Alexis

Okay, I'm just not gonna listen. It's worked so far.

What happened to your life?

Um, a lot of things, thanks for asking.

It's more than makeup staining your eyes.

Ha, you think?

You wanna be in a better place,

Say you don't wanna live this way,

All alone.

Yeah, who does? That doesn't mean we really have the option.

When your heart is cold,

The permanent state of whatever's left of my heart.

And when you feel you're letting go,

You can rise above the world below.

Rise tonight.

Maybe if you were ever at ground level in the first place, not a thousand feet below.

So hard to watch you bleed.

Wait, what happened to not listening?

Your fragile heart ripped at the seams.

I squeeze my eyes shut, but for some ****** reason, it's not working. And I feel idiotic tears pushing at my shut lids.

You gotta try to help me understand.

No one will ever understand me. Not even Danny did. He just stuck around anyway.

But first you're gonna have to let me in.

Never again. I've learned my lesson.

No, you're not alone.

Yes, I am, you ****** idiot.

Just shut it out. Just don't listen.

But despite everything I try to do, no matter how many other songs I attempt to make my mind play over the top of it, the chorus still works its way straight to the front of my mind.

I just ****** hate life.

There's a light, there's a hope, in your eyes,

Danny always told me I had a light in my eyes like no one else. But he also told me that it faded as his cancer got worse and so did my life. I'm sure by now whatever was there is long gone.

In your face.

Like a star, burning in the sky.

There's a fire you can't hide tonight, whoa.

Not anymore, there's not.

There's a light, there's a hope, in your eyes,

Like a star, burning in the sky.

There's a fire you can't hide tonight.

Saying it twice doesn't make it anymore true, dude.

When your heart is cold,

And when you feel you're letting go,

You can rise above the world below,

You can rise above the world below,

Again, just cause you say it twice doesn't make it true.

Rise tonight.

You can rise tonight.

And it's over. I realize my fists are clenched so tightly that it hurts my palms. I slowly let them relax and take a deep breath.

Whatever. It's gone.

And, I have to admit, this dude does have an amazing voice, and he's good at making music. It's just the words of his songs that get me.

He sings a few more, but this time, it actually works for me to ignore the lyrics, and I can halfway enjoy the music anyway.

Britt Nicole joins him for the last time, and they sound great together.

I wish I was stupid to believe all this "I was never gone" junk, though. That would be some world.

And it's impossible not to have some fun as Britt takes over. Her music is just so peppy and fun to listen to. Even when you are one of the "lost" that she's singing about. Whatever. I don't even care. And she brings NF back out to perform "Can You Hold Me". Which is awesome.

Finally, I recognize "Gold" beginning.

You were walkin' on the moon,

Now you're feelin' low.

What they said wasn't true.

You're beautiful.

An attractive, dark haired dude steps out on stage.

I can barely hear his lines over the screaming of the crowd.

Sticks and stones

Break your bones,

I know what your feelin'.

I can still hear a pronounced Aussie accent in his voice, though. That's just freaking awesome.

Another dude comes from the other corner of the stage. He's good-looking too, but that head of curly hair is... something. And the crowd is going totally wild for him, too. I'm guessing they're the next act.

Words like those

Won't steal your glow.

You're one in a million.

And they join in with Britt for the chorus.

This, this is for all the girls,

Boys all over the world.

Whatever you've been told,

You're worth more than gold.

I mean, as if, but it's still a cool song.

Britt takes over once more, flowing into the second verse.

Well, everybody keeps score,

Afraid you're gonna lose.

Just ignore.

They don't know the real you!

And, first Aussie dude takes it.

All the rain in the sky

Can't put out your fire.

Curly hair Aussie's turn.

All the stars out tonight...

You shine brighter.

All together for the chorus again.

I have to admit it's kinda cool the way they share the stage with each other like this. Maybe it's a Christian thing or something. Whatever. It's still cool.

The nice thing about this song is, even if the words are flat-out lies, it's easy to just rock out to it and ignore that. So that's what I do until the end of the song.

The crowd screams as Britt thanks them, and the lights flick out. Well, we'll see what these Aussie dudes have to offer.

But I have this sinking feeling that I'll be wanting to cut again by the end of their act.