Eighteen Anyway

[Verse 1]
Everyone keeps asking
“Are you excited yet?”
Cards piled on the table
Unread
In my desk
Phone buzzes with houses
And majors I should choose
I’m staring at the ceiling
Like
What if I just lose?
[Chorus]
I’m turning eighteen anyway
With my chipped black nails
And my half-made plans
I don’t have to know today
How the movie ends
Where the road begins
If all I’ve got is this one breath
This one cake
These cheap balloons
I’ll blow out every candle
Scared and brave
At eighteen anyway
[Verse 2]
Mom saves all my drawings
In a wooden box
Dad jokes ’bout “being grown now”
But his voice still stops
My friends post their futures
In captions
In caps
I’m smiling in the photos
But shaking in the gaps
[Chorus]
I’m turning eighteen anyway
With my messy room
And my midnight doubts
I don’t have to know today
What to leave behind
What to live without
If all I’ve got is this small heart
And this too-tight paper crown
I’ll blow out every candle
Scared and brave
At eighteen anyway
[Bridge]
Maybe grown-ups are just kids
Who learned to walk with all their fears
Maybe being ready
Means you’re standing here
(heart in your throat)
But you stay
[Chorus]
I’m turning eighteen anyway
With my quiet hope
And my crowded mind
I don’t have to know today
Where I’m gonna go
Who I’m gonna find
If all I’ve got is this small room
Friends off-key
Singing my name
I’ll blow out every candle
Scared and brave
At eighteen anyway
(yeah, I’m scared and brave)
At eighteen anyway

Warm indie-pop ballad with female vocals, fingerpicked acoustic guitar and soft piano. Intimate, close-mic verses, then a wider, brighter chorus with subtle pads, tambourine, and stacked harmonies. Energy arcs from small and anxious to quietly triumphant by the final hook, ending on a gentle held chord and a whispered ad-lib.