Lizzy McAlpine just released the title track for her third album dropping on April 5th. Named “Older”, I just know this album will absolutely obliterate me in the same way the single did. Do yourself a favor, give the title track a listen and then come back. And hopefully once you are finished reading, I will have convinced you to become an avid listener of hers.
My dad always tells me there are two types of favorite musicians you can have. There are the artists who could never fall off the throne of “your favorite” – For me, that’s Taylor Swift. Then there is that one songwriter that creates music you could have sworn came directly from your head: The artist that probably has the same voice type as you, the one you keep coming back to, the person who could sing anything, and you would listen because it’s them. For my dad, that’s Eddie Vedder. For me, that’s Lizzy.
A little over a year ago, a friend of mine told me about a song called “To the Mountains” by Lizzy McAlpine. She said it seemed right down my alley. So, being the amazing friend that I am, I gave it a listen. From the moment I heard the acoustic guitar track, I was hooked. I have always told people I loved poetic, yet “simple” songs, but I could never put my finger on what that meant. Now I know. I love music that you cannot judge from the first listen. It’s like people: The ones you love become more and more enthralling yet comforting each time you are with them.
After hearing “To the Mountains”, I went to my room, turned off the lights, plugged in my old Christmas string lights, put on my headphones, and hit play on the song’s residing album: Give me a Minute. Listening to this album felt like writing a valentine and wondering what the person you like feels about you. It felt like falling in love, moving into your first apartment, learning how to bake, and calling your parents to tell them all about your noisy neighbors. I heard this album at the absolute, most perfect time in my life. I think that’s why I love it so much.
Every time I took the bus back to my hometown from college last year, all I did was listen to Give me a Minute on a loop. I never got sick of it. I still never have.
Not until 3 months later, did I even realize Lizzy McAlpine had an EP preceding Give Me a Minute and a second album called Five Seconds Flat. I honestly do not know how this was news to me, but it was. In the same way Give me a Minute came to me at the right time, Five Seconds Flat did. This album is darker. It felt like masking in a room full of people during the day, but somehow being okay going for slurpees with your friends late at night. When I started obsessing over this album, I was turning 19. I was studying for finals. I was missing my family. I was probably angry about something. I’m an aries. It was perfect.
When The World Stopped Moving: The Live EP is something completely different. It pulled me back into loving sweetly simple songs. Lizzy’s lyrics shine so much in this collection of music. Listening to it felt like trying to fall asleep on Christmas Eve, laughing at your delusional pining for somebody, and the dreadful sense of growing older in a world that treasures youth.
One song in this EP, called “Angelina”, is my favorite. For one, it has a trumpet solo, so it makes my band-kid-heart happy. I’m also just such a sucker for songs titled a person’s name: “Amelie” by Gracie Abrams, “Marjorie” by Taylor Swift, “Josephine” by Brandi Carlile, “Magnolia” by Laufey, and “Francesca” by Hozier. When I see a “name title” on an album’s tracklist, I already know it’s something special prior to listening. It’s easy to fully dissolve into a song’s narrative when the lyrics feel like a letter addressed to a real-life human.
Now delving into Lizzy’s newly released single for Older, this first taste of the album makes me excited for more piano-centric tracks. Growing up, my mom spoon-fed me the music of Vienna Teng, so I am just built to fall in love with a piano instrumental. In fact, when my sisters and I were little and put into piano lessons, I pasted photo cut-outs of Teng in my binder’s sleeve to be inspired to attend every lesson. I wanted to be just like her.
The lyrics in “Older” make me want to sit on my bed with a pillow on my chest, let go of everything around me, stare at the ceiling, and actually start sobbing. But like, in a good way? It feels like watching your life so far on a film reel in an old-timey theater, and the assurance of not being alone in your loneliness. Using some of the lyrics, “Older” makes me feel “stuck in a loop” on a “carousel ride,” wishing I was stronger and thinking I would “come to my senses.” “Over and over.” Over and over.
At 19 years old, I am, more than ever, beginning to understand the need for art. In music like “Older,” there exists so much beautiful desperation that speaks directly to the softest pieces of my mind. Lizzy McAlpine’s lyrics remind me of the best and worst feelings I have so far felt in life. They leave me vulnerable to all emotions. And so, when I found out there was a full album to be released on April 5th, I was (and still am) SO excited! I cannot wait to hear what Lizzy has to say now that she’s Older.
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loved this!!!