Never Truly Vanish

"**Never Truly Vanish**" is a song performed on the occasion of Translucent's funeral with Starlight providing the vocals in the Season 2 premiere episode "The Big Ride".

## Lyrics

*We’re defended by our heroes,
From sea to shining sea,
Fighting for our freedom,
Looking out for you and me.
We think of all you gave us,
How you were there to save us, so we’d see
You risked your life so we could all live free.*

*But our heroes never die.
Your spirit fills the sky.
Your presence truly blessed us from the start.
You will never truly vanish from our hearts.
No, you’ll never truly vanish from our hearts.*

*We’re defended by our heroes.
You stood among the best,
Protecting us from evil,
You rose above the rest.
And though we could see through you,
It seems we hardly knew you, we confess.
Thanks to all you’ve done, we’ve all been blessed.*

*But our heroes never die.
Your spirit fills the sky.
Your presence truly blessed us from the start.
And you’ll never truly vanish from our hearts.*

*And though my soul is aching,
Deep inside my heart is breaking.
Nothing is the same since you’ve been gone.
No, I don’t think I can take it.
I don’t know how I'll make it.
When I’m beaten up and think I can’t go on,
But then I think of all you gave us,
And I realized that you saved us.
The power of your memory will grow strong.*

*Cause our heroes never die.
Your spirit fills the sky.
You presence truly blessed us from the start.
You’ll never truly vanish from our hearts.
You’ll never truly vanish from our hearts.*

## Videos

Starlight - Never Truly Vanish (Official Music Video) - Prime Video
## Behind the Scenes

* Erin Moriarty, who plays Starlight, provided the vocals for this song. She later performed an in-universe music video for the song.
* The song was written by series composer Christopher Lennertz, with lyrics by Lennertz and *The Boys* writer and co-executive producer Michael Saltzman. Eric Kripke directed Lennertz to write "an Adele-meets-Celine-Dion-meets-Whitney showstopper, over-the-top power ballad." The song took about six months to write.
* The music video Never Truly Vanish is on YouTube.
* The song was nominated for an Outstanding Music and Lyrics Emmy but lost to *WandaVision*'s "Agatha All Along".

## Trivia

* While the song is appropriately solemn for the event, there are a number of double-meanings in the lyrics, such as "never truly vanish," a reference to Translucent's interview with Jimmy Fallon. When Fallon asks how Translucent is "able to vanish," he explains that "I don't actually vanish."
	+ Another double-meaning is found in the lyric "though we could see through you," referring to Translucent's ability to turn invisible. Though Translucent is not truly "seen through," since his carbon metamaterial skin warps the flow of light around him, rather than through him.
	+ The song also describes Translucent as more heroic than he was. Translucent did not die protecting anyone except himself and nothing presented in his history depicts him as having risked his life in defense of anyone, though during the Fallon interview, it is revealed that he had stopped a home invasion the night before. Translucent's most outstanding features were his sexual depravity and exhibitionism and his preoccupation with his finances rather than his heroism.

## References

1. ↑ Singh, Olivia (21 August 2021). "A deep dive into Starlight's unabashedly over-the-top, Emmy-nominated power anthem 'Never Truly Vanish' from 'The Boys'". *Insider*