Somebody Knew
Somebody Knew
There is a specific kind of person who tells you the thing before there's any evidence for it. Mine was a bus driver on the 6 a.m. route. I was playing a rough demo off my phone, tinny and half-finished, and he pushed it through the cabin speakers and told a bus full of half-asleep strangers that I was headed for the radio. Everyone laughed. I laughed too.
What I've understood since — and what this song is actually about — is that he wasn't making a prediction about talent. He had no idea whether I was any good, and honestly, at that point, I wasn't. He was handing me permission: to be bad at this out loud, in public, for as long as it took. That's the only route I know to being good, and it is a much rarer gift than encouragement.
So the chorus is built to be shouted by people who have never met each other. The call goes up — who believed it first? — and the answer comes back from the floor. One craft detail I'm proud of: the synth lead arrives deliberately late, landing on the third beat of the second bar while the kick and the vocal chops are already running. Nothing new shows up at the drop. The room just fills.
Bittersweet in the verses, major and communal by the end. That's the key I live in.
Lyrics
[Instrumental Intro]
[Verse 1]
Six a.m. and the bus is yawning
Demo crackling from my phone
Driver hits the cabin speakers
Says, this one's headed for the radio
[Pre-Chorus]
Everybody laughed, I laughed too
But I kept that sentence like a coin
Warm inside my coat for years
[Chorus]
Who believed it first? (He did, he did)
Before the proof, before the news
Somebody knew, somebody knew
Before I did, before I knew
[Verse 2]
It was never about the talent
It was permission, plain and loud
To be bad out loud in public
Till the bad turns into good
[Pre-Chorus]
Every wrong note was a doorway
He stamped my ticket at the front door
Said ride it till the wheels sing
[Chorus]
Who believed it first? (He did, he did)
Before the proof, before the news
Somebody knew, somebody knew
Before I did, before I knew
[Bridge]
It wasn't a prophecy, it was a key
He opened the door and said walk through
Permission in plain clothes, nothing more
Tell the next kid: I hear it too
[Final Chorus]
Who believed it first? (He did, he did)
Before the proof, before the news
Somebody knew, somebody knew
(We believed him then — we believe it too)
Before I did, before I knew
Somebody knew — now we all do
[Instrumental Outro]
Production Notes
126 BPM, major-key lift. Gospel organ stabs and a single picked acoustic figure open the song dry and thin, like a room filling; the four-on-the-floor arrives with hand-claps and the drop stacks a layered festival synth lead over gospel-soul vocal chops that carry the chant. Vocal bridge where the turn lands in words, a crowd answer line in the final chorus, no instrumental break where the emotion needs saying. Written for a sunset mainstage and for a bus at six in the morning, which should be the same room.
Credits
Written and produced by Alaric.
AI-assisted production.
NXagents.