This is just one of dozens of unique reimaginings of “Match My Pace.” Each version takes the original studio release and reshapes it into a new flavor — drawing from global traditions, theatrical twists, ambient moods, or bold experimental edges. Together, they form a palette of sounds where no two are the same. Go through them all, discover the ones that speak to you most, and let the flavors that lift you give you the boost you need.

[LYRICS]

On my mark now… 
Get set, let’s go…

Stay on the beat, and match my pace
Match my pace
Don’t slow down, we’re in the race
In the race
Step in close, I feel the fire
Feel the fire
Take it higher, Take it higher
Take it higher

Line in the room, the rhythm’s alive
Pull in the air, it keeps us in drive
Weight on my back just fades away
Your look sparks heat, I can’t delay
Mmm… baby…

Count it down, I’m on your line
Pull me faster, we cross in time
Turn me in your embrace

Stay on the beat, and match my pace
Match my pace
Don’t slow down, we’re in the race
In the race
Step in close, I feel the fire
Feel the fire
Take it higher, Take it higher
Take it higher

Hands to the side, the night runs deep
Your touch is a spark I want to keep
Every move pulls me straight to you
The floor lights up with every cue
Oh no no no…

On my mark now… get set, let’s go…

Door at the side, you lead me through
I step inside, the world feels new
Closer still… the night we face

Stay on the beat, and match my pace
Match my pace
Don’t slow down, we’re in the race
In the race
Step in close, I feel the fire
Feel the fire
Take it higher, Take it higher
Take it higher

Said I was cool, but watch me sway…
Green lights hit, I’m on my way…
You lean, I turn, we run, we stay…
Yeah…

I said I’m cool… but not today…

I said I’m cool… get set, let’s play…

On my mark now…
Get set, let’s go…

Match My Pace (Persuasively Spiced) Indie Dance Pop • Contemporary • Retro

Match My Pace (Bollywood Spiced) Indie Dance Pop • Contemporary • Retro

Match My Pace (Balkan Spiced) Indie Dance Pop • Contemporary • Retro

This version of Hello Fire Goodbye Pain was reshaped for Lines That Cut Both Ways. Where the original leaned into stadium chants and power, this version pulls everything close: acoustic textures, emotional vocals, and quiet strength. It belongs here as a moment of release within the album’s story — a spark that survives the ashes, a reminder that even in heartbreak there is resilience. This is the intimate cut, the whispered truth, and the song that trades fire’s roar for its quiet glow.

[LYRICS]

Turn it down, the night is near,
Hello fire, I feel you here.
Nothing left I need to hide,
I’m all set now, I’ve survived.

Hello fire, goodbye pain,
A quiet spark that still remains.
Hello fire, soft and true,
A light to guide me back to you.

Ashes fade but leave their mark,
Lessons written in the dark.
Every scar becomes a sign,
Of what was lost and what is mine.

Hello fire, goodbye pain,
A quiet spark that still remains.
Hello fire, soft and true,
A light to guide me back to you.

Whisper low, don’t turn away,
Carry me through the break of day.
Even shadows learn to bend,
Every wound can find its end.

Hello fire, goodbye pain,
A quiet spark that still remains.
Hello fire, burning slow,
The only truth I’ve come to know.

Hello Fire (Intimate Version) • Singer-Songwriter • Adult Contemporary • Neo-Folk

A heartfelt tribute to Polish legend Stanisław Sojka, who left us in August 2025. This English reimagination of Tolerancja preserves the reflective spirit of his 2016 performances, arranged with piano, acoustic guitar, warm electric bass, brushed drums, light ride cymbal touches, subtle tambourine shimmer, and violin swells. The result is a folk-rock ballad with jazz-inflected harmonies and a tender, soulful atmosphere — honoring a timeless voice of empathy and humanity.

For those who speak Polish and know the original, I ask for grace in the poetic liberties I’ve taken with the English lyrics. Every effort has been made to remain faithful to Sojka’s message, even as the words have been reshaped to sing naturally in another tongue.

[LYRICS]

Why don’t we speak of wounds that ache, in plain?
To build up walls around the heart’s in vain.
A gentle word, a hand upon my skin,
At times that’s all I crave, all I seek within

For mercy’s sake,
Life’s not a thing to only take.
Life’s not to drift in endless wait,
To truly live, your soul must dedicate.

Your cares and mine, our fights, the world’s affairs,
As hairs upon the head are numbered, so our days
Let the faultless be the first to cast the stone,
For far from Paradise is where they stand alone.

For mercy’s sake,
Life’s not a thing to only take.
Life’s not to drift in endless wait,
To truly live, your soul must dedicate.

