the magic of: "Older" by Lizzy McAlpine (part II)

the second and final part of an ode to one of the most uniquely special songwriters of our time: a look at her best album so far

Today is April 5th, 2025. That means, as I mentioned in my previous post, that it is the one-year anniversary of Older - the third album by Lizzy McAlpine. Six months ago yesterday, the deluxe version, Older (and Wiser) was released, adding a couple of my all-time favorite Lizzy McAlpine songs and making the album one of my all-time favorites, only growing on me more and more with each re-listen. In the first part of this deep dive, I covered Lizzy’s pre-Older work; this one, on the other hand, is all about what I believe is by far her most complete, thoughtful and mature era so far.

CHAPTER 3.1: Older

On February 13th, 2024, the Older cycle kicked off with the title track. According to Lizzy, this was the song that started the process of three years of work coming together into what would actually end up being the album. Older, the song, is a gentle piano track, establishing the central themes of the record - what Lizzy has described as a four-year, on-and-off relationship; and, as the title would suggest, the passage of time. The first verse starts by setting the scene for the cyclic, damaging nature of the relationship:

Over and over, a carousel ride
Pay for your ticket, watch the red moon climb
Sick to my stomach, can't find the ground
Stuck in a loop, watch the curtain come down

- Lizzy McAlpine, Older

The second, in turn, references the ever-changing times, and how much she wishes she could go back to moments gone by, circling back to the relationship at the end:

Mom's gettin' older, I'm wanting it back
Where no one is dying, and no one is hurt
And I have been good to you instead of making it worse

- Lizzy McAlpine, Older

The chorus ties the verses together with a lament about the relationship once more, and Lizzy putting the blame on herself for the way things have turned out:

Thought it'd be over by now
Thought you would leave
Thought I would come to my senses
Wish I was stronger somehow
Wish it was easy
Somewhere I lost all my senses
I wish I knew what the end is

- Lizzy McAlpine, Older

This track serves as a perfect bit of context for the album that would follow soon after; it reminds listeners that Lizzy is a delicate, poetic songwriter, who’s great at tender, touching imagery and simple and grounded, but cutting storytelling.

The second and final single for the album released exactly a month later, on March 13th - a date which is very meaningful in Lizzy McAlpine’s life, if you remember from part 1. It was called I Guess, and I believe it’s one of the best tracks on the album. It carefully narrates the story of two people, spending time together and then going home after their night out.

One of my favorite things about this song lyrically is the way the chorus changes ever so slightly the second time around, highlighting different sides of a desire for love, for closeness, for that warmth in your chest that nothing else will ever be able to replicate; on the first chorus, it’s more a matter of the particular circumstances at play; on the second, a more general statement, almost bordering on desperation:

I guess it's all about timing
I guess it's all about the things you want but never get
I guess it's all about trying
To love someone you've never met
<…>
I guess it's all about timing
I guess it's all about the things you have but didn't want
I guess it's all about dying
To love someone…

- Lizzy McAlpine, I Guess

My absolute favorite lyrics on the song, though, are the opening lines of the second verse:

We eat our dinner, then we undress
And now we're equal, more or less

- Lizzy McAlpine, I Guess

The simplicity of the image, the mundane way in which the intimate moments are described, and the twinge of uncertainty added by the “more or less” at the end of the second line - it’s a beautiful sentiment.

Another simple, yet really touching sentiment comes in the bridge:

Wish it was easy, I wish I knew
What I was doing, but I never do

- Lizzy McAlpine, I Guess

Right after these lines comes what I believe is the best part of the song - the outro, which is a gorgeous musical passage, with hundreds of voices layered on top of it - the crowd from a show in Toronto where Lizzy played the song and taught them the melody to sing for this part. Aside from being absolutely gorgeous musically, with light, airy production giving it a really big and significant feel, this outro feels really warm and inviting; the crowd’s vocals add a real sense of community and somehow make the song more relatable.

A few weeks later, the album came out.

To me, the album couldn’t have been more suitably represented than it is by its cover. It feels so open, honest and vulnerable, just like Lizzy does on the cover. The green forest in the background and the water provide lovely texture, too; and a lot of the instrumentation on the album also feels like being gently enveloped by a peaceful lake in the middle of a forest.

