[Reversed synth] [808 slides downward] [DROP] [Singer] I saw water... In the desert... Ran until... My lungs gave out... When I reached it... Nothing happened... Just another... Empty cloud... I saw monsters... In the shadows... Turned the lights on... Nothing there... Funny how... An empty room... Can fill itself... When you're scared... [PRE-CHORUS] Look over here... Don't look behind... Watch my hands... I'll change your mind... [DROP — CHORUS] MIRAGE... I CAN FEEL IT... BUT IT ISN'T THERE... MIRAGE... EVERYBODY'S RUNNING... FROM THE AIR... SMOKE... MIRRORS... SHADOWS... FEAR... IF I CONTROL... WHERE YOU LOOK... I CAN MAKE... ANYTHING... APPEAR... [808 tail] [Singer] Pick a card... Any card... Red or blue... They're both... Inside the deck... Choose a side... Choose a villain... Never ask... Who's placing bets... Curtain opens... Crowd goes crazy... Someone disappears... On cue... Everybody... Watches the stage... Nobody sees... What's moving... Behind you... [DROP] MIRAGE... I CAN FEEL IT... BUT IT ISN'T THERE... MIRAGE... EVERYBODY'S RUNNING... FROM THE AIR... SMOKE... MIRRORS... SHADOWS... FEAR... IF I CONTROL... WHERE YOU LOOK... I CAN MAKE... ANYTHING... APPEAR... [Beat Switch] [Rapper] Magic ain't magic. It's attention. That's the first lesson. Make the right hand beautiful... While the left hand does the business. Fear works better. Fear makes the lens narrow. Heart beats faster. Eyes lock forward. Complexity becomes uncomfortable. Nuance sounds suspicious. Certainty feels safe. Now give me a villain. Give me a face. Give me a reason for everything I hate. Play the clip twice. Then twenty more times. Soon I don't remember the first time I saw it. I remember... The repetition. [808 enters] See— Propaganda doesn't always need you to believe. Sometimes confusion is enough. Keep you spinning. Keep you guessing. Keep you angry at shadows... Too exhausted to look at the structure casting them. [Beat accelerates] Manufacture panic, package the threat, sell me protection, collect on the debt. Create the disease, advertise the cure, make me afraid, then make me feel sure. Enemy coming, dangerous stranger, breaking alert with a face full of anger, algorithm watches the pulse of behavior, learns which illusion can hold you the longest. Fear in the morning, rage in the evening, facts become costumes depending who's speaking, tribal allegiance replaces the seeing, everyone certain and nobody reading. Mirror on mirror, reflection reflection, selective perception becomes recollection, narrative weapon, emotional tension, point at the puppet— ignore the direction. [HALF-TIME DROP] Who owns the stage? Who bought the lights? Who writes the questions? Who chooses the fight? Who gets the camera? Who disappears? Who makes money... Every time... You fear? [808 CUTS] [Singer] Maybe the monster... Needs me... To believe in it... [Silence] [Singer] Maybe... I should stop... Feeding it... [FALSE BUILD] [Music rises] [Everything cuts] [Singer] Look away. [FINAL DROP] [Massive 808] [CHORUS] MIRAGE... I COULD FEEL IT... BUT IT WASN'T THERE... MIRAGE... I WAS RUNNING... BECAUSE I WAS SCARED... SMOKE... MIRRORS... SHADOWS... FEAR... NOW I KNOW... THE OLDEST MAGIC... IS DECIDING... WHERE I LOOK... FROM HERE... [Guitar Solo over trap beat] [808s and psychedelic guitar] [Outro — Rapper] Every magician... Needs an audience. [Singer] And every illusion... Needs someone... Looking. [808 hits once] [Silence]
