Candles on the Cake

Pop ballad with tender half-time drums, warm piano arpeggios, and a soft synth pad; verse stays close and sparse, pre-chorus opens with rising strings and breathy doubles, chorus lands wider with stacked harmonies and a short repeated hook. Vocal is intimate and cracked in verses, fuller with emotional doubles on the hook, with a delayed ad-lib on the last word of each chorus. Vinyl crackle and a reversed swell bridge into the chorus, then a final lift with brushed percussion and a bright, clean mix., fake