That's the thing, and that's only thing You can't rely on other people, that's wack, that's so wack To be like, "Please fill in these holes in me That, like, I don't think I'm strong enough" Like, that's wack Consequences of attention have dimmed my sun (Sun, sun, sun) I'll be unrecognizable when I'm done In these shackles of judgment I can't run Unbound by the confines of criticism, I could fly Aerodynamic and free I'd sing But then I bought iron boots and aluminum wings They pull me down and I talk to them They say I'm grounded as if that's a compliment I tried on several of their uniforms And I settled on the straitjacket As I tape my wings to my body I am a butterfly stuffed in the cocoon In the bearhug of acceptance I consider my escape Journey close to me (Close to me) I can finally be free From all of this outside noise It's drownin' out my inside voice (Close to me) In the exterior of a bearded man With a young boy trapped inside him Within the porcelain armor of a Russian doll All the screams were muffled to silence Heavy with the expectation In the unscalable barricade of rules With a blade he flayed off his differences And then he blended in better at school Man, he really loved to brew and grew all his broken wings They were bruised and then restrained, still tied Should he decide to use those at this point It would probably be too late But they were dealin' with the master of deception Flexin' at the never-endin' masquerade ball Bustin' in the customary costume he bloomed And he assumed he was foolin' them all But then in the mirrored gaze of a sober sun He felt exposed, the charade was done As a boy reached a hand up through his mouth And then he pulled his shoulders and his torso out He hopped on a bike and he rolled through the crowd Then he grabbed the mic, stood up proud Mic check, one, two, I spent too long tryna be you, now Journey close to me (Close to me) I can finally be free From all of this outside noise It's drownin' out my inside voice Close to me (Close to me) I can finally be free From all of this outside noise It's drownin' out my inside voice (Close to me) Close to me Outside noise I can finally be free From all of this Close to me Outside noise I can finally be free From all of this Close to me Outside noise Close to me Outside noise