[INTRO — BURIED KICK / MUFFLED ARP] [Close male vocal, filtered as if beneath the floor] They asked me how I felt. I gave them the safest color. [VERSE 1 — SUBTERRANEAN, RESTRAINED] I said blue when it was violet. Said red when it was grief. Said “fine” when every shade of me was fighting to be seen. I learned which parts made people nervous. Learned which truths to soften down. So I painted myself neutral and kept my colors underground. [PRE-CHORUS — FILTER SLOWLY OPENS] But nothing living stays invisible. Nothing true stays buried long. I can feel the floor beneath me learning every hidden song. [CHORUS — STEREO OPENS WIDE] I kept my colors underground where nobody could name them wrong. Now they’re rising all at once— Every color I held down. I’m not only light or shadow. I’m the sky between them now. I kept my colors underground— Look at me. They’re coming out. [POST-CHORUS — CHOPPED COLOR VOCALS] Out—out—coming out. Color-color—coming out. I was never empty. I was everything without a sound. [VERSE 2 — GROOVE DEEPENS] There was green inside my anger. There was gold inside my shame. There was tenderness in places I was frightened people might name. There was laughter under mourning. There was love beneath the doubt. Every feeling held another I had never let come out. No emotion came to ruin me. Every one was trying to show there were parts of me still living where I wouldn’t let them go. [PRE-CHORUS] Nothing living stays invisible. Nothing true stays buried long. Now the walls that kept me colorless are vibrating with the song. [CHORUS] I kept my colors underground where nobody could name them wrong. Now they’re rising all at once— Every color I held down. I’m not only light or shadow. I’m the sky between them now. I kept my colors underground— Look at me. They’re coming out. [2:02 — PRISM BREAK / VOCAL SPLITS] [One dry vocal divides into layered emotional tones] [Low voice] I was angry. [High harmony] I was scared. [Breath voice] I was hopeful. [Close voice] I still cared. [Left] I was broken. [Right] I was brave. [Center] I was more than any single word they gave. [ALL LAYERS] I was all of it. [COMPLETE SILENCE] [Whispered] And all of it was mine. [COLOR-BLOOM DROP] [FINAL CHORUS — FULL SPECTRUM] I kept my colors underground— Now nobody can name them wrong! Every feeling has a pulse. Every pulse becomes a song. I’m not only light or shadow. I don’t have to choose one now. I am every contradiction learning how to live out loud! I kept my colors underground— Now the whole room’s wearing them! What I buried wasn’t broken. It was waiting to begin! [FINAL POST-CHORUS — COMMUNAL] Out—out—let it out! Color-color—coming out! We were never empty. We were everything without a sound. [OUTRO — FILTER CLOSES, ONE BRIGHT NOTE REMAINS] [Close male vocal] They asked me how I felt. This time— I gave them every color.
