[Verse 1] They try to tell you who you are Before you get to say Hand you a name like a sentence And expect you to obey Put you in a box with a label on the side Write your whole story In a language you ain't tried But nobody knows the weight Of what you carried to get here Nobody read the chapters That you wrote through all the fear They only see the cover They don't know the plot So don't you let 'em finish What they didn't even start [Pre-Chorus] 'Cause the world's got a version of you It's dying to sell But you hold the pen And you write yourself [Chorus] Hold the pen, hold the pen Don't let 'em tell you how it ends You're the author, you're the ink You're the page in your own hands Let 'em talk, let 'em guess Let 'em label, let 'em box You can burn the whole draft And write it back from the top They don't get the final word They don't hold the pen You're the one who says who you are And you say it again [Verse 2] See, they profit when you doubt it They get rich off your shame They'll define you by your lowest Just to keep you in the frame But the past is just a first draft It was never the whole You can edit any chapter You're the keeper of your soul Don't hand 'em your story Don't let 'em hold your name Don't let the ones who hurt you Get to narrate your pain Take it back, take it all back Every word, every line Your life is yours to author And the pen is yours to find [Pre-Chorus] 'Cause the world's got a version of you It's dying to sell But you hold the pen And you write yourself [Chorus] Hold the pen, hold the pen Don't let 'em tell you how it ends You're the author, you're the ink You're the page in your own hands Let 'em talk, let 'em guess Let 'em label, let 'em box You can burn the whole draft And write it back from the top They don't get the final word They don't hold the pen You're the one who says who you are And you say it again [Bridge] 'Cause the most dangerous soul Is the one that can't be sold Who knows their own story Who can't be bought or controlled You can't be a headline You can't be a trend When you're the one who owns The paper, ink, and pen So write it like it's sacred Write it like it's true Write a life so unmistakably Unmistakably you And when they try to tell your story The whole world will know That pen was never theirs to hold It was always yours to hold [Chorus] Hold the pen, hold the pen Don't let 'em tell you how it ends You're the author, you're the ink You're the page in your own hands Let 'em talk, let 'em guess Let 'em label, let 'em box You can burn the whole draft And write it back from the top They don't get the final word They don't hold the pen You're the one who says who you are And you say it again [Outro] Hold the pen It was always in your hand Hold the pen Write yourself Write yourself
