I was quiet
for the wrong reasons.
I kept my hands inside the light
so nobody could see them shake
I learned the shape of every room
by what the walls would take
The ceiling wires were humming
like they knew my name
I heard the city counting down
and I counted back the same
I was not built softer
I was only built still
I was standing in the voltage
waiting for the kill
Then the white light split
Then the red line moved
Then the floor said run
but my voice said prove
And I opened up
like a broken wire
not to burn it down
just to sing it higher
White voltage
in my throat tonight
I can make the dark
turn its face to the light
White voltage
through my ribs, through my hands
I don't need the crown
I need the room to understand
If I go high
don't pull me down
I am the signal now
Ah-ah-ah, white voltage
Ah-ah-ah, I am the signal now
They wanted something pretty
with a clean black frame
A little fire on command
with a safer name
But I have lived in feedback
I have slept near sparks
I have carried whole machines
through the animal dark
Every fear had teeth
Every door had rules
Every mirror said behave
Every screen said choose
So I chose the break
and I chose the climb
and I put my voice
where they buried mine
Then the white light split
Then the red line moved
Then the floor said run
but my voice said prove
And the amps leaned in
and the wires bowed
and the dead air woke
when I sang out loud
White voltage
in my throat tonight
I can make the dark
turn its face to the light
White voltage
through my ribs, through my hands
I don't need the crown
I need the room to understand
If I go high
don't pull me down
I am the signal now
I am not the echo
I am not the frame
I am not the girl
they taught to hold the flame
I am not the ending
I am not the wound
I am what happens
when the note breaks through
Say my name in the blackout
Say my name in the wire
Say my name when the whole room
starts climbing higher
White voltage
in my throat tonight
I can make the dark
turn its face to the light
White voltage
through my ribs, through my hands
I don't need the crown
I need the room to understand
If I go high
don't pull me down
I am the signal now
I am the signal now
I am the signal now
White voltage
White voltage