I Carry My Own Name

[Verse 1]
You tried to turn my skin
Into a battlefield
Tore pages from my story
Thought you owned the yield
But I wake up in this body
And it still belongs to me
Every shaken breath I’m taking
Is a small victory
[Pre-Chorus]
I am not that night
I am every dawn since then
I am not your crime
I am my own defense
[Chorus]
I carry my own name
You don't live in it anymore
You don’t get my heartbeat
You don’t get my door
I’m stitching back my silence
Into something I can sing
I am not your shadow
I am everything
I carry my own name
I carry my own name (hey)
[Verse 2]
Some days rage sits heavy
Like a stone inside my chest
Some days I choose forgiveness
Just so I can rest
Forgiving isn’t saying
What you did was ever right
It’s cutting off the anchor
So I can walk in light
[Pre-Chorus]
I am not that room
I am all the open sky
I am not your hands
I am how I rise
[Chorus]
I carry my own name
You don't live in it anymore
You don’t get my heartbeat
You don’t get my door
I’m stitching back my silence
Into something I can sing
I am not your shadow
I am everything
I carry my own name
I carry my own name (oh I do)
[Bridge]
This is for the ones still shaking
For the ones who can’t yet speak
You are not the shame you’re chasing
You are bruised but you’re not weak
If all you did today
Was stay
Just stay
That’s power
In its quiet way (yeah)
[Chorus]
We carry our own names
You don’t live in them anymore
You don’t get our heartbeats
You don’t get our doors
We’re stitching back our silence
Into something we can sing
We are not your shadows
We are everything
We carry our own names
We carry our own names (I’m taking back my name)

Intimate piano ballad that swells into an anthemic, mid-tempo pop build. Start sparse and close-mic’d, then add warm pads, toms, and a low choir under the hook. Big, cathartic final chorus with layered female vocals, subtle vocal chops, and a lingering, hopeful outro.