Song Cover Image

We Were at the Mall

qualiacology
qualiacology
Bright bouncy pop-punk with early-2000s mall-punk energy and a warm emo heart, opens on one bare vocal line before the band kicks in, deadpan storytelling with sincere emotion, male lead vocal close, dry and clearly pitched in the verses like he's telling it across a table, verses in a palm-muted half-time feel so every word lands, the band stops dead for one beat before each chorus, then full-tempo drive with the vocal opening wide and belted, a crack on the biggest lines and stacked self-harmonies on the hook, a brief dropout under the one echoed ad-lib, jangly bright guitars over a driving eighth-note bass, punchy drums, crash-heavy choruses, 168 BPM, major key with a borrowed minor chord under the last line of each chorus, the bridge drops to muted guitar and voice, bewildered and unhurried, drums creeping back through the build into the biggest, brightest final chorus, the outro bare, close-mic and unprocessed, one beat of silence before the last line, ending cold, ‑female vocal, ‑duet, ‑rap, ‑gang vocals, ‑crowd chants, ‑choir, ‑novelty song, ‑comedy sound effects, ‑mall announcements, ‑cash register sounds, ‑duck quacks, ‑trap hi-hats, ‑EDM drop, ‑heavy autotune, ‑orchestral strings, ‑lo-fi, ‑country twang, ‑screamo, ‑muddy low end, ‑long fade-out
V6

[Intro] [bare voice] If anybody asks... [Verse 1] [close, dry] Eleven out of ten, and I got carded at her curb by her mother. No, her sister. Depends which version you heard. Somebody got my plate number, said, "Park in the far lot," and I thought, damn, they must love her a lot. At the arcade she wanted something stuffed. I was nowhere near enough. You could just buy the tickets. She asked so sweet. I did the math and didn't budge. [Pre-Chorus] [building] Last time I saw her, late at my place, her phone goes off, some woman yelling. "Mom," she says, "we're at the mall." So I listen for the mall. Not a fountain, not a song, not a sound at all. [Chorus] [wide, belted] We were at the mall! We were at the mall! Split a pretzel, threw a penny, and honestly, that's all. If anybody asks, we were at the mall, the quietest mall in the world. [Verse 2] [close, deadpan] Grown woman, midnight curfew, and we're not gonna break it, but the voice says now, so now. I'm driving her back. Halfway there she's yelling at the voice again, then "Let me out," middle of the trees, middle of the night, nowhere on the map. I let her out, 'cause you let her out. I sit there with the engine running. She doesn't know where she is. (Somebody does.) She walks off like she's late for something. [Pre-Chorus] [building] I call and call. Nothing. I drive to my parents'. I text her, "Are you okay?" Then she texts from somewhere, "Where'd you go? My stuff is in your car." She was never lost at all. [Chorus] [wide, rueful] We were at the mall! We were at the mall! Split a pretzel, threw a penny, and honestly, that's all. If anybody asks, we were at the mall, the quietest mall in the world. [Bridge] [guitar and voice] Then the mall cops pulled into my parents' driveway, took her stuff to the lost and found, and that was that. Real car, real badges, real quick about it. Nobody asked me where she was at. [Build] [drums creep in] Carded at the curb. My plate. The far lot. A curfew on a grown woman. A phone that wasn't hers. A last name that wasn't hers. A first name that probably was. Took me way too long and a dresser full of ducks to figure out I was the mall. [Final Chorus] [biggest, brightest] We were at the mall! We were at the mall! Split a pretzel, threw a penny, and honestly, that's all. If anybody asks, I was the mall, the quietest mall in the world. [Outro] [bare, close-mic] So if her mother asks you, or her sister, where she was, we were at the mall. I won her the stuffed animal. Didn't even buy the tickets. [End]