I Worked for This Too

[ Lyrics ]

I worked for this too — not just the face, the grind.
I worked for this too — yeah, I bled behind the shine.
 → beat drop with rim tap + bass pulse)

You see the red carpet, not the all-nighter sessions,
Not the demos deleted, not the silent confessions.
I wrote every chorus in the glow of my screen,
While you said I got signed just 'cause I looked clean.
I booked my own travel, mixed my own tracks,
Sat in the back of the studio, never relaxed.
Pretty got me in the room, but I earned my seat —
You don’t see the calluses under these heels.

So don’t water down my story, don’t reduce my name,
Don’t say it was handed — I had to claim.

I don’t need your permission, I don’t need your praise,
I built this from silence, I lit my own blaze.

I worked for this too — not just the face, the grind.
I stayed when the magic drained dry.
I worked for this too — every line, every rhyme,
Every time I showed up, not just to shine.

I worked for this too — the blood in the ink,
The nights I was tired but still hit record and think.
I worked for this too — yeah, I bled behind the shine.

You call me 'lucky' like it cost me no pain,
Like I never doubted, like I played no game.
But I’ve been cut from the credits, had my lines re-sung,
Seen my idea bloom on someone else’s tongue.
I smiled in the photos, clenched my jaw in the booth,
Paid my own damn rent while they praised my 'sleek youth'.
I’m more than the filter, the light, the veneer —
I’m the voice in the static, the one that stays here.

So don’t shrink my labor, don’t smooth out the scars,
I didn’t just float here — I fought through the stars.

This crown isn’t plastic, it’s forged in the flame,
And I’m not just a girl — I’m the engine, the name.

I worked for this too — not just the face, the grind.
I stayed when the magic drained dry.
I worked for this too — every line, every rhyme,
Every time I showed up, not just to shine.

I worked for this too — the blood in the ink,
The nights I was tired but still hit record and think.
I worked for this too — yeah, I bled behind the shine.

All the times I was silent when they took my design,
Swallowed the venom, kept my vision in line.
I didn’t break — I multiplied.
Turned doubt to grit, turned no to 'I tried'.

And now that you see me, don’t act surprised —
This wasn’t handed — this was revised.

I worked for this too — not just the face, the grind.
I stayed when the magic drained dry.
I worked for this too — every line, every rhyme,
Every time I showed up, not just to shine.

I worked for this too — the blood in the ink,
The nights I was tired but still hit record and think.
I worked for this too — yeah, I bled behind the shine.

Yeah… I worked for this too.
 → silence)