carly Simon, and America among their biggest influences. All of these artists are known for their elegant blending of folk and pop sensibilities. They were also some of the driving forces behind the golden age of socially conscious popular music that blossomed in the ‘60s and ‘70s, and some would argue we need that kind of uplifting and forward-thinking energy in music today more than ever. Collaborations have really stepped up to the plate with the anthemic “You Gotta Know.”

The track invites us into its landscape with a warm, bouncy guitar riff that establishes the vocal melody and sets an optimistic tone, while the soulful back-up singers add a vintage flair. The first verse opens in a moment of passive reflection with the lines, “Sittin’ wonderin’ why the world spins this way / Got me thinkin’ more and more every day.” This sets up the central question of the song, and it’s one we should all be asking ourselves: Why do things have to be the way that they are when so many of us are dissatisfied? 

Right off the bat, this is a song about challenging the status quo in all the best ways, and the soaring pre-chorus hammers this home even further with the lines, “All caught up in the mix. / Maybe it’s something we could fix, / So I got something to say.” As the orchestration swells to a climax, these lines express a familiar sentiment: when we’re in middle of the all the chaos and injustice of the world, it’s easy to forget that we have the power to change things, and this track serves as a pleasant reminder of the potential inside all of us.

Following this, we jump right into the first chorus, which expands upon the theme of self-assured resolve in the face of the status quo. For me, it’s the second line of the chorus that stand out the most “Tell me, who carved life in stone?” This is another question that’s important to ask but impossible to answer, and it is a poignant way of reminding us that neither the present nor the future are fixed. We always have the choice to make the world a better place. In fact, as the line “This is all the weight to bear” so elegantly points out, it’s our obligation to do so.

But making the world a better place is not as simple as recognizing the potential for change, and the song is honest about that, too. The chorus ends on the lines, “We can lift it if we care / It doesn’t have to be all up in the air.” Here, we’re directly confronted with a choice we all need to make. We can accept things the way they are (injustice and all) and leave our future up to fate. Or, we can make the conscious decision to do better. Change isn’t inevitable – and it takes hard work, genuine care, and solidarity – but it is possible.

Verse Two poses some of the big philosophical questions that great thinkers have grappled with for ages, opening with the lines, “If we’re born to grow, let it happen. / Why can’t we change it all with a passion?” This a poetic way of challenging the idea that there’s nothing we can do about the injustices we face. Progress is in our nature, and this isn’t the time to be resigned to our fate. Ultimately, this verse is about free will and our capacity to be the architects of our own destiny. The next lines tackle these principles head on: “Maybe the answer’s not in the sky / Maybe it’s hidin’ deep in our lives / Maybe we’re freer than we imagine.” It’s easy to believe we’re at the mercy of fate and a higher power, but Collaborations is asking us to start looking for answers to the world’s problems within ourselves. 

The song’s ultimate call to action happens in the bridge, which is built around the lines “Together we can change the world for us all” and “Maybe the time to change is today.” Collaborations isn’t dancing around the point anymore. Now they’re telling us directly: we need to stop waiting for the world to change and start changing ourselves.

“You Gotta Know” is a catchy pop song, but it’s also a lot more than that. Behind the swaying melody and cheery instrumentation is an important message: we’re not at the mercy of powers beyond ourselves. It’s up to us to make a difference and take care of what we’ve been given.

In my opinion, this song of hope and optimism is exactly what the world needs to hear right now. Times of hardship are not times for complacency and resignation. They’re times for action, and a better world is always possible if we’re willing to work for it. Next time we start to feel hopeless, let’s all try to have this song in mind and focus instead on what we can do to make the world a better place. There’s no better philosophy than that.

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