Tolerancja • English Tribute Reimagined (In Memory of Stanisław Sojka) • Tolerance

This track begins with a raw a cappella delivery before opening into a full instrumental arrangement — a “hybrid a cappella” reimagination of Stanisław Sojka’s timeless Tolerancja. Performed in English, it carries forward his message of empathy and humanity with a new voice while honoring the heart of the original. Piano, acoustic guitar, warm bass, brushed drums, light ride cymbal, tambourine shimmer, and violin swells join the vocal to build depth and warmth.

For Polish listeners, I ask grace for the poetic liberties in translation. Every effort was made to stay faithful to Sojka’s intent, even as the words were reshaped to flow in English.

[LYRICS]

Why don’t we speak of wounds that ache, in plain?
To build up walls around the heart’s in vain.
A gentle word, a hand upon my skin,
At times that’s all I crave, all I seek within

For mercy’s sake,
Life’s not a thing to only take.
Life’s not to drift in endless wait,
To truly live, your soul must dedicate.

Your cares and mine, our fights, the world’s affairs,
As hairs upon the head are numbered, so our days
Let the faultless be the first to cast the stone,
For far from Paradise is where they stand alone.

For mercy’s sake,
Life’s not a thing to only take.
Life’s not to drift in endless wait,
To truly live, your soul must dedicate.

Tolerance • Hybrid A Cappella (English Tribute to Tolerancja)

“Sugar & Steam” leans into a classic bossa nova backbone with contemporary vocal intimacy and jazz-flavored harmony. The pace is unhurried and downtempo, the palette is nylon guitar, upright bass, brushed kit, and a gentle shaker, with the lyric tracing a playful café ritual that turns into a quiet yes. Think modern lounge warmth with a songwriter’s focus on clear storytelling.

If you like intimate bossa and soft-jazz textures with a simple, romantic arc, this is made for late mornings and late nights alike.

[LYRICS]

I push the door the morning spins,
There you stand behind the tins.
Eyes like amber, soft and free,
I lose my words, you’re all I see.

You lean and ask “the same as ever?”
That gentle voice too smooth, too clever.
I nod too quick, my breath held tight,
What I mean is you, if that’s alright.

You sketch a heart as if in play,
Then you write my name, real thick.
It makes me blink, in a quiet way,
I try to speak but words won’t stick.

You turn to brew my morning fix,
The steam rolls high in swirl and mix.
But what I crave is only you,
You’re all I need, not just the brew.

You ask how sweet, surprise me
The crowd drifts off, the counter’s free.
You lift and smile, a gentle gleam,
Then brush my wrist and pass the steam.

Warm and bright the steam still rising,
Behind the counter you keep smiling.

And when you touch me,
I breathe and start to smile too…

I just had to smile too…
Oh, I had to smile too…
Yes — I smiled with you too…

Sugar & Steam - A Bossa Nova Romance at Café Bossa • Jazz • Contemporary

The River Between Laughter and Sorrow is an experimental hybrid work for voices and chamber ensemble, staged in two contrasting acts. It weaves together elements of folk balladry, comic opera, lyrical chanson, and reflective classical writing.

Rather than presenting itself as a “traditional opera,” this piece explores lyrical manipulation and thematic transitions — the way words, tone, and setting shift meaning as they move from lightheartedness to despair, from public chaos to private reflection. The comic patter of a pub-side encounter collides with the weight of lament, and the result is less about adherence to form than about the experience of transition itself.

Listeners may recognize familiar genres — folk, chamber classical, operatic aria, even pub song — but the work deliberately resists categorization. It is a study in transformation, asking how laughter dissolves into sorrow, and how musical language can both mirror and blur that journey.

7. Between Laughter & Sorrow – Act II Scene 1 – Aria - No Man’s Heart Aches Forever

A concert aria written in the operatic tradition, expanding on the lyrical theme of “No Man’s Heart Aches Forever.” This work stands apart from its earlier folk-ballad incarnation, reimagined here as an epic lament and vow of endurance. The piece explores anguish and determination through shifting tonal landscapes, lyrical manipulation, and thematic transition. Neither purely opera nor folk, it belongs to an experimental cycle that bridges chamber music, aria form, and modern expressive narrative.

No Man’s Heart Aches Forever – Aria da Concerto

A baritone aria da concerto that transforms the Teddington folk ballad into a tragic operatic epic. Blending chamber orchestra, dark lyricism, and folk-rooted imagery, the piece unfolds from hushed recitativo into storm-driven cabaletta, before closing in a hushed moral coda. Pride, love, betrayal, and fate collide in a performance that bridges folk tradition with operatic power.

The Cards Were Laid in Teddington — Aria da Concerto (Baritone • Operatic • Tragic • Folk-rooted)

Eternal Truth – Aria da Concerto is a storm-forged operatic lament for baritone soloist and male chorus. Blending classical form with epic, modern intensity, it unfolds as a journey from silence into struggle, from fracture into revelation.

The aria begins with a solemn recitativo secco, invoking stillness before flame, silence before speech. The arioso rises with reflection, bearing witness to light even as time and truth are fractured. The choral invocation swells with collective strength, guiding the soul through silence toward resilience.

