Photo by Hasan Almasi
Originally, when I received this request, it came to me under the artist Michael W. Smith. A kind user who goes by the name “lost or just less found” pointed out to me that UPPERROOM is the original artist. Thank you lost! You helped the original artist be found.
UPPERROOM is a church based in Dallas, Texas. Opening its doors in 2010, it started with little pomp, much like this website. Today, they have attracted over 100 staff who sing, write, and play music in worship nearly 20 times per week. Pastor Michael Miller leads this organization and planted a second church in Denver. Elyssa Smith, who wrote Surrounded (Fight My Battles), leads worship at their Denver location.
A producer from global worship superstar Michael W. Smith heard Elyssa’s song on YouTube, prompting this cultural phenomenon to prominently record his own version in his 2018 live album Surrounded. His album popularized her song and catapulted UPPERROOM into the spotlight, leading to their first full-length album To The One, released on February 22, 2019.
Previously recorded work are all live alums, mixing covers with original work. This includes Live from Upper Room (2016), Moments (2018), Moments II (2018), and Moments Color 003 (2019).
Lyrics can be found at https://genius.com/Upperroom-surrounded-fight-my-battles-lyrics. While I realize that the live version has additional lyrics, this review will be for the recorded version from their album Moments.
Note to new users: This is a different kind of review site! Read About the Berean Test and Evaluation Criteria prior to reading this review.
1. What message does the song communicate?
UPPERROOM fights their battles through prayer and remaining in tune with God’s leading, proclaiming that “You” won. Who is “You”, God or a human bodyguard lover? I can’t tell solely from the lyrics.
While I understand that UPPERROOM singing about themselves might seem self-centered, it appears testimonial in nature, much like the writings of Paul in several of his epistle’s. I cannot criticize them for this utilization of the pronoun “I”.
Side Note: To those sensitive to massive repetition, this song contains:
- This is how I fight my battles – 28 times (including derivatives)
- It may look like I’m surrounded, but I’m surrounded by You – 17 times (including derivatives)
Score: 4/10
2. How much of the lyrics line up with Scripture?
I will assume “You” refers to Jesus throughout these lyrics and apply a two-point penalty. Under this assumption, the lyrics are biblical.
[Verse]
Line 1: How does UPPERROOM fight their battles? This is not addressed until section Spontaneous. An interesting choice for a section name!
Line 2: This also makes little sense until we reach section Spontaneous.
Lines 3-8: Repeats line 1.
[Chorus]
Line 1: A portion of line 2.
Lines 2 and 3: Reminiscent of Psalm 23:4, Christ’s presence envelops dire scenarios, real or imagined.
Lines 4-9: Repeats lines 2 and 3.
[Bridge]
Line 1: The power of Christ’s shed blood washes away sins (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14, Hebrews 9:22, 1 Peter 1:2, and 1 Peter 1:18-19).
Lines 2-4: Repeats line 1.
[Spontaneous]
Line 1: Repeats Verse, line 1. Serves as an introduction for UPPERROOM to give context to its meaning.
Line 2: What table is that? My best guess is what is colloquially known as The Last Supper, the meal to which Jesus instituted communion (or the Eucharist, if you’re Roman Catholic). The Bridge and the next two lines are my best clues to contextualize this phrase, with the body representing Christ’s battered body and the cup representing His shed blood (see Matthew 26:17–30, Mark 14:12–26, Luke 22:7–39, John. 13:1–17:26, and 1 Corinthians 11:23-29). This could have been much clearer.
Lines 3 and 4: That is, overcome death. He rose again (see Matthew 28, Mark 16, Luke 24, John 20, Acts 1:3, Acts 3:15, Acts 4:33, and 1 Corinthians 15:3-8).
All other sections after [Spontaneous] derive from preceding lyrics or add nothing valuable to my evaluation. There is little point analyzing them.
Score: 8/10
3. How would an outsider interpret the song?
This song is highly confusing to unbelievers. First, who is UPPERROOM talking about? Second, how does “You” fight battles with grace? It has a Buddhism feel to it, which is positive but confusing.
Score: 3/10
4. What does this song glorify?
If we assume God, He is glorified in in these lyrics, through His uplifting the power, power, wonder-working power in the blood of the lamb. However, the lyrics aren’t clear without examining UPPERROOM’s history.
Score: 5/10
Closing Comments
The strong asset attained from UPPERROOM’s Surrounded (fight my battles) is adherence to Biblical accuracy. Beyond that, its unclear identification of “You” diverts attention away from their otherwise decent message of Christ’s presence, shed blood, resurrection, and God’s glory.
I am not sure what Michael W. Smith’s producer saw in this song, but apparently, he saw something different than I do.
Final Score: 5.5/10
Artist Info
Track: Surrounded (Fight My Battles) (listen to the song)
Artist: UPPERROOM
Album: Moments
Genre: Rock
Release Year: 2018
Duration: 5:49
Agree? Disagree? Don’t be shy or have a cow! Calmly and politely state your case in a comment, below.
