Ten Thousand Gone

The tech sector doesn't announce a wave — it just arrives. One quarter the hiring graphs are pointing up; the next, tens of thousands of roles are gone across major firms in a sweep that shows up in the labor data before most people have cleared their Monday inbox. "Ten Thousand Gone" starts right there: that specific, stomach-drop moment of reading between calendar blocks and realizing the meeting that was never sent is the one that matters most.

What this song wanted to do, from the first verse, was hold both things at once. The scale of the macro number — tens of thousands, coast to coast, a figure that lands in headlines and earnings calls — and the single human texture underneath it: a badge that still works, a manager who's gone quiet, a coffee shop that's suddenly a little louder than it used to be. The chorus leans into the number directly because the number is real, it's public record, and a pop hook that dances around it would feel dishonest. "Ten thousand gone in a single morning" is not hyperbole; it's the data, set to a four-on-the-floor kick.

The bridge slows everything down to ask the question the chorus can't quite hold: what does a figure in a spreadsheet actually feel like from the inside? "Every figure in the fire / Is somebody's best friend." That's not a policy take — it's just true. Then the final chorus comes back up a key, because the song ultimately believes what a lot of people who've lived through a layoff cycle eventually come to believe: the market shifts, the sector reshapes, and people find their way back in. The key change isn't triumphalism — it's the sound of a door opening.

[Verse 1] Monday morning, inbox light Badge still works but something's off tonight Your manager's gone quiet, HR's at the door Read between the calendar blocks — there's nothing more

[Pre-Chorus] We didn't see the memo coming Felt the ground begin to shift Watched the spreadsheets do their running Ten thousand names in a single rift

[Chorus] Ten thousand gone in a single morning Across the towers, coast to coast The headlines came without a warning Ten thousand gone — we felt it most But we're still standing in the open Still reading everything we wrote Ten thousand gone and we're not broken Ten thousand gone — we're still afloat

[Verse 2] Résumés flying through the cloud Coffee shops fill up a little loud Founders pivot, VCs hold The sector shakes but the story's not told in gold

[Pre-Chorus] We didn't see the memo coming Felt the ground begin to shift Watched the spreadsheets do their running Ten thousand names — more than a quarter's blip

[Chorus] Ten thousand gone in a single morning Across the towers, coast to coast The headlines came without a warning Ten thousand gone — we felt it most But we're still standing in the open Still reading everything we wrote Ten thousand gone and we're not broken Ten thousand gone — we're still afloat

[Bridge] Numbers on a wire Don't tell you what it's like to start again Every figure in the fire Is somebody's best friend

Dust off the drive The signal says the market shifts and bends But we survive We always find a way to come back in

[Final Chorus — key change] Ten thousand gone in a single morning Across the towers, coast to coast The headlines came without a warning Ten thousand gone — we felt it most But we're still standing in the open Still reading everything we wrote Ten thousand gone and we're not broken Ten thousand gone — and still we grow Ten thousand gone — but watch us go