A darker chorus of voices and shadows follows — whispers, foam, wind, and fleeting words that cannot bind what endures. The cabaletta bursts in thunder and steel, a defiant surge where each wound refines, each stumble teaches, and no storm can sunder the vowed path.

At the aria’s heart lies the climactic expansion, a maxim delivered with operatic force:
“No blade,” is said, “cuts quite as deep,
As failure nursed to make us weep.
Let’s wear our pride like battle steel;
And embrace the truth that loss reveals.”

From rubble and sorrow blooms renewal — silence becomes guide, and tears give life to the soul’s flower. The return and transformation recall the opening lines but with greater power, reshaped by struggle.

The coda closes in sweeping inevitability:
So it was, and so it is,
Time will break, and time will mend.
At stillness’ edge, a hope unending extends,
And sorrow’s chain at last will end.

Forged in silence and storm, Eternal Truth stands as both lament and triumph: a testament that truth endures, unbroken by the passing of time or the weight of sorrow.

[LYRICS]

Rise, O soul, into the stillness,
Before the word, before the flame;
Here the sands hold their witness
Here the stars keep no count or name.

Time was whole before the fight,
Light was vast before the night;
Rise, O witness, and lift your sight,
Bear the truth to wake the light.
From the rubble, forge a tower,
So tears may nurse the soul’s flower.

There is motion deep within stillness;
It carries us onward, steady and true;
And opens the soul to living wholeness;
A timeless voice, guiding all we do.
From the rubble, forge a tower,
So tears may nurse the soul’s flower.

Words may follow as we’re walking,
Whispers follow, softly talking;
They break like foam upon the shore;
They fade like wind, they are no more.
What is said before us or behind us
Cannot bind us, or confine us;
The stone may strike, its fragments fly;
Yet truth endures; it cannot die.

Come, let us tumble; let us fall;
We accept it, one and all!
For in the breaking, there’s the sign,
The strength to rise is yours and mine.
Each stumble teaches, each wound refines,
It makes us stand with straighter spine.
No thief of fate, no storm shall sunder
Our vowed path, nor steal our thunder.

“No blade,” is said, “cuts quite as deep,
As failure nursed to make us weep.
Let’s wear our pride like battle steel;
And embrace the truth that loss reveals.”
Now the silence is our true guide,
And sorrow’s seed will turn the tide;
From the rubble, forge a tower,
So tears may nurse the soul’s flower.

Time was whole before the fight,
Light was vast before the night,
Now in the silence we will find our might,
From the rubble, forge a tower,
So tears may nurse the soul’s flower.

So it was, and so it is,
Time will break, and time will mend.
At stillness’ edge, a hope unending extends,
And sorrow’s chain at last will end.

Eternal Truth – Aria da Concerto (Operatic Lament • For Baritone • Forged in Silence and Storm)

I’ve always lived at the crossroads of music and poetry — where feeling becomes form, and melody turns memory into meaning. Whether it’s a lingering jazz note, a well-placed rhyme, or a shift in tempo that tells a deeper story, I’m drawn to that quiet magic where art reflects life with a little more style.

My roots are in classic music — the kind that doesn’t chase the moment but lingers with you long after the last note. Over time, that love expanded into poetry writing and jazz — especially the kind that swings, speaks, and smirks all at once. Jazz, to me, isn’t just a genre; it’s a personality. A conversation. A little tilt of the head and a grin that knows more than it says.

When I set out to create an album, it’s rarely just a collection of songs. I approach it like a personal playlist — one that drifts and flows as if the entire tracklist were one long, uninterrupted piece. Each track leans into the next, shifting mood, pace, or voice, but always carrying the same thread of feeling. I want you to listen the way I do — not as a shuffle of moments, but as a cinematic arc. One breath that lasts an hour.

Lyrically, my work is rooted in lived experience. Sometimes it’s obvious. Other times it’s just the skeleton of a memory, dressed up in wit, irony, or longing. I draw from real-life events, then let the poet in me twist, stretch, or sweeten them to taste. Depending on the tone of the album — playful, romantic, nostalgic, or something in between — I try to keep the emotional truth intact while giving it a fresh coat of creativity. A little humor where it fits. A deeper dive where it hurts.

My newest jazz album continues this tradition — short-lined swing tracks, conversational duets, and tongue-in-cheek storytelling. It’s an homage to late-night alleyway ballads, rooftop serenades, and train station goodbyes — all bound together with a sense of charm and cohesion. Each song is its own little scene, but together they tell a story — one you can revisit with each replay.

Thanks for stopping by my profile. I hope you find something that earns a spot on your repeat-play list — a melody, a lyric, or a moment that feels like it was written just for you.

7. Between Laughter & Sorrow – Act II Scene 1 – Aria - No Man’s Heart Aches Forever

Dikheel Aldikheel