Updates:
03/26/2021 – After re-examining the song, and to keep this in line with other reviews, I’ve updated my entire review. I lowered its overall score, from 7.5/10 to 5.5/10.
03/27/2020 – Upon further reflection and prayer, I decided that repetition does not impact an unbeliever’s interpretation or the lyrics’ inherent glorification of God. Therefore, I updated my commentary sections 3 and 4 and updated my score in section 4, raising this review from 7/10 to 7.5/10.
03/14/2019 – Upon re-examination, I realized that I was too harsh on UPPERROOM for their endless use of repetition. While I am personally against such use, that is no reason to give it an overall 3/10 rating, especially since its Biblical score was high. Thank you Beeb294 on Reddit for pointing this out!
Comments
Jolee
Before I listened to this song, I wondered if the writer of this song was bored and just wrote that and paid no attention to detail. Now listening to it again, I honestly feel that the song is saying that UPPERROOM is “surrounded by the presence of God.” they’re praising God for everything he’s done. upperoom is basically praying in this song. I do love it but I feel like the writer(s) could’ve done better.
Laurel E. Kardison
Psalm 23:5: Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
A prophecy for Christ, and arguably, those under Jesus Christ’s reign (table verse). Christ covered us and protects us by the Elements, by His sacrifice of body and blood (on the cross and represented at the Passover table, Communion)… His blood saves us, His Name casts out foul spirits, and His death atones for us and satisfies the wrath of God against our sin.
How do we fight our battles? By Him alone. He satisfied all by His sacrifice.
Psalm 139: Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there! If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night,” …
“You” is not the band, her boyfriend, or Buddha. This is a song that is based after David’s Psalms.
When we think we are surrounded by devils, evil, negativity, fear, etc, we are truly surrounded more-so by the Holy Spirit as Christians.
She goes on to adlib, “This is how I fight my battles…I PRAY!!” Which is a very anointed part of the song SHE sings. I’m not familiar with the MwS version.
Hope this puts it in biblical context.
Dave
Laurel, I very much agree with your thoughts and biblical context. From the start, the review of this song has headed one direction, and it has never recognized your points. The idea that the review was initially not based on the entire song, by the original song writer, in context with that worship moment, is telling. Much credit should be given for the changes made in the review as this discussion has progressed, but it still seems like there is a defense of the original position embedded here. Criticisms of style are legitimate, and personal, and are what they are. The other context, which I have stated in a prior comment, is that of the live worship experience. If you have ever or never been to The Upper Room to worship, it is influential upon a person’s perception of the song, and how it is grounded in worship of our Creator. The Upper Room is a special place, with passionate, genuine, and real worship. Not everyone would connect with their style. The author of the (entire) song is a gifted and committed worship leader and song writer. All that being said, the biblical context is solid, as is the passion for our God, and recognition that He is what empowers us to live in this world.
chrisconte
I am grateful to the Berean Test for the hard work of ensuring truth is part of the songs we sing. There is much to be concerned about when it comes to the often self-centered worship we see in today’s music, including the some of the worship music of today. I encourage you to be kind and focus on your strengths in matching lyrics to scripture and allow artistic elements such as the use of repetition to pass unreviewed.
Christopher Babb
This song is basically the same as “Raise a Hallelujah” by bethel. Very repetitive, with the main point of the song being that God fights our battles for us and we call out to him through prayer and worship. You gave that song a 10/10 or something like that. You gave this one a horrible grade even though they are basically the same. The only real difference being the word Hallelujah being used on repeat in the bethel song. Using the word Hallelujah does not inherently make a song more biblical. Either both of these songs are good or both are trash. Your grading scale is plagued with error and bias my friend.
Vince Wright
Christopher,
Thank you for your comment!
The chief difference is clarity. Surrounded isn’t clear on who “You” is, which incurs a heavy penalty in my reviews. Raise a Hallelujah is much clearer, stating in Spontaneous, “Everything to You, Jesus”.
-Vince Wright
Sarah
Just stumbled upon this site and I guess I’m confused as to why there’s a need to be so critical about worship songs. As a writer and a musician, I feel like this criticism takes so much of the poetic artistry and emotion and heartfelt praise out of the lyrics. With this song in particular, if you’re a believer, you know who the “You” is referring to…it’s not hard. If you aren’t a believer and you hear this song, most likely you know that you’re listening to a Christian song…again, not hard to guess who the song is about, but if the unbeliever is in a worship setting with believers, they have the ability to ask for clarification. I’m not seeing any problems here. It almost feels like this site is for literalists who aren’t good at poetic interpretation of meaning. As for the repetition, if I love the melody of a song, I can repeat it all day long. If I don’t love the music…not so much. Not sure why repetition annoys people apart from that…maybe just because not everyone is a fan of music/singing? But I don’t think Jesus minds the repetition of our worship.
