During the final stages of creating his debut EP, Tell Me How It’s Worth It, Cade Hoppe found inspiration in the form of an old relationship.

It started with an adlib lyric. “I never really liked the smell of your perfume.” As he sat at the piano, the rest of the song came pouring out.

“I had no intention of it being that when I sat down to write it,” he said. “That's the fun part about songwriting. I learn things about myself when I write songs that I don't mean to write because I figure out how I view my own feelings and actions, especially with learned wisdom like with some perspective and time.”

“Hurts” is a classic breakup song told from the perspective of the person who decided to end the relationship. Despite being the one that ended it, and having since moved on to a new relationship, Hoppe never truly grieved the loss.

He calls “Hurts” the sequel to one of the tracks on his EP, “Borrowed Time”. The song is about being in a relationship for too long and moving on mentally but not physically. “Hurts”, he said, is that natural feeling after finally ending that relationship but finding it difficult to come to terms with after some time has passed.

The concept for the music video went through several changes before landing on the final version. With his newly purchased camcorder, Hoppe filmed himself through the eyes of his ex. The clips are meant to show the relationship during the happier moments, almost changing the perspective of the original lyrics.

“You don't end things because of the happy moments, but sometimes it's hard looking back on those,” he said. “I feel like the song paints one picture; it's from my perspective about the end of that relationship with them and how looking back we were running out of time since the beginning, but I feel it's powerful to provide extra context because while you're in it it's happy. It’s everything.”

Although “Hurts” was still being developed as Hoppe released his EP, he knew that it would be the right track to release next. It felt like an evolution to him; a solid introduction to the new sound he has been experimenting with.

“The way that I look at making music, whether it's writing or producing, is like building a world,” he said. “With every song, you're pushing the limits of that world and expanding it. You put one song out and that's your sound, and then you put another song out, and a third song out, and [it can create] a triangle sound but I think ultimately I want it to be this huge sphere that's not even a two dimensional spectrum. I want it to be as three dimensional as it gets and just keep growing it to the point where a song can sound so different yet it’s still recognized as a Cade Hoppe record.”

As he continues to evolve musically, Hoppe hopes that listeners find a relatability to his songs. With “Hurts”, it is just the first track among several to make an appearance in 2022. His next single, “Morphine”, releases March 18.