MINE
I wrote MINE on one of the worst days of my life. I did not sit down to write a song. I sat down because I had nowhere else to put what I was feeling, and what came out was a song. Every word came through tears. The melody arrived the same way the lyrics did: completely and all at once, like it had always existed and I was just the person it passed through.
It is about still longing for your mother as a grown person. Still aching for your father. Still reaching for an invisible hand. And being one step closer to belonging to yourself — not because the longing stopped, but because you are finally becoming the person who can hold it.
It sat in my drafts for two years. Everything else I have released had a container around it — a brand name, an imprint, a pen name. Distance between me and the thing. MINE had no container. My name is on it. My voice is on it. Releasing it meant releasing myself, fully, with no protection standing between me and whoever was listening. What I was actually doing was using productivity as protection.
The thought that changed everything arrived with the kind of clarity that does not argue with itself: this song does not deserve an AI voice. It deserves mine. Because it is my story. I wrote it. I lived it. And the only voice with any right to sing it is the one that was inside the experience when the words came out.
I wrote it, composed it, and recorded it in my own voice. Because after two years of waiting, it deserved nothing less.
[Verse 1] There are days I feel like I'm too much And nights I ache for a softer touch I smile through storms no one sees Still searching for the girl I used to be I hold it all, the pain, the grace Still looking for a familiar face Sometimes I wish they'd understand Why I still reach for an invisible hand (Mmm-mmm) [Chorus] I carry love like a prayer unsaid In the quiet corners of my bed Not broken, just becoming whole A woman rising from her soul (Mmm-mmm) I'm still the woman who craves her mom Still the girl who longs for her dad Still the woman who needs her man But I'm one step closer to being mine (Mmm-mmm) [Verse 2] I trace the wounds that shaped my name And kiss the echoes of old shame I loved too deep, I stayed too long But maybe that's what makes me strong I don't have all the answers yet Still dance with shadows of regret But every tear that I survive Is proof I'm beautifully alive (Mmm-mmm) [Bridge] I'm not the silence you dismissed I'm not the girl who ceased to exist I'm every part I've ever been And now I breathe from deep within (Mmm-mmm) [Chorus] I'm still the woman who craves her mom Still the girl who longs for her dad Still the woman who needs her man But I'm one step closer to being mine (Ooh-ooh) (Ooh-ooh) (Ooh-ooh) [Outro] I don't need to be over it all Healing's not neat, it's loud, it's raw I'm not a goodbye, I'm not a scar I'm the light that came from falling apart (Ooh-ooh) I'm still the woman who craves her mark Still the girl who longs for her dark Still the woman who needs her man But I'm one step closer to being mine (Mmm-mmm) Yeah, I'm one step closer to being mine (Ooh-ooh) (Ooh-ooh) (Ooh-ooh)