[Whispered opening — sparse pulse, lead vocal centred] Be good. Be grateful. Make it by hand. Make it take longer so they understand. Don’t use the doorway they didn’t approve. Don’t call it your voice unless they watched you move. Wait for permission. Wait for the nod. Wait until somebody calls what you made art. [Soft melodic refrain — centred] I’m doing it anyway. Hands shaking— anyway. Heart racing— anyway. No blessing from the gate. I’m doing it anyway. [Beat enters — conversational rhythmic rap, centred] You want receipts for the magic? Fine—let’s audit the spell. I chose every image, every story that fell. I followed the thread, cut what rang hollow, kept what had roots, knew which strange path to follow. Twenty-eight pages from a seed in the dark, every detail held up to the light of my heart. You think I pressed a button? Darling, please! Go on, press one— bring this whole world back to me. Bring the grief and the glitter, the tenderness, wit, the crooked little woodland with a heartbeat in it. Bring the hundred tiny choices only I knew how to make. [Tribunal voices — whispered, distinct, alternating stereo] [LEFT — low whisper] Not authentic. [RIGHT — sharp whisper] Not earned. [LEFT — breathy whisper] Not real. [RIGHT — cold whisper] Not yours. [LEFT — faint whisper] Too easy. [RIGHT — faint whisper] Who do you think you are? [Lead vocal — centred, beat sharpens] Mine. Still mine. I know exactly who I am. Not yours to certify. Not yours to erase. I know my own fingerprints when you cannot see the trace. I’m the driver. Creator. Director of this. The tool didn’t live it. The tool didn’t choose it. The tool doesn’t know what it means when it hits. It didn’t carry the wound. It didn’t gather the flame. It didn’t spend forty-six years learning the shape of my name. [Beat thins — close spoken vocal, centred] Shoulders to my ears. Heat across my face. Heart doing mathematics The old equation claiming space: Disapproval equals danger. Difference equals shame. Love might leave the building if I don’t become the same. [LEFT — whisper] Careful. [RIGHT — whisper] Careful. [LEFT AND RIGHT — whisper] Careful. Don’t be difficult. Don’t be proud. Don’t let your real voice get inconveniently loud. [Complete silence] But I stayed. [Rhythm rebuilds slowly] I stayed with the artist. I stayed with the freak. I stayed with the woman who had something to speak. I stayed with the mother making worlds after dark. I stayed with the creature protecting her spark. I stayed with the rainbow when they offered one shade. I stayed with the life I was frightened to make. I stopped making their doubt the roof of my truth. [Melodic rap — widening vocal layers] I’m doing it anyway. Whole voice. Whole face. I’m doing it anyway. I am taking up space. You don’t have to call it real. You don’t have to understand. I am done abandoning the life inside my hands. I’m doing it anyway. No consensus. No vote. I’m doing it anyway. With my heart in my throat. No more disappearing when love looks away. I belong to myself— and I’m doing it anyway. [Flow quickens — tight rhythmic rap] Anyway with the trembling. Anyway with the doubt. Anyway when they misunderstand what the method is about. Anyway when it touches that old unlovable place. Anyway through the heartbeat. Anyway through the shame. Anyway in friendship. Anyway in art. Anyway with a boundary and a riot in my heart. Anyway without proving. Anyway without applause. Anyway because my life does not require their laws. I check with my ethics. I check with what’s true. I listen to my body— then I choose what I do. I witness my becoming. I believe what I see. Your discomfort is not an instruction for me. [Layered repetition — backing voices enter gradually] [Lead — centre] I’m doing it anyway. [LEFT — whisper] Anyway. [RIGHT — whisper] Anyway. [Lead — centre] Hands shaking— [LEFT AND RIGHT] Anyway. [Lead — centre] Heart breaking— [LEFT AND RIGHT] Anyway. No permission— anyway. No consensus— anyway. Still tender— anyway. Still human— anyway. Not invisible. Not apologising. Not leaving myself behind. I’m doing it anyway. [Beat drops out — intimate spoken vocal] I am not fearless. I still feel the sting. I just stopped believing your doubt should decide anything. I used to disappear when love looked away. [Final beat returns — full layered vocal] But I’m doing it anyway. Because I believe me now. I’m doing it anyway. Because I witness me now. The voice inside my body does not need to win your vote. The life inside my hands was never yours to revoke. I’m doing it anyway. Every colour. Every shade. I’m doing it anyway. Look at the world I made. No more waiting at the doorway for permission to begin. I am already in the room. I am already living it. I’m doing it anyway. I’m doing it— [Beat stops — quiet, smiling lead vocal] Look. I already am.
