I started a 10-minute timer, hit record, and made it a rule: if I don’t finish a full song before it hits zero, the whole project deletes itself. This is completely real time—no edits, no cuts—just me, my skills and creativity, and a ridiculous amount of stress. I kicked it off with acoustic guitar because it’s a safe bet, then I did what I always do when I’m cooking something up: humming random words with absolutely no idea where the song is going. Halfway through I had a vocals idea that needed layers, so I panic-recorded harmonies (including the classic “wait…I wasn’t even recording” moment). I leaned on the fact that autotune can save a couple bad notes, then built the groove by hearing drums in my head before I even played them. The first drum take was a mess, so I copied the good half over the bad half to save time—because with a time limit, it’s literally just muscle memory and decision-making. I locked in bass by following the guitar, ditched the idea of lyrics when I saw the clock, threw in a percussion loop in the last seconds, and barely saved the project before it could auto-delete.