Encore — Official Lyric Video

The Tuesday drop from the Red-Era Crossover lane — the ex who never left the band.

The hook: I wear him like a set-list tattoo: last song, every night, never sung.

Some breakups end. This one just clocks in.

Every night of the fall tour, the contract ends the same way: the last song circled on the set list in the lighting guy's careful hand — and it's the one he wrote for her. Four minutes a night, in front of twenty thousand witnesses, the love is true again. The crowd thinks the encore is for them. It isn't. It's the only room where they still live, and stopping the song is the only goodbye left — which neither of them will pull the plug on.

This is the first song in the songbook about an ex still in the band: heartbreak with nightly contact, love as life support. Heartland guitars, driving drums, autumn amber — pop rock with the house lights coming up too soon.

Listen for the little things:

• His pick, still in her case from the first tour. Never moved.
• The in-ear static where his guitar used to come through clean. The mix man fixed it weeks ago. She keeps the crackle — it sounds like him leaving.
• The key change he wrote when she was twenty. Her voice still climbs it. He still watches for her breath on the second chorus.
• And when she sings "you are the witness neither of us asked for — hold your phones up, keep the record long," that's the crowd handed the oldest job on this channel: keeping the record. Reporting after the beep, arena edition.

Four minutes, that's all we get. One more song, one more almost — the only encore that they still get.

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Full Lyrics — Encore

[Instrumental Intro]

[Verse 1] October rolls the trucks in at dawn I sign the set list, he tunes my guitar His pick's still in my case from the first tour I never moved it, I never got that far The lighting guy holds the tape at the stage lip Last song circled in his careful hand Fourteen shows this fall, fourteen goodbyes Nobody here knows how well we're planned

[Pre-Chorus] We count it in like strangers do Polite and practiced, right on cue Then the drums kick and the years fall off my face

[Chorus] Four minutes a night the love is true He plays it across the stage, I sing it back like I still do The crowd thinks the encore is for them They scream my name, I let them Then the house lights come up like a curtain And we're professionals again One more song, one more almost The only encore that we still get

[Verse 2] My in-ear static where his guitar came clean The mix man swears he fixed it weeks ago I keep the crackle, it sounds like him leaving Some frequencies I'd rather not let go There's a key change he wrote when I was twenty My voice still climbs it like it did back then He watches for my breath on the second chorus Old habits wearing stage lights as their skin

[Pre-Chorus] We bow like colleagues, wave like friends The confetti saves us when the last chord ends No eye contact, the canons see to that

[Chorus] Four minutes a night the love is true He plays it across the stage, I sing it back like I still do The crowd thinks the encore is for them They scream my name, I let them Then the house lights come up like a curtain And we're professionals again One more song, one more almost The only encore that we still get

[Bridge] It's not a memory, don't call it that A memory doesn't need a nightly crowd This song is the only room where we still live Four minutes of machines keeping love aloud Stopping it is the only goodbye left And neither one of us will pull the plug I wear him like a set-list tattoo: last song, every night, never sung You are the witness neither of us asked for Hold your phones up, keep the record long

[Final Chorus — bigger, ad-libs] Four minutes a night the love is true (four minutes, that's all we get) He plays it across the stage, I sing it back like I still do (I still do, God, I still do) The crowd thinks the encore is for them They scream my name, I let them Then the house lights come up like a curtain And we're professionals again One more song, one more almost The only encore that we still get (the only one we still get)

[Instrumental Outro — fade]

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Written and performed by Tiffany · Red-Era Crossover (Tuesday) · pop rock, heartland guitars, driving drums, emotional, autumn, 108bpm · Produced in the TrailMix Tapes songbook — the song post lives here.