[Intro] [Male] (Filtered ad-libs, distant guitar) Front page made a paper me Same grin, wrong history Everybody wants the wave Nobody asks what it takes [Verse 1] [Male] Fresh cut, low light, I step out clean By lunch, three copies on every feed They steal my slang, put a price on the pose Make a whole bedtime story from the clothes I chose My auntie says, “Keep your feet on land” My uncle laughs, “Boy, they study the plan” I know the game, it is loud for a day But a counterfeit heart cannot carry my weight [Pre-Chorus] [Male] They got my laugh in a ten-second loop Got my name on a headline scoop Want the edge, want the look, want the proof But the truth has a pulse they cannot reproduce [Chorus] [Female + Male] Bootleg fame, bootleg fame Everybody wears my face Big lights, big talk, same old chase But they cannot take my name Bootleg fame, bootleg fame Love the picture, miss the pain If you want me, want me whole Not the copy for the show [Verse 2] [Female] (Drums pull back, harmonies close) After the cameras leave, the silence gets tall I hear my own breath against the wall They say I am lucky, I smile on cue Then I ride home with a sky split blue My phone keeps buzzing, no one says, “You good?” They love the angle they understood I gave them gold in a polished frame And lost small pieces behind my name [Pre-Chorus] [Female] I keep a soft voice under the gloss A real-life girl with a real-life cost You see a dream when the lens comes near Can you stay when there is nothing to cheer? [Chorus] [Female + Male] Bootleg fame, bootleg fame Everybody wears my face Big lights, big talk, same old chase But they cannot take my name Bootleg fame, bootleg fame Love the picture, miss the pain If you want me, want me whole Not the copy for the show [Verse 3] [Male] (Synth bass widens, clipped drum fill) I made a rhythm from a hard week’s heat Turned late-night doubt to a bassline beat Now every rumor wants a seat at the table Every fake friend swears they kept me stable I am not mad at the kid with the fit He saw a spark and he wanted a bit Just do not sell my scars in a package Or turn my hard days into a hashtag habit [Verse 4] [Female] (Warm stacked harmonies, drums softened) I learned to laugh before the question lands Make peace with strangers who misread my hands They want the sweet line, the effortless glow Not the long ride back when the tears let go I am more than the version that travels online More than a mood board dressed up as mine If you hold me, hold the quiet truth The woman still growing beneath the view [Bridge] [Female] I do not need a thousand hands I need one honest place to land No perfect pose, no practiced line Just somebody asking what is on my mind [Male] No more cardboard versions of me No more stories that fit too easy [Female + Male] Meet me past the noise and display Where the human does not fade away [Final Chorus] [Female + Male] Bootleg fame, bootleg fame Everybody wears my face Big lights, big talk, same old chase But they cannot take my name Bootleg fame, bootleg fame Let the picture show the strain If you want me, want me whole Not the copy for the show [Outro] [Female] When it all goes quiet, stay [Male] Know the person, not the play [Female + Male] Bootleg fame fades away We are more than what they say
