Hangnails (Anxiety)
🎵 Tear-stained pop ballad for anxious romantics
Verse 1
"Trust is hard," you tell me.
"I want the truth," I say.
But really that's the last thing I can handle.
Was love part of the plan,
when you first touched my hand?
Was a future in your mind,
as we left loneliness behind?
Chorus
Why do I worry all the time
when things are going fine?
What's this black disturbance
beneath my glassy surface?
Why can't I just learn to love
the way things are and not be always
picking at the hangnails.
Verse 2
I can't help catastrophising
every moment you're not confiding.
Your silence is a sentence.
Your unsaid words are ringing in my ears.
When you're in your thoughts,
am I there too?
Or do you go there
to get away from me?
Chorus
Why do I worry all the time
when things are going fine?
What's this black disturbance
beneath my glassy surface?
Why can't I just learn to love
the way things are and not be always
picking at the hangnails.
Bridge
I'm addicted to anxiety!
If I'm not worrying,
there's something wrong.
I wish I could still my insides.
And let life's patterns
be a beautiful surprise.
Your inner world is a foreign land.
One day please take me with you,
through your touch, your love, your dedication...
Because I know that inside you,
I'll be all right.
Pre-chorus
But who am I to ask this?
I am a prison to myself.
If I can't love me,
how can I expect you to?
Chorus
Why do I worry all the time
when things are going fine?
What's this black disturbance
beneath my glassy surface?
Why can't I just learn to love
the way things are and not be always
picking at the hangnails!
Outro
(Picking myself apart...)
Picking at the hangnails!
(Tearing myself to pieces...)
Picking at the hangnails!
(Bleeding, tearing, clawing at myself, apart...)
Picking at the hangnails!
Wishing one day I can let myself pick you...
Author's Note
The lyrics are 100% my work, but the music (including the singer's voice) is produced by SUNO, a generative AI, with some tweaks and edits in GarageBand.
I feel obliged to make this disclaimer: I'm pretty conflicted about AI music. But since Vocal.Media is a showcase for writing – not music production – I feel OK using AI music to illustrate my writing, the same as I use AI images. But it's an unnecessary evil and an ill omen for the future financial viability of all art.
This is probably the last AI music I will post on Vocal. But I can't deny the joy it has given me. It has been a dream to write lyrics then hear them 'performed' in this way.
In fact, hearing the way the AI interprets my words has made me go back and rewrite lots of lines, so in that sense it has been a huge aid to my creativity.
Perhaps this is the best use and purpose of AI, to give us a foreign perspective, even an alien perspective, on ourselves and our thinking. Ultimately I hope it can make us better humans.
Thank you for reading and listening 🥰
About the Creator
Addison Alder
Writer of Wrongs. Discontent Creator. Editor of The Gristle.
100% organic fiction 👋🏻 hand-wrought in London, UK 🇬🇧
🌐 Linktr.ee, ✨ Medium ✨, BlueSky, Insta
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Comments (4)
Wow, this turned out so beautiful. Even with the AI singing it.
Crikey... this sounds like Taylor Swift has sung it! Great Job.
Once again, I absolutely love this, Addison. The lyrics are powerfully & intimately personal & to hear them animated & come to life the way SUNO has I thought was pretty amazing.
Whoaaaa, my favourite part of the song is the bridge and outro. Suno AI is crazyyyyyy! I still can't wrap my head around how legit this song seems. Not at all like AI. Loved your lyrics and song!