Intro (warm piano · pluck melody · nostalgic · whisper) I kept the good parts Folded small and filed under "worth it" Here's the archive Verse 1 A polaroid from 2017 in the sun A voicemail I still play when days come undone A handwritten list of things I used to love Before I let the loud world push and shove The archive of the beautiful is full Even when the rest of it was null Pre-Chorus (four-on-the-floor enters · sidechained pads swell · cue-cue scratches) The piano plays the archive like a score The pulsing bass says: you were always more The pluck melody counts everything you kept — Cue — cue — nothing wept — Chorus 1 Everything I kept is who I am Every polaroid and voicemail — diagram Cue-cue — scratch the archive into beat The nostalgic and the driving — complete Everything I kept — the gold, the ache Every beautiful thing I chose to take Cue-cue — romantic, euphorc, free — Everything I kept — that's me (that's me — cue-cue — kept — yeah — free —) Verse 2 The handwritten list got longer as the years went on Turns out you keep collecting even when someone's gone A laugh from a stranger on a Tuesday train The first hot coffee after three days of rain The archive grows — it doesn't need the hurt To fill — the beautiful was never inert Chorus 2 Everything I kept — the whole collection Every accidental beautiful connection Cue-cue — scratch the golden into now The drama and the dancing — taking vow Everything I kept — alive and whole Bright piano chords across my soul Cue-cue — infectious, polished, right — Everything I kept — ignite (ignite — cue-cue — yeah — golden — whole —) Bridge (most emotional · piano · stripped · then full re-entry) The polaroid is faded now but real The voicemail crackles — still the best I feel The handwritten list has coffee stains from Tuesdays And everything on it was the thing that stayed Worth keeping — worth the beat — worth the whole archive — Cue-cue — worth being alive (piano holds... bass pulse returns... cue-cue surges... drop—) Final Chorus Everything I kept is blazing bright The archive and the dance floor — both tonight Cue-cue — scratch the whole thing into gold Radio-ready, euphorically bold Everything I kept — the years, the grace Every beautiful thing found its rightful place Cue-cue — the night remembers too — Everything I kept — I kept for you (kept for you — cue-cue — yeah — gold — blazing — go —) Outro The archive... still full... (la la la) The polaroid... the voicemail... the Tuesday coffee... Everything I kept... cue-cue... yeah...
