Title: “Phantom Lights” Style: Alternative R&B (Trilogy / After Hours era) Theme: Heartbreak, addiction, isolation Setting: Nighttime, lonely apartment, dreamlike haze ⸻ [Verse 1] Key: C minor / Tempo: 70 BPM / Beat: Sparse 808s, ambient pads, distant reverb-heavy synths Low lights flicker on the ceiling fan Ashtray full, and I’m feelin’ like half a man Liquor in my veins, mirror in my hand I see her face, but it’s made of sand She left her dress hangin’ on the chair I still smell her perfume in the air (mmm) Voicemails I can’t bear to hear So I drown ‘em out with smoke and fear (ohhh) 808 hits subtly fade in with a heartbeat rhythm. Ambient vocal layers begin. ⸻ [Chorus] Hook melody layered with haunting harmonies and soft falsetto ad-libs Phantom lights on my ceiling Same old nights, no healing Touch and go, I’m reeling (ohh, yeah) You don’t know how I’m feelin’ Phantom love, still bleedin’ Can’t come down, still fiendin’ You’re not here, but I’m seein’ Phantom lights, phantom lights (ohhh, yeah… ohhh) ⸻ [Verse 2] Beat builds slightly—layered with faint guitar plucks and distant vocal echoes Two lines left on the bathroom sink One for the pain, one just to think I dream in grayscale, I move in slow Time don’t exist when you’re this low (mmm) She said, “Boy, you gotta save yourself” But I keep her ghost up on my shelf Lingerin’ like a melody Playin’ tricks inside my sleep (yeah, yeah) ⸻ [Bridge] Drums cut out. Ambient synths swell. Falsetto lead vocal with background harmonies. Why’d you leave me in this space? Curtains drawn, but I see your face (ohhh) Now I’m chasing what we lost Payin’ love’s forbidden cost (mmm, yeah) Silhouettes on every wall But they don’t talk, they just watch me fall I ain’t high—I’m just haunted By the love that you flaunted ⸻ [Chorus] Beat returns full, with added atmospheric textures and vocal harmonies. Phantom lights on my ceiling Same old nights, no healing Touch and go, I’m reeling (ohh, yeah) You don’t know how I’m feelin’ Phantom love, still bleedin’ Can’t come down, still fiendin’ You’re not here, but I’m seein’ Phantom lights, phantom lights (ohhh, yeah… ohhh) ⸻ [Outro] Stripped down to ambient synths and slow vocal echoes. Intimate falsetto. You were here… then gone again (mmm) I still breathe you in my skin (yeah) Love like smoke—it disappears But I stay trapped in your atmosphere (Phantom lights…) (Phantom love…) (Ohhh, yeah…) Fade out with layered harmonies and echoes