[Intro – cold spoken whisper, close mic, dry, no reverb] Hold still. Let me look. [Verse 1 – controlled, low chest voice, clinical] I held you up to the vault light Turned your face like a coin in my palm No hallmark stamped on the underside Just a patina you borrowed to stay calm You kiln-fired every answer smooth Sanded down what should've frayed I've seen forgeries dressed as truth Yours is just better made [Pre-Chorus – voice rising, breath audible, building tension] So here's my loupe, here's my eye Here's the light you can't survive I don't flinch, I don't ask why I just watch the glaze go dry [Chorus – full open belt, wide vibrato, high headroom] I found the hairline, found the seam Where your gold leaf starts to peel Cross my palm with everything I'll tell you what is real You built a smile like a masterpiece I built a light that never lies Crack — and there's the counterfeit beneath Crack — and there's you, capsized [Verse 2 – pulled back to near-whisper, then swelling mid-line] You practiced grief in front of the mirror first Timed the tremble, staged the tears I clocked the beat before the burst Watched you counterfeit the years You said you'd drown if I let go Held your breath to prove the myth Water doesn't lie like glazing does — you know You just needed a witness to grieve with [Pre-Chorus – same as above, slightly harder] So here's my loupe, here's my eye Here's the light you can't survive I don't flinch, I don't ask why I just watch the glaze go dry [Chorus – same, one octave layer added underneath] I found the hairline, found the seam Where your gold leaf starts to peel Cross my palm with everything I'll tell you what is real You built a smile like a masterpiece I built a light that never lies Crack — and there's the counterfeit beneath Crack — and there's you, capsized [Bridge – raw, distorted texture, grunge-inflected growl low, then explosive surge into head voice — the 5% grunge moment] Maybe I was porcelain too Fired in the same house as you But I chose the crack over the shine I'd rather shatter than align [ad-lib: guttural growl building into a soaring, unexpected falsetto belt] Rather — shatter — than align— [Final Chorus – huge dynamic range, whisper-to-belt within single lines, extended ad-libs] I found the hairline, found the seam Where your gold leaf starts to peel Cross my palm with everything I'll tell you what is real You built a smile like a masterpiece I built a light that never lies Crack — [whispered, then explosive belt] and there's the counterfeit beneath Crack — [held falsetto, huge held note] there's you, capsized [Outro – quiet, spoken, cold, dry] Keep the smile. I kept the light. One of us was always going to be right.
