Smith created this song with cowriter and producer Ezrah Roberts-Grey after attending a social-justice demonstration. "The inspiration behind 'By Any Means' really came from going to the Black Lives Matter protest and leaving thinking, 'What can I do to keep this conversation going?'" she said in a statement. "It's not just a post on social media, it's life." The track will be a part of Roc Nation's upcoming protest-song compilation project titled Reprise, which will benefit The Gathering for Justice, the NACDL Foundation for Criminal Justice, the Equal Justice Initiative, and the Legal Aid Society's Cop Accountability Project.
- "Too much time tryna figure out why / Too much time to be patient
All this time you be feeding us lies / Ain't no truth in your statements / Too much pain in these little white lies / You left here / All this time tryna figure out how / We still here / I take pride in the things that we've done / Side by side in the revolution / Won't stay silent for things that I love."
- "I've spent too many days in my head now / Did you think we would forget, how? / Too many destinies, too many sentences / Read now, read now / See all this pain in the headlines / But I have cried for the last time / But know what happens, see / You would be blind if it was just an eye for an eye."