[Verse 1]
Today, today is the day
I'm waking up to say I'm tired of the way
The way that I change
I rearrange myself to be someone that everybody loves
So I become someone I'm not
[Chorus]
Who am I gonna be when nobody's watching me?
I want to be real
What am I gonna do to live what I know is true?
I let go
And ohhh, I've been someone else
God, I'm ready to be myself
(Whoa, whoa)
[Verse 2]
Now, now is the time
To open up my eyes and see what I will find
I find I made up my mind
To be someone that everybody loved
So I became someone I'm not
[Chorus]
Who am I gonna be when nobody's watching me?
I want to be real
What am I gonna do to live what I know is true?
I let go
And ohhh, I've been someone else
I'm ready to be myself
[Bridge]
I wanna be something more
Than a man who needs to be adored
It shouldn't matter to me
And with every breath that I have left
I'm gonna breathe it out, hoping that He says, "You've done well"
[Bridge]
Who am I gonna be?
What am I gonna do?
Whoa, yeah
So who am I gonna be?
Who am I gonna be?
[Chorus]
Whoa, who am I gonna be when nobody's watching me?
I want to be real
What am I gonna do to live what I know is true?
I let go
Ohhh, I've been someone
Ohhh, I've been someone
Ohhh, I've been someone else
God, I'm ready to be myself
(Whoa, whoa)
God, I'm ready to be myself
Ready To Be Myself
Song Meaning
David Dunn frames "Ready To Be Myself" around a specific act of self-betrayal repeated in two verses — "I rearrange myself to be someone that everybody loves, so I become someone I'm not" and later "I made up my mind to be someone that everybody loved, so I became someone I'm not" — the near-identical wording underlining how the same mistake keeps happening in different seasons of life.
"Who am I gonna be when nobody's watching me?" turns identity into a question that only matters once approval is removed from the room, and "I want to be real" answers it with a plain, unadorned goal rather than a polished aspiration. "I've been someone else" names the cost of performing directly, without softening it into vaguer language.
"I wanna be something more than a man who needs to be adored" reframes ambition itself, aiming past applause toward something else entirely, and the closing plea — "hoping that He says, 'You've done well'" — relocates the whole search for approval from a crowd to a single verdict that actually matters.