DETROIT — Terrion Arnold finally made it.
But not everything went exactly as he had planned Thursday night.
He was supposed to walk out onto the NFL Draft stage to his new song he released on Thursday, titled “Finally Made it.” But unfortunately, he didn’t have the proper copyright licenses in place in time, he said during his post-draft press conference at the media center inside One Campus Martius.
He did, however, go a little “off-script” when he took the mic from NFL Network’s Kaylee Hartung to address Lions fans directly as they chanted his name. “I’m home,” he said, telling Detroit it just landed “a star.”
As the clock hit 1 a.m. Friday after what was a whirlwind night in Detroit, Arnold took the podium, oozing charisma in his custom made pink suit, complete with family photos and the acronym LANK — “Let a naysayer know” — on the inside as he discussed his time at Alabama and what he'll bring to the Lions.
With many reporters interested in hearing what he had to say about his path to the NFL, questions were being blurted out on top of each other. Just as he was about to answer a question about his suit from someone near the front, he had to hit pause, pointing to someone in the back.
Perking up with a big smile on his face, he asked, “oh, hold on. What’d you say about my song?”
He was asked by a reporter about “Finally Made It,” and what it meant to him, having grown up in Tallahassee, and now making it to Detroit.
“It means everything. The interview that I had at the combine with my mom, that’s why I put it in the song. Just a testament to everything I’ve been through. The rest of the lyrics speak for themselves,” Arnold said.
“Yeah, I’m just gonna take this over now — how much time I got?” he joked as he shot a glance to his media team off to the side, before taking the chance to plug his music.
“Everybody stop what they’re doing right now… go look at my song on YouTube,” noting it will be available for streaming on Spotify and Apple Music on Monday.
The song, which is a tribute to his mother under the artist name of T.A., opens with an excerpt from his emotional interview with the NFL Network during the NFL Combine earlier this year.
“Mom, if you’re watching this right now, your son just wanted to say how proud he is of you. You had me at a young age and you overcame a lot of adversity. People were doubting you, people were counting you out. And honestly ma, like I always tell you, you raised a star,” he said in the interview.
He went on to tell the people of Tallahassee he’ll never forget where he came from.
“It’s a hard place to make it out of. And everybody watching this back at home, I hope you’re proud of me, because I gave it my all,” he said.
“Roger Goodell had tears fillin’ up my eyes / Walked in the green room, told my momma no more cryin’,” the song says before hitting the chorus.
It ends with a refrain of "we goin' to the top," something he vowed to do in Detroit as he told Hartung on stage "I’ma help them win a Super Bowl," which received an uproarious cheer from the mass of humanity packed into Cadillac Square and beyond.