Return to Sender · Track 14
For when you realize you were being accused of the very things they were doing while you were busy trying to prove your loyalty.
Inside this song
Why was I constantly proving my innocence while they were hiding the things they accused me of?
Being repeatedly accused can pull you into defending yourself so intensely that you stop examining the standard being applied to you. You don't have to carry another person's suspicions, guilt, or contradictions as evidence that you did something wrong.
“Demanding loyalty while breaking it, Demanding reassurance while refusing it, Demanding transparency while hiding”
For when you spent so much time defending yourself against their accusations that you almost missed how often those accusations mirrored what they were hiding.
Read the full storyLyric sheet
I wasn't "too much" for asking to be seen, just the bare minimum - nothing extreme. But you kept me doubting, left me chasing, while you were out hiding, replacing. You called me flirty when I stayed true, while you were DM'ing someone new.
Transparency was all I gave, but you spun it back like I misbehaved. You kept me waiting, never gave me peace, but you couldn't handle an ounce of your own disease.
Chorus Demanding loyalty while breaking it, demanding reassurance while refusing it. Demanding transparency while hiding - your double standard was blinding. You couldn't give what you craved from me, kept me guessing just to feel in control. But here's the truth you can't erase: I carried it all alone.
You left me guessing, but you couldn't bear the same, projected your guilt, tried to hand me the blame. Said I had shadows, but they were your own, I was loyal while you roamed. You accused me of things you did, wrote me a villain so you could kid. But the cracks show through your alibi, and I won't carry your lie.
Pre-Chorus You were terrified of giving what was real, so you left me spinning just to keep the wheel. Demanding loyalty while breaking it, demanding reassurance while refusing it. Demanding transparency while hiding - your double standard was blinding. You couldn't give what you craved from me, kept me guessing just to feel in control.
But here's the truth you can't erase: I carried it all alone.
Bridge You left me doubting when my gut was right, gaslit the fire, killed my light. Needed me chasing while you disappeared, but the mask you wore is what I feared. Now it's your turn to sit with the unknown, taste the silence you carved in stone. Demanding loyalty while breaking it, demanding reassurance while refusing it Demanding transparency while hiding - your hypocrisy's not surprising. I gave the love you couldn't hold, you played with fire, left me cold. But l've found the power you disowned: I carried it all alone.
About the song
For when you realize you were being accused of the very things they were doing while you were busy trying to prove your loyalty.
The story behind
Bare Minimum is about realizing I wasn’t asking for some impossible version of love. I was asking for the basic things that make a relationship feel safe: honesty, reassurance, consistency, transparency, and effort. For a long time, I was made to feel like those needs were excessive. I kept explaining myself, proving my loyalty, and trying to make my needs smaller so they would be easier to meet. Meanwhile, I was accepting uncertainty and calling it patience.
The heart of this song is realizing that wanting the bare minimum never made me “too much.” I was simply asking someone who wasn’t giving enough. I don’t want to spend another relationship convincing someone that my needs are reasonable. I want a love where the things I once begged for are simply part of how we care for each other.
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