When You Leave by DCBROOKS2 - Zona

When You Leave by DCBROOKS2 - Zona

Lyrics

[Intro | felt piano chords, wide reverb | vocal hums tucked back]

[breathy] Mm… mm…

[Verse 1 | sparse keys + low sub that blooms slowly | close mic]

I keep my phone face down like it’s a loaded gun

‘Cause every name that lights it up feels like I should run

You make the silence feel expensive, like a chosen thing

But I’m still learning how to hold you without tightening

[soft falsetto lift]

I say I’m fine, I’m good, I’m cool, I’m “busy” again

Truth is I’m scared you’ll see the parts I hide from my friends

So I smile in the dark like it’s helping me breathe

While my chest does that stutter when you don’t say “stay”

[Pre-Chorus | add brushed drums, heartbeat kick | harmony enters]

[half-whisper]

If I lean in, will I fall through?

If you touch me, do I haunt you?

I don’t wanna be a habit you outgrow

But I don’t know how to be someone you hold

[Chorus | warm pad swell, soft clap, bass fuller | layered falsetto]

[falsetto, fragile]

Don’t look at me like I’m easy to keep

I’m a house with the lights on, nobody home, barely asleep

And I hate how my love comes out sounding like need

But you pull me so gentle, it hurts when you leave

[lower register, intimate]

So if I’m too much, tell me soft, tell me slow

I’m trying to unlearn every “please don’t go”

[falsetto]

I don’t wanna be the reason you freeze

I just wanna be the air when you breathe

[Verse 2 | drums drop back, piano carries | ad-libs airy]

I trace the edge of your laugh in my memory

Like a song I can’t play right, but it plays in me

I rehearse apologies I never get to say

Then you kiss my forehead and they all decay

[quiet smile in voice]

You’re the calm in the spill, I’m the spill on the floor

I bring the storm to the door, you still open it more

And I don’t deserve the patience in your eyes

But I’m here, trying, even when I’m terrified

[Bridge | reverb wash, distant vocal chop | spoken-sung]

[whisper]

I used to think love was a dare

Now it’s you standing right there

And me… shaking

Not from cold

From finally being known

[build | harmonies stack, bass swells]

[falsetto]

If I flinch, it’s not you

It’s the past coming through

So hold my hands like proof

That I’m allowed to choose

[Final Chorus | fuller but still soft | stacked harmonies]

[falsetto, more steady]

Don’t look at me like I’m easy to keep

I’m a heart with the door cracked, learning how to believe

And I hate how my love comes out sounding like need

But you pull me so gentle, it hurts when you leave

[Outro | piano fades, room tone returns | one last breath]

[almost spoken]

Stay…

[soft hum] Mm…