[LIVE CONCERT RECORDING, crowd noise waxes and wanes throughout] Verse 1 [soft pulse, low synth] You liked me best in borrowed light, chin high, dress tight, no loose threads. Said I looked like something holy when the flash hit my cheekbones red. [voice intimate] You never asked what it cost me, only if I could wear it well. Held my hand for the cameras, dropped it in the hotel. [subtle bass enters] I learned to smile with a fever, learned to bleed without a stain. By morning, every headline had a prettier name for pain. Pre-Chorus [slower, colder] You said, “Don’t look so wounded, they’ll think I did something wrong.” So I turned my face to the mirror and made the damage belong. [small pause] Chorus [beat opens, polished but sad] You only loved me polished, only touched me on display. Couldn’t hold the girl in pieces, but you loved the way she played. Now they quote me out of context, sell the silence after fame. Everybody wants the picture where I’m pretty when I break. [layered vocals, echo] Pretty when I break. Pretty when I break. My worst night in perfect lighting, pretty when I break. Verse 2 [beat pulls back] I was crying in the backseat, you were checking if they saw. Said, “Baby, this looks messy,” like my heart broke against the law. [dry, almost spoken] You liked the dress, not the shaking. Liked the myth, not the mess. Liked the girl on the billboard with your hand around her waist. [darker synths swell] Now strangers call it iconic when I disappear for days. They make edits of the wreckage, slow it down and add my name. Pre-Chorus 2 [voice sharper] You said, “Don’t give them weakness, they’ll eat it if you do.” But darling, you were hungry for the same thing too. [pause before drop] Chorus [bigger drums, wider synths] You only loved me polished, only touched me on display. Couldn’t hold the girl in pieces, but you loved the way she played. Now they quote me out of context, sell the silence after fame. Everybody wants the picture where I’m pretty when I break. [echoed backing vocals] Pretty when I break. Pretty when I break. My worst night in perfect lighting, pretty when I break. Bridge [stripped down, soft piano, almost whispered] Tell me, did you mourn me or the access that you lost? Did you miss my body or the velvet it came wrapped in? [pause] When I called you from the bathroom, voice gone, mascara split, you said, “This isn’t like you.” No — this was all of it. [glossy dance beat returns] Dress it up, crop it clean, make my grief look magazine. Cut the sound, keep the face, watch me fall in higher frame. [vocals clipped, rhythmic] Say my name, call it art, turn the bruise into a chart. If I crack, let it pay. God, I’m pretty when I break. Final Chorus [full production, emotional] You only loved me polished, only kissed me made of light. Couldn’t stay for the confession, but you watched it stream that night. Now they quote me out of context, sell the silence after fame. Everybody wants the picture where I’m pretty when I break. [big backing vocals] Pretty when I break. Pretty when I break. My worst night in perfect lighting, pretty when I break. Outro [music fading, voice exposed] If I shatter, make it silver. If I’m lonely, make it blue. If I’m drowning, call it era. If I’m dying, call it news. [quiet, direct] You can keep the perfect angle. You can keep the pretty take. But don’t say that you loved me if you only loved the break. [final breath, synth fades]
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