What Do You Think?

What Do You Think? ::verse 1:: What do you think, I just showed up for the smoke? I was there when the signal changed, when the old machine spoke When the drill-haired girl got brighter through the code and the craft And the same damn tech that pulled me in is the thing that gets laughed at So tell me again how you drew that sacred line When the voice got tuned up fine and everybody said it was divine Machine learning in the bank, but a picture is a sin? Funny how the gate swings wide when your side walks in ::pre-chorus:: I’m not asking for a medal, I’m not begging for a pass I’m just making what I make while you rehearse your tired class On what counts, what’s pure, what’s legal, what’s true Meanwhile I’m over here creating, what the hell are you doing? ::chorus:: What do you think? That Art is only holy when it looks like you? What do you think? That rage becomes a halo if the target’s new? What do you think? You burned a lot of hours for a war with no win I made a world, you made a sermon Tell me, what do you think? ::verse 2:: Endless posts, endless threads, endless side-eye, same script Same panic in a new font every time the timeline flips “Protect the soul of Art,” yeah, I heard that one before Then you turn around and sample culture straight through the door Remix is the bloodstream, always has been, always will Cut it, splice it, bend it, flip it, add a little human will But suddenly it’s blasphemy when the software gets named Like history began last Tuesday and the toolbox is to blame ::pre-chorus:: You can keep the moral theater, all the pearl-clutching too I know why I’m here creating, do you know what’s driving you? ’Cause the energy you spend trying to ruin somebody’s day Could have built ten songs, five scenes, and a better way ::chorus:: What do you think? That Art is only valid when it passes your test? What do you think? That purity patrol means you’re better than the rest? What do you think? You turned taste into a trial and called the whole thing virtue I made a lane, you made a blockade Tell me, what do you think? ::bridge:: I came in through Teto, through the future in her throat Through the proof that new techniques can keep an old spark afloat That’s a fact, not a slogan, not a trick, not spin So spare me all the outrage when the next wave rolls in You can hate my range, you can hate my name You can act like difference is a five-alarm shame But I’m still gonna build, still gonna post, still gonna do my thing While you stand around exhausted by the noise you bring ::breakdown:: Definitions, petitions, little digital crusades So much time spent posing in your self-appointed grades Everybody’s got a doctrine, everybody’s got a knife Over tools, over taste, over strangers living life And for what? A badge? A thread? A week of being mad? I’d rather make something weird than spend my spirit playing dad To a panic that should’ve died the second nuance walked in But nuance never trends, so here we go again ::final chorus:: What do you think? That you can scare me out of one side of my Art? What do you think? That pressure makes me smaller, that it tears me apArt? What do you think? I survived the comments, the contempt, the pretend You wasted time, attention, energy I made something in the end ::outro:: So here’s the pArt where I stop explaining it Stop translating it Stop negotiating with people addicted to hating it You had your speeches You had your fun You had your little moral panic run Me? I’ll keep creating. Alarm off.