Lyrics

Verse 1
You used to speak above me
Like my thoughts were in the way
Made decisions for my future
Then called silence “being safe”
I kept folding every feeling
So your comfort could remain
Till I barely recognized
The woman answering my name
I was young enough to question
What my own heart understood
But I have lived through enough sorrow
To know obedience is not love
Chorus
I know who I am
Even if you never did
I am more than what you wanted
More than what you let me give
I know who I am
And I will not disappear
Just to make you feel important
Just to keep you standing near
I can love you
And still leave you
I can break
And still withstand
You don’t get to name my value
I know who I am
Verse 2
I remember asking gently
For the room to speak my truth
You would turn my hurt against me
Till I doubted what I knew
Every tear became “too sensitive”
Every question became blame
You kept moving every boundary
Then accused me when I changed
Now I trust the voice inside me
Even when it starts to shake
Courage is not sounding fearless
It is speaking anyway
Chorus
I know who I am
Even if you never did
I am more than what you wanted
More than what you let me give
I know who I am
And I will not disappear
Just to make you feel important
Just to keep you standing near
I can love you
And still leave you
I can break
And still withstand
You don’t get to name my value
I know who I am
Bridge — Soft Harmony Responses
Lead: I am not the girl you quieted
Background: She found her voice
Lead: I am not the fear you planted
Background: She made her choice
Lead: I am not the years I wasted
Trying to become enough
I am every lesson gathered
Every boundary built from love
I am tenderness with judgment
I am softness with command
I do not need to lose my heart
To prove that I can understand
Final Chorus — Fuller and Higher
I know who I am
And I finally trust the sound
Of my own voice in the silence
When nobody else is around
I know who I am
I will not return ashamed
To the place that made me smaller
Just to keep a man unchanged
I can love deeply
I can leave cleanly
I can grieve
And still expand
You don’t get to write my ending
I know who I am
Outro — Pleading Ad-libs
I know now
I know now
I was never asking too much
I was asking the wrong hands
I know who I am
And this time
I believe that woman
I believe her
I know who I am