Next Level (Acoustic Remix)

[Beat enters]

Kept one hand against the window

Watched the old names streak away

Somewhere underneath the crossing

Something switched without a sound

There were people I would follow

Till their faces changed direction

Some stayed with me for a season

Some just taught me where not to stand

I remember thinking failure

Had a station of its own

Somewhere every wrong decision

Finally left you there alone

But the city kept on moving

Even when I thought I'd stopped

And the view began to change

Before I noticed we had climbed

I can still see where I started

Getting smaller underneath

Everything looks permanent

Until you're watching it recede

NOW THE CITY MOVES BELOW ME

LIKE A MAP I USED TO KNOW

EVERY PLACE I THOUGHT WOULD HOLD ME

GETS SMALLER AS I GO

LET THE OLD PLATFORM KEEP CALLING

LET ITS VOICE DISSOLVE IN METAL

SOMEWHERE PAST THE LAST CONNECTION

I FOUND THE NEXT LEVEL

Keep moving

Don't look down

You were standing there beside me

When the signals still agreed

Then somewhere past the junction

You were headed somewhere else

No explosion, no confession

Just your hand against the pane

Getting smaller in the distance

Till I couldn't read your face

For a while I blamed the crossing

Then the timing

Then myself

Kept replaying that departure

Like there had to be someone to blame

Now I know some people leave you

With a language you don't lose

You don't have to keep the speaker

To remember what was said

From up here the tracks look different

Than they ever did below

What I thought had disappeared

Was only somewhere I couldn't go

NOW THE CITY MOVES BELOW ME

LIKE A MAP I USED TO KNOW

EVERY PLACE I THOUGHT WOULD HOLD ME

GETS SMALLER AS I GO

LET THE OLD PLATFORM KEEP CALLING

LET ITS VOICE DISSOLVE IN METAL

SOMEWHERE PAST THE LAST CONNECTION

I FOUND THE NEXT LEVEL

[Male - calm]

There are whole versions of us

still waiting at stations

we never went back to.

Maybe that's where they belong.

I used to keep every ticket

Like proof that I had been there

Names fading into paper

Dates losing their edges

One for the chance I didn't take

One for the one that disappeared

One for the hand I shouldn't trust

One for the night I stayed too long

Funny—

The things you carry for years

Get lighter without asking

Until one day

you reach for the weight

And there's nothing there

Except the way

you learned to stand

SO LET THE SIGNAL CHANGE

LET THE WHOLE GRID SHIFT

I'VE MISSED ENOUGH CONNECTIONS

TO KNOW WHAT MOVEMENT IS

LET THE LOWER CITY VANISH

LET THE OLD NAMES LOSE THEIR SOUND

I THOUGHT I WAS BEING LEFT BEHIND

I WAS BEING

MOVED AROUND

[Male]

Every departure

changed the distance

Every wrong turn

changed the view

Maybe nothing ever opened

Maybe I just finally

saw through

NOW THE CITY MOVES BELOW ME

AND I DON'T NEED THE MAP

ALL THE STOPS I CALLED FOREVER

ARE DISAPPEARING AT MY BACK

LET THE OLD PLATFORM KEEP CALLING

I DON'T OWE IT ANOTHER ANSWER

SOMEWHERE PAST THE LAST CONNECTION

I FOUND THE NEXT LEVEL

NOW THE SKYLINE LOOKS DIFFERENT

FROM THE PLACE I USED TO KNOW

EVERY ENDING LEFT ME SOMEWHERE

I COULDN'T SEE FROM BELOW

IF THE LAST LINE ENDS BEHIND ME

LET THE SILENCE TAKE THE METAL

THERE'S ANOTHER CITY WAITING

ON THE NEXT LEVEL