What I Was Giving Up

"What I Was Giving Up" is a song by English pop singer Calvin Hawthorne, taken from his upcoming sophomore album Closure. The song was released as an airplay single and was sent to radio in the UK in early September 2013. It is technically the first release from Closure since the album's official lead single "All I Got" will not be fully released until late September 2013.

Background
"What I Was Giving Up" was released to UK radio in early September as a promotional airplay single and the first overall release from Hawthorne's debut album Closure. The album's official lead single "All I Got" will be released later in the month.

Writing and composition
The song was written, composed, and produced by Stephanie Kesh; the song was also written by Hawthorne who jotted down ideas and mapped out how the song should sound lyrically and sonically. Parts of the song was written by Hawthorne while the rest (and most of it) was written by Kesh.

Lyrically, the song talks about someone who is walking away from a difficult situation. Sonically, the song is a pop song that contains elements of electropop and R&B.

Release
"What I Was Giving Up" was released to radio in the UK in early September, just weeks before "All I Got", the official lead single from both songs' parent album Closure. "What I Was Giving Up" is an airplay promotional single.

Critical reaction
Fans and critics gave the song generally positive reviews. The lyrics and composition of the song received praised, as well as Hawthorne's vocal performance. As with most and the rest of Hawthorne's material, his use of pitch correction was criticized though he was praised for also showing growth in his vocal skills at the same time.