I Will Keep You Safe

[CONTEXT: Female vocal only; protective despair art-lullaby in A minor, 78 BPM; begins 6/8, collapses into ambiguous meter; voice becomes less human as the promise becomes less keepable] [INTRO — EMO: tender but frightened / VOCAL: close natural whisper-hum / MIX: dry breath, felt piano, celeste, faint wrong sub] Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm Little light, stay low Little heart, beat slow I am here beside the door I have checked it twice before *barely audible sub-bass enters under celeste* Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm [VERSE 1 — EMO: believable comfort / VOCAL: warm, human, almost unprocessed / MIX: 6/8 lullaby pulse, soft room] I will count the windows I will name each lock I will leave the hallway lamp Burning round the clock I will fold the blanket Where your shoulders shake I will learn the floorboards That complain at night I will keep my breathing Even by your side [CHORUS 1 — EMO: sincere promise / VOCAL: straight, close, lullaby assurance / MIX: music believes the hook] I will keep you safe I will keep you safe Sleep against my shaking hand I will keep you safe I will keep you safe Even if I have to lie Soft enough to make it stand [POST-CHORUS HUM — EMO: fragile tenderness / VOCAL: hummed hook fragment / MIX: celeste doubles melody] Mm-mm, mm-mm, safe Mm-mm, mm-mm, safe [VERSE 2 — EMO: tension under tenderness / VOCAL: slight doubled edge, one note held too long / MIX: tape wow, upper harmonic appears] I will hide the matches I will charge the phone I will learn the siren test So you won't learn alone I will keep the pantry Full of soup and pears I will call it planning Not the shape of prayers I will smile at breakfast Like the sky is kind *distortion creeps in at the piano tail* [CHORUS 2 — EMO: promise begins to wobble / VOCAL: microtonal bend on “safe” / MIX: sub pressure grows, 6/8 loses steadiness] I will keep you safe I will keep you safe Sleep against my breaking hand I will keep you safe I will keep you safe Even when my voice goes thin Even when I can't say when [REFRAIN FRACTURE — EMO: protective fury leaking through / VOCAL: breath catches, consonants harder / MIX: brushed pulse drops one beat] No, don't look at me like that No, don't ask me if I know No, don't make me say the math No, don't make the dark room glow I will keep— I will keep— *silence where chord should be* You safe [BRIDGE — EMO: direct fear, no metaphor / VOCAL: cold reverb replaces warmth, delay fragments phrases / MIX: time signature smears] My parents thought this fear was buried They put it under jokes and lawns They said the world had learned its lesson They said that kind of night was gone Then your phone lit up beside you With the news alert in blue And I saw what they had hidden Climb the screen and look at you I am not calm I am not wise I am not built For this size of sky I want to break Every machine That taught your little hands To refresh and freeze [COLLAPSE — EMO: helpless protective fury / VOCAL: delay shards, words overlap / MIX: 6/8 collapses into missing beats and sub-bass pressure] I checked the lock I checked the lock I checked the lock There is no lock for this I checked the glass I checked the gas I checked your pulse There is no house for this *distortion creeps in* *low bass swells where the cradle rhythm was* I said sleep I said sleep But I meant please Don't leave me with a promise Bigger than my teeth [CHORUS 3 — EMO: voice cracking, promise as failed shield / VOCAL: breaking belt then immediate retreat / MIX: harmony detunes, piano damaged] I will keep you safe I will keep you safe Hear me fail and hear me try I will keep you safe I will keep you safe If the words are all I have I will spend them till they die [FINAL VERSE — EMO: something else speaking through love / VOCAL: granular, formant-shifted, beyond natural recognition / MIX: meterless, celeste warped, room too large] I will tape the windows I will salt the snow I will teach the kettle Not to scream below I will hold the ceiling If it starts to fall I will make my body Into one more wall I will be the doorway I will be the stair I will be the warning Stuck inside the air I will be the lie that love Throws over the grave [FINAL HOOK — EMO: promise survives knowledge / VOCAL: processed voice, almost not human, then bare cracked human tail / MIX: all instruments pull away] I will keep you safe *one full second of total silence* I will keep you safe I will keep you safe I will keep you safe [OUTRO — EMO: closure refused / VOCAL: clipped inhale, tiny human hum returns / MIX: no cadence, room tone, low electrical hum] Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm Mm-mm, mm-mm, safe *silence where chord should be* *clipped inhale*