The album opener, The Elevator, is a brief intro - coming in at about a minute and forty seconds. In its single verse and chorus, it presents the album’s central relationship, coming into its cycle at a positive point:

It wasn't slow, it happened fast
And suddenly the only thing I saw was you
I didn't know the half of it
And suddenly I had everything to lose

Can we stay like this forever?
Can we be here in this room 'til we die?
I think we can make it
I hope that I'm right

- Lizzy McAlpine, The Elevator

Despite its short length, this track is very impactful, because of the fragile, soft piano, and Lizzy’s typically earnest delivery. It also uses the same structural technique as I Guess in that it leaves its final segment for an instrumental outro; this one doesn’t have any vocals in it whatsoever, though, just building tension, like a ball forming in your stomach as you begin to think deeper and deeper about the situation you find yourself in.

The title of the track is also a straightforward, but clever metaphor, setting up the album’s premise: like an elevator, the relationship which is central to the content of the record is in a constant process of going up and down.

Speaking of down, the second track, Come Down Soon, is a major highlight of the album, with its charming soft-rock style and compelling storytelling. I love how the drums sound on this track in particular, with a clean, resonant sound which wraps around you effortlessly, carrying the track forward and giving it a much more dynamic feel than it would have otherwise. The bass line also helps with this considerably.

Lyrically, it’s a song which speaks about Lizzy’s reluctance to allow herself to believe that a love she has isn’t too good to be true, because of negative experiences from her past.

Oh, it'll come down soon
Nothing this good ever lasts this long for me
Oh, it'll come down soon, you'll see
Oh, it'll come down soon
Nothing this good's ever really good for me
Oh, it'll come down soon, you'll see

- Lizzy McAlpine, Come Down Soon

It feels so vulnerable and so compelling, because I’m sure a lot of people have felt this way - “there’s no way this can last, right?” Lizzy also performs it in a way that makes you feel every little note of her past traumas, of her doubt, of her weak, but still just about present hope.

Also, this track has one of my favorite pieces of imagery in her entire discography, in the second verse:

Someone opens a window
Music spills onto the dirt
But we stand here in the freezing cold
And wonder who will kiss who first

- Lizzy McAlpine, Come Down Soon

The line “music spills onto the dirt” in particular strikes me each time I hear it. The graceful contrast of something as elevated and beautiful as music with something as mundane and unappealing as dirt gives the line so much more weight.

A track that stands out somewhat is All Falls Down - this song doesn’t mention a relationship, instead zooming out and reminding the listener of the other, overarching theme of the album - the passage of time. It also talks about the rapid, overwhelming nature of touring and life in the spotlight as a whole.

Twenty-three and a sold out show
I am happy, but I'll probably cry after you go home
Doing fine, like I always am
Am I that good of a liar that I believe myself again?

And it all falls down on you at the same time
Yeah, it all falls down on you at the same time

Twenty-two was a panic attack
I can't stop the time from moving and I can never get it back

- Lizzy McAlpine, All Falls Down

The line “am I that good of a liar that I believe myself again?” serves as what I believe is a great representation of her internal conflict on the record in general - blaming herself for a lot of the things in her life, being very aware of her own flaws and full of uncertainty in connection to them. This conflict shines through throughout the tracklist, always presented in an engaging, compelling way, with a unique charm and evident, meticulous, loving care.

The rest of the album, in a way, shows that Lizzy was right on Come Down Soon - things do, indeed, go downhill, and she falls into the constant cycle of co-dependence, burnout and emotional turmoil. I find it really impressive how Lizzy manages to represent this situation in so many different ways, through different imagery or focusing on different aspects, keeping the album engaging despite the fact a lot of the songs follow similar themes. For example, Movie Star presents it through the metaphor you can see in the title - saying she “feels like a movie star <…> famous to someone”, with it being a positive thing in the intro and something exhausting in the outro, with the lyrical changes playing another contrast. Meanwhile, Drunk, Running contrasts her partner’s inability to quit his addictions with her own inability to leave the relationship. That track also contains one of the best lines of the album:

Say, "I love you"
And then drink it backwards

- Lizzy McAlpine, Drunk, Running

“Drink it backwards” is such great phrasing here, representing how it’s almost as though he’s taking back his declarations of love when he returns back to his cycle of addiction.

