My Name Isn't Katherine

(album: Inside Voices / Outside Voices - 2022)

Your mind is created by your name

My name isn't Katherine
My name isn't Crystal
My name isn't Nicki or Chad or Sebastian
But thank you for asking
Drunk on a mattress, kissing an actress
Taking the last sip, they call that a hat trick
It turns out the sad kids become the Brad Pitts
Ain't that rich?

My name is a question
A reckoning whether my parents were laughing
Or stressing when they had to give me their blessing
And pray that it lasted
I went from the classroom acing exams in a regular fashion
To searching for God in a bathroom (where is he?)
And I wonder now
How the fuck did it happen?

Tracing the lines but the lines get blurred
Yeah, the pot gets smoked and the pot gets stirred
Said my concert was dope but I'm not so sure
I've been feeling the end of my rope, insecure
Wish I was taller and bigger but smaller too
I want a mansion to wander through
I wanna appear on the CNN crawler
I wanna be leisurely tanning Bahama cruise

I'm on the loose
Nothing to lose, gimme the juice
Sipping a brew
Because the news making me blue
Giving me anxiety, banks lie to us
Tanks firing, bang bang a lot
Catch sight of it, straight outta luck
You're dead

Society's pill-popping now
Dad lied to me, still talk about
That with my therapist
So I don't go jumping off terraces

My name isn't Katherine
My name isn't Crystal
My name isn't Nicki or Chad or Sebastian
But thank you for asking
Drunk on a mattress, kissing an actress
Taking the last sip, they call that a hat trick
It turns out the sad kids become the Brad Pitts
Ain't that rich?

My name is obnoxious
My name is preposterous
My name is an albatross around my neck
Tightening up her grip and it's making me nauseous
My name is a lineage, I am a guinea pig
Am I a genius, am I an idiot?
Am I just digits inside of the matrix
Existence is boxing me in like a cage every day

Yeah, my name is a shadow
It wrapped itself around me just like a lasso
Followed me from NYC out to Glasgow
Pounded me into the ground like a gavel
Said you can't escape
Licking the envelope, sealing my fate
I'm feeling the pain of a person who's spreading the love
But witnesses hate, wait

I rewind and decide to be kind whenever I can
So I'm making a beeline for all of my friends
And my enemies even the ones who have declined
To be fine with everyone being their self
They say that we're going to hell
But I turned my cheek, I can tell
That they've just been crying for help
We all can be somebody else
'Cause everyone's feeling afraid
We all have the power to change
We all came to earth just the same
Nobody even chose their name

Nobody even chose their name
Nobody even chose their name
Nobody even chose their

I thought that my name was unique
But it was naive to believe that
Turns out there's many of me
Walking around on the planet
And one day the tables will turn
I'll look at my newborn baby
And know that her name is a curse
Isn't it crazy?

My name isn't Katherine
My name isn't Crystal
My name isn't Nicki or Chad or Sebastian
But thank you for asking
Drunk on a mattress, kissing an actress
Taking the last sip, they call that a hat trick
It turns out the sad kids become the Brad Pitts