Anchors & Wings

This track comes from Aaron's military service — Air Force enlisted, Army Infantry officer, DoD civilian at SPAWAR/NIWC. It tackles The title track exploring the core tension - needing roots and needing flight, and how Aaron lives in both. The lyrics get specific — "Mortgage payment, Monday meetings, meal prep Sunday" — because personal tracks on Majik's are personal for real, not performatively. The R&B production matches the energy of the confession. It hits soulful and searching, in that order. Every personal track in the catalogue comes from a real moment, a real feeling, a real person. This one is no exception.

[verse 1] I got an anchor tattooed on my decisions Navy-grade, won't let me drift from the mission Mortgage payment, Monday meetings, meal prep Sunday The gravity of grown-up life that won't let me run away But I got wings stitched into my DNA That itch every time I see a runway Or a startup pitch, or a one-way ticket south Or a problem no one's solved yet running out of my mouth Like I could fix it if they'd let me fly But the anchor says remember why you landed The last time you flew too high [chorus] Anchors and wings, that's the life I lead Half of me planted, half of me freed Anchors and wings, pulling me apart But somehow the tension makes the art I need the weight to appreciate the flight I need the flight to survive the night Anchors and wings [verse 2] Folly Beach is the anchor, salt-crusted and steady The porch light that's always on when I come home heavy From another launch, another build, another city visited The anchor says stay, the anchor says sit with it But Magic Unicorn Technology is the wingspan The part of me that says a sailor can be a business man Can be a musician, can be a CTO Can be whatever the next tailwind wants to blow Me toward, and that's the tension every morning Do I build the nest or chase the thermal forming Above the clouds where the air is thin and free Anchors say no, wings say follow me [chorus] Anchors and wings, that's the life I lead Half of me planted, half of me freed Anchors and wings, pulling me apart But somehow the tension makes the art I need the weight to appreciate the flight I need the flight to survive the night Anchors and wings [bridge] The Navy gave me both, think about it Anchors are Navy, we know that's solid But wings, Naval aviation, reaching for the sky They trained me to be grounded and to fly At the same time, in the same breath Stable enough to not fear death Free enough to face it head on Anchors and wings since the day I put the uniform on [verse 3] So I stopped trying to choose between the two The anchor is my home, the wings are what I do I build from Folly Beach but I reach the whole world Rooted in the sand while the vision gets unfurled Across the sky like a banner from a biplane OG Unicorn was always both, I'll explain The unicorn has hooves planted on the ground But the horn points up, always reaching for the crown Anchors and wings, that's the brand, that's the man Holding both at once because I can Because the Navy taught me, Charleston showed me You don't have to pick, you just have to be [chorus] Anchors and wings, that's the life I lead Half of me planted, half of me freed Anchors and wings, holding me together The tension is the art, the storm and the weather I need the weight to appreciate the flight I need the flight to make the anchor right Anchors and wings [outro] Anchored in home Winged in ambition Both at once That's the mission