“I’ll Do Right By You This Time” is a redemption ballad steeped in vulnerability and quiet resolve. The speaker, looking back on a love they mishandled, isn’t asking for a reset—they’re offering renewal. With humility at its core, the lyric trades grand gestures for small, honest promises and emotional accountability.
It unfolds through:
Admitted shortcomings – the speaker names their past distance, their silence, their fear
A shift in voice – no more denial or deflection, just clear-eyed intention
A vow made without pressure – “not to win you back, but to honour what I broke”
Musically, it leans toward soul-RnB noir, slow and textured—designed to let the spaces between words carry as much weight as the lines themselves.

I’ll Do Right by You This Time # Neo Soul

I’ll Do Right by You This Time(1) #Neo Soul

Inspired by Rumi's "The Man Who Looked Back on His Way to Hell". You get "Shame's Grin"—a hip-hop spoken word journey that proves ancient wisdom doesn't need ancient language.
Rumi taught that shame blocks the gate to grace, and the Beloved invites us to ask for a veil—not to hide our crimes, but to let the past stay past. Eight hundred years later, that same shame is still grinning, still keeping receipts, still scrolling through our greatest hits. And the Beloved? Still making coffee, still waiting, still saying the same thing: grace doesn't do background checks. From my upcoming book "Breakfast with Rumi"

SHAME'S GRIN   (Lyrics)

Listen, shame's got this grin like my landlord when the rent's three weeks late
Standing at grace's gate like a bouncer checking IDs at some exclusive club
Where everyone's name is on the list except mine
Every morning, same routine
Coffee brewing, toast burning
Shame scrolling through my greatest hits (Greatest hits)
That Tuesday I ghosted Sarah after she trusted me
That time I stole twenty bucks from my mom's purse
I was twelve, she knew, she never said a word

Shame's got receipts, man
Shame's got screenshots
Shame's got a whole Google Drive folder labeled Evidence (Evidence, evidence)
The Beloved whispers, Yo, ask for the veil
Not like hide your crimes
More like stop making a religion out of your Wikipedia page of fuckups

But I'm busy replaying the footage
March 2019, parking lot, screaming match
August 2020, that text I should've sent
December 2021, my father's last call, unanswered
Because I was binge-watching some show I can't even remember
Shame knows I'm a repeat customer
Got my coffee order memorised
Knows I take my regret black, no sugar (Black, no sugar)
Knows I'll be back tomorrow, same time

The Beloved tries again
Look at me
Not at the blooper reel you've been directing
I don't see what you see when you doom-scroll your past
I see you still showing up, still trying (Still trying, still trying)


Ask for the veil, she says
Not to Instagram-filter your history
But to let yesterday stay in yesterday's timezone
Stop FaceTiming your ghosts
Your shame's just a story, beloved
A Netflix series you keep renewing
When there's a whole world outside waiting for you to press pause
(Press pause, press pause)


So I try this thing called a step
Shame's still there, grinning like always
I take another, shame's grin wobbles slightly
Third step, shame starts buffering (Buffering, buffering)
Not because I earned some cosmic gold star
Not because I paid off my karmic credit card
But because grace doesn't check your browser history
Grace doesn't read the comment section of your life

Fourth step, fifth step, now I'm speed-walking
Shame's yelling behind me like a jilted ex
But I'm done, I'm gone, I'm Audi 5000
Not because I forgot what I did
But because remembering isn't my full-time job anymore (Not anymore)
The gate's open, turns out it always was
The bouncer, just my reflection in the glass
The Beloved's laughing, that good laugh
Not at you, with you, the kind that heals (The kind that heals)

Grace doesn't do background checks
Grace doesn't require two forms of ID
Grace doesn't care about your Yelp reviews
Grace is just here, has always been here
Walk through that gate
The past is just deleted emails in the cloud
The future's a blank document
And right now, right now you're here

The Beloved's making coffee, the good kind, not the shame kind
And she's saying, Sit down, beloved
Tell me about tomorrow instead
Tell me about tomorrow instead (Tomorrow, tomorrow)

by Stephen Francis Hollins

Shame's Grin

Joseph Alla AKA "SOS Sound Of Starlings "is a visionary artist whose work bridges sonic innovation and emotional depth. Blending Dancehall, Afrobeat, and R&B with bilingual lyricism, his music explores the tension between silence and sound, public grace and private grit. With a keen eye for symbolism and a commitment to amplifying overlooked voices, Alla crafts immersive experiences that resonate across cultures. His latest project, Behind Closed Doors / Detrás de Puertas Cerradas, is a testament to his ability to turn vulnerability into power and storytelling into resistance.

Poet • Performer • Composer • Lyricist

New tracks tagged #R&amp;B Neo Soul

New tracks tagged #R&B Neo Soul