[Intro - restless acoustic strumming, open chords, suspended notes] [Verse 1 - intimate, conversational] Hey girl, how are you? Still counting every flaw you think you own? Still hiding by the window where nobody can tell you no? You watch the whole world moving, popcorn balanced on your knees, throwing stones at everybody doing what you’re scared to be. [Refrain - restrained, almost spoken] Stop me if you've heard this, stop me if you've heard this before... [Instrumental Chorus - signature guitar hook] [Urgent acoustic strumming, open-string guitar motif] [Electric guitar answers the acoustic phrase] [Verse 2 - more tension, stronger strumming] Hey girl, how are you? Still keeping score against your pretty friend? The model, the hostess, the face you wish you’d been? And there’s another perfect stranger glowing twenty feet high, selling you a life in thirty seconds that she probably doesn’t recognize. [Refrain - building hard] Stop me if you've HEARD this... [Refrain - shouted, full band enters] STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS BEFORE! [Instrumental Chorus - bigger guitar hook] [Full drums, bass and wide acoustic strumming] [Electric guitar hook rises over sustained chords] [Verse 3 - band pulls back, vocal close again] Hey girl, how are you? When did the mirror learn to talk like that? You walk into every room already apologizing for where you’re at. That invisible sign around your neck does half the damage for you: “Don’t look too long, there’s nothing worth looking at.” [Pre-Bridge - tension rising] You call it being honest. I call it fixing the race. You lose before the starting gun then blame everybody else’s pace. [Bridge - raw, direct, gradually opening] You don’t have to love the mirror. You don’t have to like every side. Just look yourself straight in the face before you step outside. You don’t need to say you’re beautiful. You don’t need to make it true. Just once, without a punchline: “I’m enough to see this through.” [Instrumental Build - aggressive acoustic strumming] [Drums build under ringing suspended chords] [Final Refrain - full voice, near breaking point] Stop me if you've heard this, STOP ME IF YOU'VE HEARD THIS BEFORE! [Final Instrumental Chorus - extended guitar hook] [Acoustic and electric guitars interlock] [Raw vocal ad-libs, drums opening up, slide guitar in the distance] [Outro - band falls away] Hey girl, how are you? [Acoustic guitar rings out] [end]
