[Intro] The stadium lights are powered off tonight Silence falling in the quiet gray light No cameras running, no one left to see Just an empty room and the shadow of me [Verse 1] I spent ten years curation of my face Fitting every angle for a public space I rehearsed my laughter till it sounded sweet Measuring my value by a glowing street I forgot what the summer felt like on my skin Before I calculated where the stories begin I used to hold a secret like a golden key Now I photograph the places where I used to be I watched strangers tell me who I ought to stay Trading off my quiet for a crowd's display It took a long time sitting in this dark blue room To realize I was living inside someone else's tomb [Pre-Chorus] I don't need a witness just to know I felt the pain I don't need a picture of the quiet evening rain I don't need an audience to tell me I am real To validate the simple little things I feel [Chorus] I will be my own witness in the quiet night Standing in the center of my own soft light I don't need the validation or the crowd's applause To justify my history or justify my flaws I remember how it felt before the world stepped in Where my genuine story used to first begin I am holding the evidence of where I've been My own witness from the deep within [Post-Chorus] Soft light rising in an empty room Watching every quiet flower learn to bloom Soft light rising in an empty room Watching every quiet flower learn to bloom [Verse 2] I made mistakes that I don't need to confess To a million strangers in a linen dress I loved somebody who was wrong for me And kept the grief private where it ought to be I laughed so hard my chest began to ache At a small joke that nobody else could make And for the first time in a dozen long years I didn't reach for a phone to record my tears The memory stays pure when it stays inside No longer turned into a glossy ride I can hold my own hand in the dark and know My life still happened even if I let it go [Chorus] I will be my own witness in the quiet night Standing in the center of my own soft light I don't need the validation or the crowd's applause To justify my history or justify my flaws I remember how it felt before the world stepped in Where my genuine story used to first begin I am holding the evidence of where I've been My own witness from the deep within [Bridge] Part of me still wants to be understood To be seen and loved and held for good But I won't disappear when the cameras fade Or erase the choices that my own heart made I don't need a record that the world can see To prove that I was standing where I used to be [Final Chorus] I will be my own witness in the quiet night Standing in the center of my own soft light I don't need the validation or the crowd's applause To justify my history or justify my flaws I remember how it felt before the world stepped in Where my genuine story used to first begin I am holding the evidence of where I've been My own witness from the deep within [Outro] I look at my hands in the morning grey Grateful for the things I didn't give away No performance left, no one to impress Just my own life, nothing more or less
