you r000ted my heart - blair strater

**You Rooted My Heart** [Intro: soft analog synths, distant rain, gentle piano, intimate male vocal] [Verse 1] I found you on a glowing screen In some old corner of the web, A kid with paint on his jacket, A busted clock above his head. You came from smoke and basement light, From alleys full of sparks, Building miracles from scrap While I was falling apart. I had logs I should’ve checked, I had sleep I should’ve got, I had ten tabs open screaming That my life had lost the plot. Then you smiled through the static Like the whole thing could restart, And somewhere in that stupid moment, You rooted my heart. [Pre-Chorus: tender, slightly self-aware, vocals close and dry] Not proud of how dramatic This got in my head, But the world was doing nonsense, So I chose you instead. [Chorus 1: restrained emotional lift, warm harmonies, no big pop belting] Ekko, turn the clock back slow, Hold the blue light where you are. When the sirens know my street name, When the night takes things too far, I will love you in the glitch glow, Softly, foolishly, and hard. I had firewalls, I had passwords, Then you rooted my heart. [Verse 2: beat enters softly, muted electronic drums, cyberpunk ballad feel] You were always fixing something With a grin and half a plan, Making time behave itself By disobeying it again. I was also fixing something, Though less cool and more online, Chasing ghosts through little windows, Reading malice line by line. Someone wore my name like costume, Someone knocked with borrowed doom, Someone turned my quiet front lawn Into beach day for the moon. And yes, I know it sounds deranged, I can hear the violins start, But there you were in neon blue, And you rooted my heart. [Pre-Chorus: more amused, still sincere] Call it cringe, call it coping, Call it terminally charmed. I was fine until a time kid Walked in carrying sparks. [Verse 3: softer again, nostalgic, blue-green synth pad underneath] You made broken look repairable, Made the underground look warm, Made survival feel like art Instead of paperwork and alarms. You didn’t need a perfect city, You didn’t need a throne, Just a few good friends, a bright idea, And a place that still felt home. Maybe that’s what caught me, Not the clock, not the glow, But the way you kept on building When the answer should be no. So I’ll take the joke upon me, Yes, I played the tragic part: Grown man, haunted by a cartoon, Singing “you rooted my heart.” [Bridge: stripped down, piano and soft vocoder backing, bittersweet but funny] Let the record show I’m laughing, Let the chorus plead its case. Let the synths come in too tender, Let the reverb save my face. I was not exactly graceful, I was not exactly smart, But in the wreckage, there you flickered, And you rooted my heart. [Chorus 2: final lift, fuller drums, emotional but restrained] Ekko, turn the clock back slow, Hold the blue light where you are. When my name comes back corrupted, When the joke cuts close to scar, I will love you in the glitch glow, With a hand over my heart. I had backups, I had reasons, Then you rooted my heart. [Outro: fading synths, rain texture, last line nearly spoken] If time can break and still keep moving, If scrap can turn to art, Then let the final log line read: You rooted my heart.