[Intro — plucky retro synth stab, near silence] (A clean plucky retro synth stab bounces once, warm and bright, with soft tape hiss. Light vinyl crackle. The tender vocal drifts in, close and honest. No vocal chops — whole lines only.) [Verse 1 — vocal + plucky synth, no drums yet] I painted on a happy face, in yellow, red and blue, a perfect little poster girl with nothing showing through. (Soft brushed drums enter with a light snappy backbeat.) [Pre-Chorus — bouncy synth bass fades in] Everybody loves the colours, nobody sees the grey, I'm smiling like a magazine that's fading by the day. [Chorus — bright, poppy, bittersweet] I'm a paper heart in primary colours, pretty on the wall, a picture-perfect nothing that don't feel much at all, so print me bright, print me twice, hang me in the light — I'm a paper heart in primary colours, lonely and polite. (The groove drops to just the plucky synth for a beat.) [Verse 2 — back to sparse, add electric piano] They cut me out in glossy squares, they copied me a hundred times, and every version wears a grin that hides the same old lines. [Pre-Chorus — string pad swelling in] Everybody loves the shine of it, nobody asks me why, I'm a comic-strip of feelings with a speech-bubble goodbye. [Chorus — repeat, warmer layered harmonies] I'm a paper heart in primary colours, pretty on the wall, a picture-perfect nothing that don't feel much at all, so print me bright, print me twice, hang me in the light — I'm a paper heart in primary colours, lonely and polite. [Bridge — voice almost alone, drums drop out] (Everything thins to warm electric piano and a soft pad. The vocal steps forward, quiet and sincere. Whole sung lines, no chops.) And underneath the gloss, there's a colour no one paints, a soft and quiet blue, that I keep behind the frame… behind the frame… [Final Chorus — brighter groove, half-time feel, tender] I'm a paper heart in primary colours, pretty on the wall, but somewhere in the silkscreen shine I'm not okay at all, so print me bright, print me twice, hang me in the light — I'm a paper heart in primary colours, saying goodnight. [Outro — fade to plucky synth and hiss] (The bass and drums fade. A last plucky synth stab bounces soft. The vocal sings one gentle unbroken line, then dissolves into tape hiss and vinyl crackle.) Just a paper heart… in primary colours.
