After All This Time

[Verse 1]
Used to know the shape of us
Coffee cups and Sunday calls
Now your jacket’s in a box
Dusty in the hallway closet
Friends keep asking where you are
I pretend I didn’t hear
Laugh it off and change the subject
Swallow one more little tear
[Pre-Chorus]
I keep folding all this silence
Like shirts I never wear
Talking to your empty side
Of the bed
Like you’re still there
[Chorus]
After all this time
I’m still learning how to leave you
Every goodbye
Leaves another mark beneath the skin
I say “I’m fine”
But my voice keeps breaking mid-sentence
Everything changed
And I’m the only thing
Still staying the same (oh, I’m stuck here)
[Verse 2]
Mom keeps asking how I’ve been
Says I sound a little thin
I just blame the busy seasons
Never say you were the reason
All the plans we penciled in
Concert tickets on the fridge
Tiny magnets hold them up
Like they’re clinging for their lives
[Pre-Chorus]
All these versions of a future
That my hands can’t touch anymore
Standing in a crowded room
Still waiting by a closing door
[Chorus]
After all this time
I’m still learning how to leave you
Every goodbye
Leaves another mark beneath the skin
I say “I’m fine”
But my voice keeps breaking mid-sentence
Everything changed
And I’m the only thing
Still staying the same
[Bridge]
[Violin solo over soft piano]
[Guitar enters
Riff growing louder
Darker]
I am tired of pretending
That this ache is just a phase (just a phase)
All these pictures on the credenza
Hold the pieces of my faith
[Breakdown]
So I breathe in
Count to ten
Try to meet the day again
But your shadow
On my chest
Is the heaviest it’s ever been (ever been)
[Chorus]
After all this time
I’m still learning how to leave you
Every goodbye
Leaves another mark beneath the skin
I say “I’m fine”
But the truth is shaking in my hands now
Everything changed
And maybe letting go
Is how I stay the same (how I stay)
After all this time

Moody R&B ballad with female vocals, big dynamic swings. Intimate piano and close-mic vocal on the first verse; strings slide in under the pre-chorus. Chorus hits hard with stacked harmonies, deep subs, and crunchy guitar riffs answering the vocal. Middle section opens into a soaring violin solo, then a raw, almost a cappella breakdown before a final, anthemic chorus., female vocals, dramatic, emotional, beautiful, violin, r&b