[Intro — "Registration"] Name? Purpose? Duration? Temporary placement approved [Verse 1 — "Assigned Fit"] They handed me a borrowed title Folded clean across my chest Said, "Wear this until it softens" Said, "This one usually fits best" Measured me in quiet categories Filed my pulse beneath a chart Stamped a meaning on my breathing Leased a label to my heart Someone circled "likely compliant" Someone wrote "observe decline" Someone penciled in a future That resembled someone else's time [Pre-Chorus — "Trial Period"] Try it on Let it settle Let it shape the way you stand If it tightens If it fractures That's just part of what we planned [Chorus — "NAME FOR HIRE"] I am a name for hire Worn until it fades Temporary meaning In permanent displays I am a name for hire Echoed when I'm near Every voice that calls me Sounds slightly insincere And I feel the seams stretch thin Where they told me I begin I am a name for hire Trying not to wear my skin [Verse 2 — "Misfit"] The mirror learns me incorrectly Every angle slightly wrong My reflection holds the outline But forgets where I belong Someone calls me, I respond But the sound arrives delayed Like the person they're expecting Is a version someone made They revised my small reactions Adjusted how I breathe Every silence misinterpreted As agreement I don’t believe [Pre-Chorus — "Expiration"] Everything has duration Everything returns Every rented explanation Quietly unlearns [Chorus — "NAME FOR HIRE"] I am a name for hire Worn until it bends Temporary meaning Trying to pretend I am a name for hire Given, not grown Every time they call me I feel less known And the letters rearrange When I step outside the frame I am a name for hire And I no longer fit my name [Bridge — "Unassigned"] There is something underneath the syllables Something that resists the sound There is movement in the meaning Like a pulse not written down Someone asks me who I am But the answer doesn’t land The name falls short of breathing Like dust inside my hand [Break] Assignment ending Renewal pending Identity unstable [Final Chorus] I was a name for hire But the lease begins to tear Every borrowed definition Thins the borrowed air I was a name for hire But something slips between Every word they gave me Leaves me less contained Hear the consonants collapse Hear the vowels disengage I was a name for hire And I'm stepping off the page [Outro] Call me No Don't. Let me arrive unnamed
