I BELIEVED THE LIE - Nova9 @ Unmuted Waters

Verse 1

Fourteen years old, gave him everything

Thought that was love, he gave me nothing

Fat and ugly, that’s what they said

So when he noticed me I lost my head

Gave him my first, he gave me his last look

Ghosted before I even closed the book

That was the day I learned the rules

Love is a lease, and I’m always the fool

Pre-Chorus

Dad came around every two weeks or so

Hugged me tight then watched him go

Taught my heart that love arrives

Then disappears to stay alive

Chorus

I believed the lie

I believed the performance, thought it was real

I believed the lie

Gave everything away just trying to feel

Someone see me, someone choose me, someone stay

I believed the lie

And it cost me everything

Verse 2

Four babies before I turned twenty-two

Surviving men who turned black and blue

Two husbands, fists, and broken things

Still showed up, still spread my wings

Then mama died and I finally breathed

Eighteen months I found my peace

Learned my colors, found my yellow

Then she came soft, she came gentle

Pre-Chorus 2

Said she’d carry what I’d been holding

Said I could rest, said she was chosen

But the eyes that said I see you, babe

Were the same eyes that couldn’t face their shame

Chorus

I believed the lie

I believed the performance, thought it was real

I believed the lie

Gave everything away just trying to feel

Someone see me, someone choose me, someone stay

I believed the lie

And it cost me everything

Bridge

She screamed through my birthday

Slammed doors through my peace

While I was just trying to breathe

Gave me gifts instead of truth

Gave me cash instead of sorry

Painted herself the victim

In everybody else’s story

My body knew before my mind

Tensed up every time

Heard her footsteps on the stairs

And I was already on the line

You can’t buy your way to trust

Character is what it is

I been climbing toward the light

And getting kicked back down like this

Verse 3

But I’m not that girl at fourteen anymore

I wear yellow now, I know what I’m for

I tend my plants, I make my hotpot

I laugh alone at midnight

Because I finally got it

That nobody’s coming to save me, love

The saving’s been mine all along

Every time I held myself together

Was me writing my own song

Final Chorus

I believed the lie

But I’m learning what is real

Done believing the performance

Finally learning how to feel

Someone see me — that someone’s me now

Someone choose me — I choose me now

Someone stay — I’m staying now

I’m staying now

I’m staying now

Outro

She didn’t break me

She just showed me the whole map

Every wound, every pattern, every plan

Every time I found my way back

I was always the one

who kept the light on no one is coming to save me

I was always the one

I was always the one to save me