Mercy
I was told I had a silver tongue as a young child.
I would blurt out absolutely anything that came to my mind. And often those things were not things others wanted to hear. Because I had a hard time controlling what came out of my mouth, it resulted in me being misunderstood, iced out, punished for what I said. I questioned and doubted myself early. Those experiences taught me that my unfiltered truth was dangerous.
So I painted. A lot. Art and lyrics became the place I could speak my truth in metaphors and poetry, soft enough that they couldn’t be too pointed to the people or experiences they were about. I always had to worry about wounding those I loved with brutal honesty. I learned to wrap it. To shape it. To make it safe enough for the room.
I have also been in relationships where I was silenced. There have been relationships that felt like bondage to me. Partners afraid of my wild spirit. Attempts to cage me by those I thought loved me. Confusing power dynamics that angled to control me and keep me theirs. I misunderstood love for a long time. I spent a long time not being true to myself in every cell of my being until I realized that was never love.
Mercy came from all of that.
There is a grinding synth and guitar riff throughout the verses that pulses and drives forward. It felt like captivity to me when I was making it. That grinding relentlessness. And then the choruses open up into something full of hope, begging to be seen, begging to be loved. Back and forth, back and forth between those two worlds.
And then the outro. Long, full of noise and whispers and layered sounds. there’s a begging scream here for mercy moving into epic confusion. And then it’s all squandered... The hope being snuffed out and she’s been silenced for the last time.
It’s not a song about liberation. It’s a song about feeling powerless.
I have felt silenced as a woman in the world. In relationships. In the music industry. Mercy is for every version of myself that went quiet when I should have kept speaking. And for everyone who knows exactly what that feels like.
Tiff
Mercy is the opening track on Legacy.
Listen: https://iameve.vibe.to/legacy
Pre-order vinyl:
MERCY
Under your cold touch
Below your great height
She hovers softly
Waiting for Mercy, Lord
Mercy, Lord
And to contain her would be criminal
Watch her collecting dust like an anima
Oh if you love her, let her go
Give her, Give her mercy
Give her mercy
She longs to be loved
Does her silence please ya
Or will you free her
From your “mercy”, lord
mercy lord
And to contain her would be criminal
Watch her collecting dust like an anima
Oh if you love her, let her go Give her,
Give her mercy Give her mercy
Mercy.
Mercy.
Mercy.