Can't Hold Me Down

[Verse 1]
They told me
Slow down
Stay small
Stay safe
I heard them
I just never let them
Decide my distance
I took the long roads
The wrong turns
The late nights that felt
Too early to quit
I lived my life my way
Face first into every fear
Not because I knew I’d win
But because I refused to disappear
[Chorus]
I made my own choices
Even when my voice shook
Even when their doubt
Was louder than my name
I walked past every line
They tried to draw around me
I never held back
I never learned to stay the same
[Verse 2]
They measured me
With rulers built for someone else
Said “this is far enough”
Said “people like you
Don’t go there”
But I was never “people like you”
I was scraped knees and second chances
I was “watch me”
Spoken through gritted teeth
Every limit they loved
I treated like wet paint
Pressed my hands into it
Left fingerprints on every wall
They swore I’d never reach
[Chorus]
I made my own choices
Even when my voice shook
Even when their doubt
Was louder than my name
I walked past every line
They tried to draw around me
I never held back
I never learned to stay the same
[Bridge]
Did I stumble?
Often
Did I break?
Sometimes
But I never broke the promise
I made to the kid I used to be
To try
Before I said “I can’t”
To leap
Before I shrank
[Chorus]
I made my own choices
Even when my voice shook
Even when their doubt
Was louder than my name
I walked past every line
They tried to draw around me
I never held back
I never learned to stay the same
[Outro]
So when they ask
Who taught you to be this way?
I say
No one
I just stopped believing
Anyone else
Could tell me
Who I’m allowed to be

Female vocals, Rock, heartfelt