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  1. Tracks
  2. Rod Wave
  3. Nostalgia
  4. 2018

TRACK

Rod Wave

2018

Release date: 15th September 2023

From Nostalgia
RapMusic
Hip-Hop/Rap
Spotify More on Rod Wave

About This Track

Rod Wave and Sadie Jean revisit a relationship that never quite happened, built on a sample of Jean's own earlier song. The track moves between her perspective in the verses and chorus, where she dwells on a promise made when she was seventeen, and his response in the final verse, where he traces the divergence between ambition and intimacy. She imagines what might have been if they'd stayed aligned; he catalogs the cost of choosing the dream. The song turns on a simple, aching question: what are you doing now? It's a question asked twice over, once by someone watching from the audience, once by someone who gave his heart away to his art instead. The production, credited to EELmatic, sits spare and reflective, letting the two voices occupy the same space without resolution. Neither gets the last word, and neither quite answers the other.

"2018" is a track by Rod Wave, from the album Nostalgia, released 15th September 2023. Full lyrics are available below.

About the Artist

Rod Wave

Rod Wave

Lyrics

2018

[Verse 1: Sadie Jean]

I saw you in the back of my show last night

Standing underneath the exit sign

I know it wasn't really you, though

'Cause you were always in the front row

And I've been looking for love online

And maybe some of them are real good guys

They're never gonna be like you, though

You set the bar above the moon, so

[Chorus: Sadie Jean]

I don't wanna be twenty-something

And still in my head about

Seventeen, in my bedroom talking

You said that by now

We'd paint the walls of our shared apartment

You're still everything I want, and

I think wе could work it out

So what are you doin' now?

[Verse 2: Sadie Jean]

Now that you finally got the job you like

I'm making monеy off the songs I write

I know you said that I could call you

I wonder if you wanna call too

Now that the future doesn't feel so far

It doesn't seem as wrong to want what's ours

And after everything that's happened

I wanna put it in the past tense

[Chorus: Sadie Jean]

'Cause I don't wanna be twenty-something

And still in my head about

Seventeen, in my bedroom talking

You said that by now

We'd paint the walls of our shared apartment

You're still everything I want, and

I think we could work it out

So what are you doin' now?

[Verse 3: Rod Wave]

Look, uh

My tongue get twisted and I don't know what to say

Should've picked up the phone, but my pride got in the way

Only nineteen and we was in and out of state

By the time I turned twenty, I was opening up for Gates

And before the money, we had everything

Should've took you out the country, but was scared of planes

All the niggas I came in the game with

Either faded or they still on the same shit

But Noonie, he lane switched

To arena tours, marble floors

Gave my life to my dream but my heart was yours

Youngin made it out the trenches, really went the distance

Something they can't ignore

Rappers pretend to be friends, but they really wanna pass me

"Wave, let's do a song," that's the first thing they ask me

Jumbotron jumpin' like I came off Degrassi

Twenty-million-dollar mansion like an athlete

But my house ain't a home 'cause I'm in it alone

Couldn't right my wrongs, so I was writin' songs

Such a successful life, but my heart is gone

Waitin' for you to call my phone

'Cause I don't—

[Chorus: Sadie Jean]

I don't wanna be twenty-something

And still in my head about

Seventeen in my bedroom talking

You said that by now

We'd paint the walls of our shared apartment

You're still everything I want, and

I think we could work it out

So what are you doin' now?

Lyrics provided by LRCLIB

View full lyrics page →

Track details

From Nostalgia

2023
Listen
Album
Nostalgia
Nostalgia
Rod Wave
Release year
2023
  1. —Long Journey
  2. —2018
  3. —Turks & Caicos
  4. —Boyz Don't Cry
  5. —Great Gatsby
  6. —HG4
  7. —Keep It G
  8. —Love Story/Interlude
  9. —Love For A Thug
  10. —Crazy
  11. —Back Lit
  12. —Rap Beef
  13. —Pass You By

More from Rod Wave

Albums & EPs

Don't Look Down
Don't Look Down
2026
Last Lap
Last Lap
2024
Nostalgia
Nostalgia
2023
Beautiful Mind
Beautiful Mind
2022
Ghetto Gospel
Ghetto Gospel
2019
Paint The Sky Red
Paint The Sky Red

Explore

More tracks by Rod Wave

  1. Feed the Streets
  2. HustleDon't Look Down
    2:28
  3. Leavin
  4. Piece Of Your LoveDon't Look Down
    6:25
  5. Sinners
  6. Voicemail
  7. Westside Connection
  8. 2017 (2 Days Into College)Don’t Look Down
  9. Beauty & The BeastDon’t Look Down
  10. Best Friends (Radio) (OG)

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Credits

Production & Engineering

Writer
David Alexander, EELmatic, Grace Enger, Rod Wave, Sadie Jean
Lyricist
Rod Wave
Producer
EELmatic
Vocals
Rod Wave
Recording Engineer
Raymond Argueta
READ MORE ABOUT ROD WAVEREAD MORE ABOUT ROD WAVE
READ MORE ABOUT ROD WAVEREAD MORE ABOUT ROD WAVE

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