[Intro]
Yeah…
Mic’s hot, chest heavy, lights bleeding red on my skin
I earned this stage with blood in my timbre
Let’s talk about it
[Chorus]
Pain carved my name in the concrete
Gratitude stitched the pieces back
I cried rivers, now I surf ’em
Every scar is a trophy, never hide ’em
I hurt, I healed, I’m still standing
Thank you to every night that tried to end me
Grammy in my hand, tears in my eyes
This for every girl who thought she’d never touch the sky
[Verse 1]
Thirteen, bedroom mirror cracked like my spirit
Momma crying in the kitchen, bills taller than the ceiling
Daddy gone, left a hole shaped like his leather jacket
I wore his absence like a chain, heavy, no clasp, no magic
School hallway warzone, they laughed at my thrift-store fit
Called me “charity case,” threw fries at my head in the pit
I smiled with braces and heartbreak, swallowed every slur
Came home, wrote my first bars on the back of welfare forms
Sixteen, fell stupid in love with a boy who spoke in poems
He kissed me soft then sold my secrets to his homies for clout
Found out in the group chat, 3 a.m., stomach on the floor
Puked up my trust in the toilet, flushed it, wrote some more
Eighteen, evicted, couch-surfing with trash bags of clothes
Slept in the studio booth when the landlord changed the locks
Engineer let me crash, said “Your pain got a frequency”
So I screamed into the mic till my throat bled symphony
Twenty-one, almost quit—overdose on the bathroom tile
Note on the sink said “I’m tired of pretending I’m worth while”
Best friend kicked the door, pumped my chest, cursed my name
Held my hair back while I threw up death, whispered “Stay, it’s not the same without you”
That night I promised God, the devil, the mirror, whoever listening
If I wake up, I’m never wasting this hurt again
[Chorus again, rawer
Pain carved my name in the concrete
Gratitude stitched the pieces back
I cried oceans, now I own ’em
Every scar got a story on the plaque
I hurt, I healed, I’m still bleeding
Thank you to every hand that ever left me
Grammy in my fist, middle finger to the past
This for every girl still scared to laugh too loud
[Verse 2]
Record deal came like a hurricane in a silk suit
Told me lose twenty pounds, dye my hair, smile cute
Said my trauma was “too heavy for pop radio”
So I said “Good, I ain’t pop, I’m a loaded gun with vocals”
They dropped me when I refused to play porcelain
Back to ramen and roaches, pride thicker than embarrassment
Kept posting freestyles on the gram from laundromats
Fans sent Venmos for detergent, said “Queen, we got your back”
One viral clip, twelve million views overnight
Major labels crawling back like roaches when you turn on the light
I signed to myself, kept my masters, kept my soul
Built a team of women who all got stories that weigh a ton
Now my accountant cry when she never seen this many zeros
I send momma screenshots just to watch her scream in emojis
Bought daddy’s old block, turned his trap house to a garden
Roses growing where the dope fiends
used to nod out
Forgave him in a letter I never mailed
Some healing ain’t for them, it’s for you—keep it sealed
Still get flashbacks when the fireworks pop
Body remembers what the mind trying to detox
But I breathe through it, four-count in, four-count out
Turn the panic to a cadence, spit the fear till it tap out
[Bridge – half-sung, broken voice cracking]
I used to pray for a way out
Now I pray for the girls still inside it
If you bleeding in silence tonight
Put this song on and scream with me
You are not broken
You are breaking ground
Everything they buried
Is about to be a crown
[Verse 3 – faster, breathless, triumphant]
Look—
I got stretch marks shaped like lightning
C-section scar like a grin under my belly ring
Lost an ovary to the stress, still birthed an empire
Turned my womb into a boardroom, every egg a new buyer
Therapist said “You romanticize the pain”
I said “No, I monetize the lesson—big difference, doc”
Walked the red carpet with the same thighs they said were too fat
Designer gown custom made, split high to flash the tracks
Paparazzi screaming “Who you wearing?”
I said “Every woman who never got to tell her story—this for them”
When they handed me this Grammy, I almost dropped it
Not ’cause it’s heavy—’cause my hands still shake sometimes
Looked out at the crowd, saw my thirteen-year-old self
Standing in the nosebleeds, braces glinting, eyes swollen
I pointed right at her and said
“We made it, baby girl. Cry all you want now—these tears taste like gold”
[Final Chorus – choir of my own layered vocals, church-style]
Pain carved my name in the concrete
Gratitude built the whole damn street
I was lost, now I’m home in me
Every crack let the light leak free
To every night that tried to kill me
Thank you—without you there’s no victory
I’m still hurting, still healing, still whole
This Grammy’s just metal
The real award is my soul
[Outro – spoken, mic feedback squealing]
To every girl listening in her car right now
Crying so hard the windshield blurry
Keep driving
The road don’t end where the pain begins
It just changes lanes
I love y’all
We did it
We still doing it
Turn this up till the speakers bleed
This for us
Forever