AMBER

I see our past in flashes as I recollect outside

Quiet, walk out of the party to my car and start to drive

Try to focus on the road, still I know, I slowly sigh

Rewind to our final times, one more night, you’re in my mind

Do you know you often are? That you always are?

Off and on conscious of it, unconsciously lost my heart

To all your fractures, the fragments of me I see in you

The unclean secrets and meaningless things between us two

But what you mean to me isn’t reciprocated

I’m just a pleasant presence in a place from which you’re racing

And as you’re running off, you’re leaving me without a thought

And I stay with these memories of what you already forgot

I know you’ll be going, leaving me here holding

All these frozen moments before I was lonely

You took something from me I’m still stuck here wanting

With these amber moments where I’ll always have you close

Someone found you before me, he was everything you wanted

I never got a shot, I lost, then I started bluffing

Couldn’t trust revealing my meteor feelings, they’d get back to you

Yet, I kept trying to make an impression, get a laugh or two

I think you knew but didn’t want to lose my friendship

And so, you hoped to choke my dream, let it go with no mention

I think I always saw you weren’t the one, you have some demons

Still I wish that you’d get what you mean to me, that you would see me

‘Cause secretly I believe that you could do all that you seek

You said you want to reconstruct your world, that’s realistic to me

From what I’ve seen, you’ve got all that you need to go succeed

And I’ll bear witness to your brilliance though you won’t come back for me

I know you’ll be going…

BRO UP

See a girl after the party, and she’s making me rush

It’s not every night she looks like your celebrity crush

She’s walking with her friends, and she’s so in the zone

She takes a seat next to the street and taps along on her phone

I’m try’na get my bros to notice ‘cause I won’t go alone

Plus I’ve been gone the whole summer and I’m finally home

But no-one else is making moves, I’m the king of the floor

I try to get my friend to help, he says “Man, go,” I say no

I came home like I guess I did it right then

Never think if I had talked, how would the night been

Like I was never one to get it on the first time

Except that first night and that third night, well, they’re worse lies

So imagine my surprise when I swing by

And find out in the two weeks in between, she’s found herself a guy

So if your bro’s enchanted, you can’t let him lose his chance

Get her with him, work with her friends, that’s how you be a man

Man, you gotta bro up, man, you gotta bro up

Gotta bro up, man, you gotta bro up

You gotta rep in conversations, keep the phones going

And if she’s settled with somebody, well, that’s worth knowing

Gotta bro up, man, you gotta bro up

Gotta bro up, man, you gotta bro up

If he wants the girl, and she’s worth the work

You gotta slam the ‘Gram til he gets the bird

Walk into the club, I see her crystalline eyes

And she’s bathing in the hazy lights, yeah, this is my type

I ask my bro if I should go, he says yeah, she’s cool

So I slide up, sit beside her, and I start talking smooth

Thirty minutes later, we’re at middle name basis

She went from talking ‘bout her friends to listing her favorites

I think we made it all the way down to her first date

And I learned some things her boyfriends didn’t know, I won’t say

Pause from talking, check my watch, wish I could make the time slow

‘Cause now they’re shutting down the club, I need a ride home

She’s like, I gotta leave, do you see me on your IG

Or do you want my number?  I said, either’s fine by me

I get the digits and the ‘Gram, make sure I’m following

Her friend rolls up in a Corolla and she’s hopping in

But right before she leaves, she waves her hand goodbye to me

I wave mine back, jump in the cab, that night was awesome, see?

You gotta bro, man, you gotta bro up

Gotta bro up…

Now let’s give him a hand, make sure that he stands

Let him set sail, who cares as long as it’s land?

It’s part of the plan, get him to the beach

And since he’s part of our band, you know no shore’s out of reach

Hit the crests of the waves, don’t remember yesterday

My recollection’s K-Wal hit the 7, turned it to eight

I heard your night didn’t end, your new girlfriend was a ten

It took me like eleven times to say go talk to her friend

Man, you gotta bro up, man, you gotta bro up

Gotta bro up…

Friend’s alone again, gotta bro up

See she’ll go with him, gotta slow up

If you’re a real one, then you’ll do it for the squad

If you’ve been bro’d or you have bro’d, then you belong

ONE NIGHT

Pull up to the place with a date then I see you, in the middle of the room

Say hey and pretend it meant nothing, but it’s not true, you’re there chilling with some dude

