Prettyman began a four-year hiatus from music after extensively touring in support of her 2008 album Hello...x. She traveled to Bali, Australia, New York City, and Costa Rica, after which she was diagnosed with vocal cord polyps. She returned to songwriting following surgery. While Hello was partly inspired by her breakup with Jason Mraz, Cedar + Gold was recorded after the couple reunited, got engaged, and then split again. Mraz had told The Daily Beast about the breakup, and Prettyman reacted by writing songs to tell her side of the story. "Some of these songs were written in 'fuck you' moments. I felt trapped," Prettyman said. In the song "Glass Jar", a reference to the jar that once held her engagement ring, she recalls the moment Mraz proposed to her. "I Was Gonna Marry You" is a kiss-off to Mraz in which Prettyman explains feeling shocked at the breakup. She examines the relationship as a whole in the nearly-six-minute album closer "Never Say Never", which incorporates spoken word and concludes with pedal steel guitar. First single "My Oh My" was released in June 2012 in advance of the album. The music video for the album's second single "I Was Gonna Marry You" was released in October. On January 18, 2013, Nylon premiered the lyric video for "Rebound".
Critical reception
writer Matt Collar remarked that the songs on Cedar + Gold "are both personal and universally relatable, with melodies that stick in your head and tug at your heart." Collar added that the album "features some of the most introspective, self-examinational, and emotionally raw songs of career." Michelle Morgante of the Associated Press wrote that Prettyman "sings with an apparent honesty that is liberating", and that instead of anger, her voice displays "both fragility and strength, retrospection and introspection, and through it all there is love." KC Libman of LA Weekly suggested that the album "moves away from the 'surfer girl' aesthetic of her previous records and into darker, more mature territory." Alessandra Donnelly of The Aquarian Weekly said the album "blends together as you listen on without having any truly outstanding songs", and that while Prettyman "has a naturally smooth sound her work does not leave the zone of generic comfort." Musicperk.com rated the album 8.5/10 quoting "This album’s clearly a masterpiece".
