WHO I WAS Lyrics
[Chorus]
Ash and dust
Everything I care about enough
Burning up (Yeah)
(Alright, turn my, uh, vocals up) Nothing left of who I thought I was
(And then just let it run) I was
[Verse 1]
Uh, I'm stuck in traffic, tryna find my way to a home that I've never known
On a GPS with no address
So I'll follow my heart, but my heart is scattered
Like my father's ashes in the back of the rental after I dropped his urn
Probably a metaphor for everything I've learned
Like how the only love I'll have is gonna crash and burn
Or how the poorest I've felt was after the most I've earned
The biggest lie told is that no one should be concerned
There's gotta be another highway that don't lead to Hell
A star to lead me through the darkest night like Christian Bale
I hid from God for more than two decades of life
And when I came back to the light, He didn't ask me if I'm Christian still
Just opened up His arms and embraced me like I'm His Son
Erasin' all the archetypes of what people like me become
Since I was young, my personality split like serpent's tongue
But all the poison in my body still ain't make me numb
I lost a best friend and felt all that
Cryin' on his open casket while I knelt on that
I had a best man picked out for my wedding
But instead of getting married, I carried guilt and left all that
A vagabond that broke a bond for Boca Raton
Who all along regretted he never kept all that
I left everything behind but this engagement ring and a frozen heart
I'm standin' in the fire to melt all that, yeah
[Chorus]
Ash and dust
Everything I care about enough
(Burn) Burning up
Nothing left of who I thought I was
I was
[Bridge]
I, I, I was
Yeah (Burn)
[Verse 2]
Lash out, need to take a breath and calm down
Try to regulate, don't know how
Wasn't taught that in my house
Kids of my own, I step back
Look at those smiles and feel sad
Hope they don't wind up like Dad
Stuck in this loop like I am
I've called you, never heard back
After everything we've been through, the good and the bad
You're 'bout to throw it all away and overreact
Because I overreacted, karma, I guess
My temper gets the best of me
A part of me that I wish I knew how to get rid of
It's the issue I have, my M.O.
Say I need you and I love you to death
Then turn around and go and treat you like you nothin' but trash
I know—
I know I messed that part up, but
[Outro]
I know, I know, I know, I know, I know
Yeah, I know, sometimes, I
Lash out, need to take a breath and calm down
Try to regulate, don't know how
Wasn't taught that in my house
Kids of my own, I step back
Look at those smiles and feel sad
Hope they don't wind up like Dad
Stuck in this loop like I am, I—
__________________ End _________________
WHO I WAS Song Meaning (NF)
“WHO I WAS” is a collaboration between NF and Machine Gun Kelly (mgk) included on NF’s six-track EP "FEAR", released November 14, 2025. The track appears as one of two guest appearances on the project and served as a promotional single in the lead-up to the EP. Production and writing credits list NF alongside frequent collaborators, and the song arrived amid a compact run of new material that followed NF’s break between major releases.
Inspiration and Real-life Context
Reporting around the "FEAR EP” frames the record and its songs as an introspective, tightly-focused continuation of NF’s decade-long preoccupation with vulnerability, trauma, and personal accountability. Coverage and official track listings show that “WHO I WAS” was positioned as a candid, confessional piece that bridges NF’s signature inward-looking lyricism with mgk’s more outward, conversational delivery. Media write-ups at release highlight the song as part of NF’s careful rollout for FEAR and note the collaboration with mgk as a deliberate pairing of two artists who trade in blunt emotional honesty.
Lyrical Meaning
At its core, the song reads as an excavation of identity after loss, addiction to destructive patterns, and the failing models of masculinity that get passed down through families. The verses map a narrator who is geographically and emotionally adrift, grappling with grief and the residue of poor coping learned in childhood. These confessions aren’t abstract—images of funerary rituals, failed relationships, and parenting anxieties function as markers of accountability: the speaker is cataloguing the debris of who they used to be in order to name what must change.
Musically and structurally the collaboration amplifies that psychological arc. NF’s cadence, which often veers between controlled restraint and explosive release, creates an internal monologue effect; mgk’s contribution acts as a counterpart, reflecting a kindred restlessness. Together they turn personal failure into a communal interrogation of how trauma begets behavior—particularly how anger and avoidance can replicate across generations. The song’s resolution is not triumphant so much as hard-won: it stages transformation as process rather than destination, underscoring repair as ongoing work rather than a single act.
Why It Matters for Listeners
Listeners who have followed NF’s catalog will recognize this track as a deepening rather than a departure: it extends the artist’s catalogue of candid autobiographical work by confronting not only the experience of pain but the moral and relational consequences of how pain is handled. For people wrestling with grief, parenting fears, or cycles of anger, the song functions as both a mirror and a manual of emotional honesty—validating the difficulty of change while emphasizing the necessity of confronting past selves. For fans of mgk, the appearance broadens the song’s reach, inviting listeners from different stylistic backgrounds into a shared space of reflection. Coverage of the release signals that this cross-pollination was intentional: to make the subject matter feel at once intimate and widely resonant.
Conclusion
“WHO I WAS” is a compact but potent statement about reckoning: with death, with inherited behaviors, and with the slow work of becoming someone less defined by shame and more by accountability. Positioned on FEAR as a spotlight moment, the song earns its weight by refusing easy catharsis and instead showing the messy, recurrent labor of change. As a piece of contemporary rap-pop songwriting, it succeeds by pairing direct, autobiographical lyricism with a collaborative chemistry that widens the emotional aperture—making confession feel less like exhibition and more like an invitation to do the work alongside the artist.
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FAQ Section
Who sung the song "WHO I WAS" by NF?
The song "WHO I WAS" was sung by NF & mgk.
Who wrote the song "WHO I WAS" by NF?
NF, mgk, Aaron Chafin & Jeff Sojka.
Who produced the song "WHO I WAS" by NF?
NF, Aaron Chafin & Jeff Sojka.
Music Video
Song Details
Album: FEAR
Genre: Pop, Rap
Language: English
Released: November 14, 2025
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