Keep checking in the crowd, catch you every now and then

Chick I’m with is cool, but we’re only here as friends

She and I go outside ‘cause the party’s wack

As she’s catching up with friends, doesn’t see me looking back

Give me one night

Give me one try

Tonight I can be the one you’ve always wanted

You don’t want me

I still want you

I can’t let you go

Come back, mosh along to the song like it’s all cool, but I’m still looking for you

My date wants a break and a drink so I go too, and someone spills on my shoes

It’s you, and your man’s not there

Keep our conversation brief so it seems I don’t care

And as we part ways, I turn around and I see

You look in my direction, maybe looking at me

Give me one night…

As the party starts to die and people slowly leave

You call out my name as you come walking up to me

As the party starts to die and people slowly leave

You call out my name as you come walking up to me

Give me one night…

DARKEST NIGHT

Darling, we’re falling apart

The spark has been lost, the bond is dissolved

We’re calling it off after dawn

We’ll ride one more time then you’ll really be gone

You screamed at me I love the one in the mirror

I said, “At least I don’t creep with other people”

Neither one of us wants the other enough

And yet we still, I wonder if this is because

I still love you deep inside

In the places in my mind that

No one knows

Secrets no one knows

I’m not supposed to love a girl like you

There’s not s’posed to be room for two but

Deep inside

I would love to spend my darkest night with you

Out mobbing to songs that I thought I forgot

Somehow I’ve found you in my arms when the music goes off

You give that look that you aren’t done and that I’m riding along

A part of me wants this to keep on, other side cries it’s wrong

I can’t resist, hop in the whip, you think aloud, hit my place

Now we’re driving down side roads, I know that you hate to wait

We’re pulling in, hey, isn’t this the place that we met?

Where I thought you’re the wrong call, in fact, girl, you’re my worst yet

The mistake I keep making, bitter pill I keep taking

There’s glitter on your lips, I’ll still kiss you, it’s amazing

There isn’t an escape, babe, I’m insane for this thing

I think if we see through the spring we may end up with a ring

We’ve both drank way more than is safe for the road

I ask you can I get an Uber that’ll be taking you home

You say of course, now let’s pour one more in a toast to our love

And as we celebrate I can’t help thinking this is the one

But still I know when I sober I was over you

In fact I said our end is for the best and overdue

But now we’re travelled ‘round the town and I’m singing a brand new tune

The truth is our union’s unmoving, I’ll still go with you

I still love you…

MINE

I’ve heard you’re with someone

Better than I was

Now I hide in small clubs

And cry, drinking off lost love

I hate to remember

You said forever

I hope that he takes you

I pray that he breaks you

But still, in my dreams

We can carry on

And still, in my dreams

You aren’t really gone

I’m tossing, turning

Lost and burning

Hold still in my mind

I’m twisting, missing

Reminiscing

Love you left behind

That once was mine

I try to erase you

Try to replace you

Still wanna embrace you

Still can’t escape you

You said I should move on

Go find a new one

Guess you find it easy

Guess you didn’t need me

‘Cause still, in my dreams

We can carry on…

MIDNIGHT DRIVE

It seems to me that love and I don’t get along well

And every time I like someone it isn’t mutually felt

I’ve tried being myself, maybe it’s better to lie

‘Cause if no one ever wants me it must be on my side

I’ve been used and abandoned, consumed in a plan and

I don’t understand it, why I’m often left stranded

Am I strange for displaying my magic, the tragic

Part for the artist?  Is this how I’ll have?

Is this the exchange that I make for these songs?

That I’m hurt and I’m spurned so people sing along?

When the show’s over, could I not be alone?

I can only think so much, I need my eyes on the road

I thought we were alike, ignited by the same spark

But even though you shone brighter, you’d hide in the dark

You were afraid of what they’d think if they knew who you were

You’ve concealed yourself from the world and left it for the worse

I too feared being rejected, didn’t show all my parts

But I realized people can’t love you ‘til they know who you are

So, I started to let them see my dreams, obsessions, and fears

My secrets, scars, some of which are inside these bars that they hear

And some will love the passionate actor, rapper, I’m what they’re after

And some won’t get me, dismiss me, diss me, it makes me sad, sure

But I’m staying Ayden J. M. K-Wal, take me or leave me

Mixing fiction with fragments of the past, Midnight Drive, can you feel me?