I learned to walk alone in crowded rooms Holding my name like something fragile I wore my silence like a tailored suit So love wouldn't ask too much I traced my doubts along the walls Of nights that felt too honest I was scared to be desired Exactly as I am I stopped waiting for permission To feel this deep, this true I stopped editing my heartbeat Just to be easier to love This is where I learned to stay In my skin, in my light I don't hide my tenderness I let it breathe tonight If loving me is how it starts Then love won't run away I stopped chasing borrowed hearts This is where I learned to stay (Ooh, I stayed) (Ooh, I stayed) I've loved through coded glances Through doors half-open wide But every scar became a sentence Where my truth learned how to write I don't need perfect timing I just need something real A love that sees my history And stays for how I feel I don't shrink inside affection I don't soften who I am If love arrives with conditions I gently let it pass This is where I learned to stay In my voice, in my name I don't fold my colors down To fit inside the frame If loving me is how it starts Then love won't fade away I stopped surviving lonely hearts This is where I learned to stay I am not broken I am becoming I arrived late Because I was learning This is where I learned to stay In my truth, unafraid I don't beg to be chosen I choose myself today If loving me is how it starts Then love will find its way I stopped asking to be enough This is where I learned to stay This is where I learned to stay In my truth, unafraid I don't beg to be chosen I choose myself today If loving me is how it starts Then love will find its way I stopped asking to be enough This is where I learned to stay This is where I learned to stay In my truth, unafraid I don't beg to be chosen I choose myself today If loving me is how it starts Then love will find its way I stopped asking to be enough This is where I learned to stay (I learned to stay) (And love stayed too)