Surface Pressure

Album

Encanto (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)

Label

Walt Disney Records

Genre

Stage & Screen

Composer(s)

Lin-Manuel Miranda

Entered Chart

Jan 8, 2022

Peak Date

Feb 12, 2022

Released

November 19, 2021

Recorded

Unknown

Catalog #

Walt Disney Records

Jessica Darrow rose to fame playing the role of Sarah in Robert Tinnell's 2019 film Feast of the Seven Fishes. The Cuban-American actress successfully auditioned for Disney's animated movie Encanto just before the pandemic. The movie is about a Colombian family with magical powers; Darrow plays Luisa, whose gift is superhuman strength. This reggaeton song is her solo piece. As the strong member of her family, Luisa has to shoulder physically heavy burdens. Though appearing "as tough as the crust of the earth" on the outside, underneath she feels the pressure of expectation and worries about letting others down. Pressure like a drip, drip, drip, that'll never stop, woah-oh Pressure that'll tip, tip, tip 'til you just go pop, woah-oh-oh-oh Give it to your sister, your sister's older Give her all the heavy things we can't shoulder Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote "Surface Pressure" along with all the other Encanto songs. Miranda is the baby of his family and grew up with a six-year-older sister, Luz. He admits to having it easier than Luz, who had to carry burdens he never did. "I remember my parents woke my sister up to put together a He-Man playset for Christmas before I woke up," he recalled to Variety. "They wanted it to be fully assembled when I woke up on Christmas morning. I put all of that angst and all of those moments into Luisa." Jessica Darrow did three total recordings of "Surface Pressure." She told Billboard her first recording of the song was before she'd done much of her dialogue, so "it colored the rest of my performance and creation of Luisa." When Darrow got to her final recording a month later, Miranda encouraged her to lean into the emotional message behind the song and how it made her feel deep down. He told her, "You don't have to worry about sounding perfect. Just ride these notes on the song and see where it goes." Darrow took on board Miranda's direction, which tied in with Luisa's journey. "You don't have to be so perfect. Stop being so rigid," she told herself.

I'm the strong one, I'm not nervous
I'm as tough as the crust of the Earth is
I move mountains, I move churches
And I glow 'cause I know what my worth is

I don't ask how hard the work is
Got a rough, indestructible surface
Diamonds and platinum, I find 'em, I flatten 'em
I take what I'm handed, I break what's demanded, but

Under the surface
I feel berserk as a tightrope walker in a three-ring circus
Under the surface
Was Hercules ever like, "Yo, I don't wanna fight Cerberus"?
Under the surface
I'm pretty sure I'm worthless if I can't be of service

A flaw or a crack
The straw in the stack
That breaks the camel's back
What breaks the camel's back?

It's pressure like a drip, drip, drip, that'll never stop, whoa
Pressure that'll tip, tip, tip, 'til you just go pop, whoa-oh-oh
Give it to your sister, your sister's older
Give her all the heavy things we can't shoulder
Who am I if I can't run with the ball?
If I fold to
Pressure like a grip, grip, grip, and it won't let go, whoa
Pressure like a tick, tick, tick, 'til it's ready to blow, whoa-oh-oh
Give it to your sister, your sister's stronger
See if she can hang on a little longer
Who am I if I can't carry it all?
If I falter

Under the surface
I hide my nerves and it worsens, I worry something is gonna hurt us
Under the surface
The ship doesn't swerve as it heard how big the iceberg is
Under the surface
I think about my purpose, can I somehow preserve this?

Line up the dominoes
A light wind blows
You try to stop it tumbling
But on and on it goes

But wait, if I could shake
The crushing weight of expectations
Would that free some room up for joy?
Or relaxation? Or simple pleasure?
Instead, we measure this growing pressure
Keeps growing, keep going
'Cause all we know is

Pressure like a drip, drip, drip, that'll never stop, whoa
Pressure that'll tip, tip, tip, 'til you just go pop, whoa-oh-oh
Give it to your sister, it doesn't hurt and
See if she can handle every family burden
Watch as she buckles and bends but never breaks
No mistakes, just
Pressure like a grip, grip, grip, and it won't let go, whoa
Pressure like a tick, tick, tick, 'til it's ready to blow, whoa-oh-oh
Give it to your sister and never wonder
If the same pressure would've pulled you under
Who am I if I don't have what it takes?
No cracks, no breaks
No mistakes, no pressure