Sometimes we think we’re creating one thing, only to discover that something else was quietly taking shape all along. 💜more

https://vm.tiktok.com/ZNRE5s8Dw ========================== There's a modern saying that the first thing you do every morning says a lot about where your life is going. Maybe that's true... But I've always wondered if the first person you think about when you wake up says even more. Because if that person slowly stops being the one waiting at home... maybe that's where love quietly begins to leave. That's what "I Used To Be" is about. ========================== [VERSE] I loved those evenings you'd walk through the door Takeout in one hand, your keys on the floor "Thought you might be tired," you'd quietly say Like loving me was part of your day You'd shower, then stand a little too long Choosing the shirt that turned me on Funny how mornings never got that care But every night, you wanted me there [PRE-CHORUS] Love was never loud It lived in little things Wrapped inside routines That felt like wedding rings [CHORUS] I used to be The reason you couldn't wait to leave The first smile after five The first arms on your street You never lied You never gave me proof to see But love can leave a home Long before somebody leaves Everyone says you stayed faithful Maybe physically... But I used to be [VERSE] Now your phone lights up before mine does You smile at names you've never discussed "Just another joke from work," you grin While pulling the screen back in Escape rooms on another Friday night Team dinners that run past midnight A new café you somehow know Stories I never hear anymore You iron shirts for ordinary days Wear that cologne in different ways You rush each morning out the door You don't rush home anymore [PRE-CHORUS] No lipstick on your skin No hotel I could blame Just someone learning pieces That once knew only my name [CHORUS] I used to be The reason you couldn't wait to leave The first call on your drive The first thought you would keep You never touched A line that strangers think they see But hearts don't need a kiss To quietly change loyalty Everyone says you stayed faithful Maybe physically... But I used to be [BRIDGE] She knows how your meeting went Before I ever do She hears the little stories That used to bring us through She knows your coffee order The song stuck in your head The version of you That used to meet me instead Maybe you'll never hold her hand Maybe you'll never cross that line But every piece of you That slowly stopped choosing mine... Already did. [FINAL CHORUS] I used to be The place your whole day wanted to end The message you'd look for Before sleeping again You never cheated At least not the way they mean But someone else became Your safest place to dream People think betrayal Begins with a touch I think it starts When someone else Becomes your first... And I... Used to be.more

"Phantom Summer" is a melancholic meditation on the erosion of authenticity and the isolation inherent in digital existence. I explore how we trade genuine connection for performative artifice, using the imagery of a "beautiful graveyard of billboard estates" to depict a landscape where our shared reality has been commodified and hollowed out. The track serves as an autopsy of a relationship or a shared experience that has been consumed by the "synthetic heat" of digital validation, leaving us as "two matching ghosts in a palace of chrome." Ultimately, the song captures the feeling of living in a "stuck" state—a long, slow descent from the pedestal—where we are constantly performing for an audience that isn't really there, waiting for a winter that will never come.more