[Verse] My friend says you’re toxic, there’s something wrong with you. She told me about your cutting answers, about the doors you close. She reveals the sides you choose to show, uncovers the darkest side that no one knows. I’ve heard every warning, I’ve watched you prove them right. I’m not mistaking danger for something soft and light. So be sure: I’m aware I know! [Pre-Chorus] And still there’s something in the way you look at me tonight, unexplained, slightly out of sight. [Chorus] Toxic tenderness, I know exactly what you are. Toxic tenderness, a velvet edge around a scar. You make your silence sound like pride, you turn your fear into a fight. But there’s a crack beneath the surface, when you think nobody’s in sight. Toxic tenderness, there’s more behind those eyes than anyone can see. Toxic tenderness, I feel there’s a part of you, that never learned to be free. Harder, colder, keep me farther, hold me closer. Try it, deny it, I can see it, you can’t hide it. Toxic... Toxic... Toxic tenderness [Verse] You learned to make suspicion look like control. You built your sharpest answers where softer words should go. You never show weakness, you bury every trace. You'd rather let them fear you than let them see your face. But sometimes your eyes betray you, just for a second or two. The mask can keep the world outside, but it can't hide you from you. And there it is beneath the anger, beneath the need to defend: a loneliness under a secret seal, so you don't have to admit the wound is real. [Pre-Chorus] Now the things I only sensed, are getting hard to miss. The closer I look past what you show, it reveals more of what I’ve come to know. [Chorus] Toxic tenderness, you wrapped your fragile heart in wire. Toxic tenderness, you call it strength, but it's built from fire. Every wall became a warning, every wound became a rule. You made yourself impossible to reach before anyone could get to you. Toxic tenderness, your cruelty is only half the truth I see. Toxic tenderness, there's something underneath it, asking not to be left unseen. Push away, pull apart, guard the doorway, guard the heart. Cut deeper, stand taller, hide the weakness, make it smaller. Toxic... Toxic... Toxic tenderness [Verse] I don't think you were born with all that poison in your veins. Somebody taught you love could wound, and you remembered only the pain. So you turned every open hand into a reason to retreat. You made protection out of damage, made distrust look like belief. And I won't call it harmless just because I understand. I can see the hurt beneath it without excusing what you do with it. But if I could break that armor, if you ever bend it and let me in, maybe I could reach the part of you that never learned what love should mean. [Bridge] I don't need another warning. You don't need another lie. You don't need another person telling you to harden up inside. You need to know that love is not a bargain, trap, or test. It isn't something you control by giving someone less. If you let me reach beyond the damage you've become, I won't tell you you're forgiven, But I'll show you how to love someone. I'll show you how it gives, I'll show you how it stays, I'll show you how it asks for nothing while it changes what it breaks. [Final-Chorus] Toxic tenderness, now I can see the whole design. Toxic tenderness, the poison is the armor, not the heart behind. You learned to make affection feel like something you could lose. You learned to call the fear protection, but you forgot you had a choice to choose. Toxic tenderness, You don't have to stay behind the fortress you designed. You don't have to turn your wounds into the language of your mind. Toxic tenderness, if you let me break that shell, I won't promise to repair you I'll try to show you how love goes. And I'll keep reaching out to you. Toxic tenderness. [Outro] My friend says, “You’re toxic.” I tell her, “I know.” I never said you weren't. I only see what lies below. Toxic... Toxic tenderness... I know... I know... Toxic tenderness... I'll show you how love goes I'll show you how to love... Toxic tenderness...