D
I feel the exact same way as you do. This website has many fair critiques for most of the songs, but there are so many nitpicks like “not making it clear who the ‘You’ is” when it is obviously about God. Imagine if somebody took every single verse of the BIble literally; you know how many hands and eyes would be cut off and gouged if they never looked at the context? That’s the exact problem with some of the reviews on this website. It’s like wondering who “God” is in John 3:16 and then hiding behind the argument that it’s not clear in the verse if it’s the God of the Quran or of the Bible. Context is everything, and if you remove or ignore it for criticism or whatever point you are making, those claims are invalid.
Vince Wright
Sarah, D,
Thank you for your comments!
First, the reason why I am critical of worship songs is the scope I’ve set for my reviews. The scope does not include how the lyrics are used (e.g.; church setting, worship concert, Christian radio, etc). People can use any song any way they wish to use it and interpret it however they want within churches, youth groups, and Christian radio. However, if you understand the scope I’ve used for these reviews, then it should make it easier to see how I’ve drawn my conclusions.
Second, my point is that, based on the lyrics alone, it’s not clarified if “You” is God or some other person/being. An easy fix is to include something that would only be attributable to God (e.g.; omniscience, omnipresence, eternality, etc.), a proper name (e.g.; Heavenly Father, Holy Spirit, Christ, etc.), or an act that points us to God (e.g.; cross, miracles, great flood, judging the living and the dead, etc.). Without these elements, song lyrics become indistinguishable from secular music. For example, consider the following:
[Chorus]
You are so beautiful
To me
You are so beautiful
To me
Can’t you see
[Post Chorus]
You’re everything I hoped for
You’re everything I need
You are so beautiful to me
To me
[Verse]
Such joy and happiness you bring
Such joy and happiness you bring
Like a dream
A guiding light that shines in the night
Heavens gift to me
You are so beautiful to me
If you heard this in church, do you think we’d be singing about Jesus? This song is a secular song, You Are So Beautiful, released by Joe Cocker in 1974. If churches want to use this song to worship God, that’s their choice. However, it’s no more clear that UPPERROOM is talking about God than Joe Cocker is.
Third, I can’t speak for other people, but I examine things contextually, not literally. When it comes to Scripture, I examine verses within the context of a passage, within the context of a chapter, within the context of a book, within the context of a covenant, within the context of the Bible. However, I examine song lyrics in isolation because they are usually written that way.
Fourth, I’ve noticed that some people embrace repetition while others don’t prefer it. The side note is for the latter group.
-Vince Wright
Dave
Wow. I think the reviewer is thinking too hard, listening to “influencers” too much, and not praying enough. To publish ratings from 3 to 7.5 suggests someone who is applying the parameters of personal preference to something holy. Some of the comments here also suggest ratings based on professional music viewpoint. As for me and my house, we will choose foolishness over conventional “wisdom”. Be blessed and worship Him in spirit and truth.
Vince Wright
Dave,
Thank you for your comments!
Though my earlier review contained personal preference about repetition, that was since removed in this present review. My chief complaint is that the lyrics aren’t clear about who “You” is, which you haven’t addressed in your rebuttal.
-Vince Wright
Dave
Vince, I apologize for the slow response back to you. I have really come to appreciate your work and site. More and more often I am coming here to review songs that we might consider utilizing in worship. You are truly anointed to these works and this forum. In this particular case, I think you continue to be caught in the trap of genre and style. Live worship versions are not the best test for songs, in that there is no way to really understand the context of what was going on in that time and place. Earlier someone published the original lyrics. Read them again. I think that we get too focused on style, and in assuming someone has zero knowledge of who God is. The song can truly be used in many ways, with many styles. The lyrics may not be 100% what you are looking for, but there is no way to claim they are not scriptural. Personally I have lived some battles, and relate to what she is talking about. Maybe that connection is what draws me to the song, and I readily admit my positive bias in that regard. Please keep on doing what you are doing. Blessings and best wishes my friend.
Dave
One quick footnote Vince, if you look at the lyrics, the song writer has capitalized “You”. In our tradition, that is a strong clue to who is being addressed, and is a proper way to show respect to our Creator, God, and King. It is certainly a legitimate point that someone not familiar with our traditions would not understand the intent.
Vince Wright
Dave,
Thank you for your comments!
My criticism isn’t so much about style, but more on how clear the lyrics are in terms of who they point to. Capitalizing “You” makes it a proper noun, but that doesn’t necessarily indicate clarify. Also, I never said they aren’t Scriptural! Section 2 received 8/10, which only lost points because the lyrics are vague outside of assuming it’s about God/Jesus/etc.
-Vince Wright
Jorge
I believe you should review this song based on the full lyrics used in the 10 minute video that has previously been provided.