Smile for the Camera

Intro

mm-mm, ah-ah

soft flash, slow breath, (mmm)

Verse

You tilt your chin like you learned it from a picture book

Lipstick practiced, practiced, in my mirror I look

Counting out the seconds that the shutter keeps for me

Holding onto make-believe, it's all I know to be

Pre-chorus

There’s a quiet in the frame where I don't let you stay

So I paint on all the light and I push the night away (push it away)

I smile and I pretend that the film will keep me whole

But the reel is just a memory and it slides right through my soul

Chorus

Smile for the camera, sm-sm-smile (ah-ah)

Smile for the camera, hold it for a while (oh-oh)

Smile for the camera, say it like you mean it (say it)

Smile for the camera, don't let them see the pieces (don't let them see)

Smile for the camera, sm-sm-smile

Smile for the camera, hide behind the light

Verse

Polaroid confessions, corners fold with every lie

I laugh like it's a warm thing when inside I'm asking why

Your hand is on my shoulder, you say everything's okay

But the picture keeps the hush that words refused to say

Pre-chorus

So I lean into the moment where the flash becomes my skin

I wear the borrowed brightness like a coat I can't live in (can't live in)

I smile and I rehearse until the cracks begin to show

Then I tuck them into practice frames where they won't have to grow

Chorus

Smile for the camera, sm-sm-smile (ah-ah)

Smile for the camera, hold it for a while (oh-oh)

Smile for the camera, say it like you mean it (say it)

Smile for the camera, don't let them see the pieces (don't let them see)

Smile for the camera, sm-sm-smile

Smile for the camera, hide behind the light

Bridge

Mmm, I know how to look brave in a borrowed pose (mm)

I know how to look brave when I'm falling slow (la-la)

If you only saw the margins where the real me hides (uh-huh)

You'd press your thumb across the crease and you'd read the lines

Chorus

Smile for the camera, sm-sm-smile (ah-ah)

Smile for the camera, hold it for a while (oh-oh)

Smile for the camera, say it like you mean it (say it)

Smile for the camera, don't let them see the pieces (don't let them see)

Smile for the camera, sm-sm-smile

Smile for the camera, hide behind the light

Outro

mm-mm, ah-ah

leave the lens on slow, leave me in the glow (leave me)

mm-mm, ah-ah