[Intro – lone filtered synth arpeggio, heartbeat kick] [Verse 1] They changed the locks in June — no warning, no parade, just a memo and a deadbolt and a decade in a day. I could hear you through the drywall, every toast and every song. Funny how a room gets louder when they say you don't belong. [Pre-Chorus – drums building] Nineteen days — I counted twice, the math came out the same. You can take me off the guest list, but you can't take back my name. [Chorus – full band, euphoric] So say it like you mean it: "Back by popular demand!" Hang the banner, spike the punch, like everybody planned it — and if nobody planned it, lie to me, I'll understand. Just say it like you mean it: back by popular demand. [Verse 2] Now the door swings like it's sorry, and the hallway smells like home, and there's a stranger at the piano playing songs I used to own. And he's good — damn, he's good. He can have them when I'm gone. But the calendar says tonight, and tonight the song is mine. [Pre-Chorus – drums building] Nineteen days, I wrote you letters that I never got to send — every letter, just one sentence: save my seat, it's not the end. [Chorus – bigger, brighter] So say it like you mean it: "Back by popular demand!" Hang the banner, spike the punch, like everybody planned it — and if nobody planned it, lie to me, I'll understand. Just say it like you mean it: back by popular demand. [Bridge – stripped, half-time, intimate] But somebody kept the tab open. Somebody circled the date. Somebody played my old songs like the encore couldn't wait. And there's a banner in the doorway, hanging crooked, hanging true — it's glitter, and it's stupid, and it's the only thing that's proof: you don't get to pick who misses you. (soft) Lucky me... it was you. [Final Chorus – key change, biggest] So I'll say it like I mean it: back by popular demand! Hang the banner, spike the punch — turns out somebody planned it. You planned it. You always planned it. One's enough to fill the stands. So I'll say it like I mean it, 'cause I mean it: back by popular demand. [Outro – everything drops; voice and one synth] (whispered) They changed the locks in June... (belted, hard cut) Somebody made a key.