Like It Tends To Do talks about two partners already separated, reflecting on how things change with time and what they would do if they met again; Staying, Broken Glass and You Forced Me To portray a more raw look at the relationship, with a somewhat darker perspective and more cutting imagery. Better Than This describes Lizzy’s doubts about whether or not the love she already has is the best thing she could have, and sees her reflecting on her hiding things from her partner:

What if I'm not a good person?
You always say that I am
But you don't really know me at all now
I have you right in the palm of my hand
'Cause I like to be seen and I like to be wanted
Always could count on you there
It's probably wrong that I never was honest
Honest to God, I was scared

- Lizzy McAlpine, Better Than This

Finally, the two other standout tracks on the album are at the very end. March is track 13, so I’m sure you can guess what it’s about if you’ve read the first part [a reminder that March is also the month in which her father passed away]. It takes the listener back to the imagery on the album cover - a lake; this is also the ‘water’ representation, following earth and air on the first two albums.

Threw a rock into the water
Watched it sink down to the bottom
<…>
I see it more now that he's gone
Or maybe I just see him in everything

And how could it take so long?
Thought I had it handled but it slipped through
I didn't know it'd be this hard
So far away, and then it hits you

- Lizzy McAlpine, March

And, of course, the album ends with its best track, the nearly six-minute Vortex. I already spoke about my love and admiration for this track in my list of my favorite songs of 2024, but it only continues to grow on me with each listen. I’ve spoken various times throughout this deep dive about how impactful and touching the unique, special tenderness and vulnerability that Lizzy McAlpine has both in her vocals and songwriting is; on this track, it’s at an even higher level than usual. The slow, gradually building piano sets the perfect backdrop, as the track summarizes, definitively, the damaging nature of the seemingly endless cycle of the relationship. Vortex has by far the best production on the entire album, particularly in the grand, sprawling, soaring two-minute instrumental outro, with the drums rolling in the background of the strings and keys, framed by gentle, wistful backing vocals. But it also has the best writing on Older, and arguably some of the best writing in her entire discography:

I know it's not my fault
But I can't say that I'm blameless
Carry the pain 'til it stops
Undress it until it's nameless
<…>
Someday I'll be kinder to myself
<…>
One second into the next
I never know where my feet are
We're spinning out of a vortex
I don't remember who we are
<…>
And I'm tired of this and the way that it feels
I'm not there anymore, this has never been real
We're just awful together and awful apart
I don't know what to do anymore

Someday I'll be able to let you go
Someday you'll come back, and I'll say no

- Lizzy McAlpine, Vortex

Finally, after the outro reaches its peak, it crashes down, like a wave finally hitting the shore and dissolving, leaving behind a soft, subtle piano to round out the record.

These 14 tracks, in my opinion, already make this one of the most soul-piercing, sincere, and musically gorgeous indie folk albums of the last decade or so at least. However, as it became clear soon after, the Older era still had more up its sleeve.

CHAPTER 3.2: Older (and Wiser)

On September 20th, Lizzy McAlpine released the single for her Older deluxe - Pushing It Down And Praying. This song was quite a shock to me when it came out, because of how much more direct it was in describing intimacy than she previously had been the few times the topic had come up in her music.

I'm in bed, layin' down, naked
He's inside of me
I love him, kiss his mouth, prayin'
He can't see what I see

- Lizzy McAlpine, Pushing It Down And Praying

However, I believe it managed to remain tasteful, even despite the straightforwardness; and that its lyrics served to amplify the impact of the subject matter, which is Lizzy trying to distract herself from a past relationship she still isn’t over.

When I close my eyes
You replace him
Wearin' no disguise
You erase him

I wanna feel guilty
I wanna feel that it's wrong
I wanna know peace again
Wanna sing a different song
I want you to need me
I need to want somethin' more
He gives what he can
But now I don't know what he's givin' for

- Lizzy McAlpine, Pushing It Down And Praying

The internal conflict rages on like never before; she realizes that it’s not fair to her new partner, recognizes that she’s just chasing selfish satisfaction with no regard for his feelings, and hopes he doesn’t notice. On the musical side, it’s a slow, measured track, with a gorgeous string section and beautiful vocal harmonies.

The song came accompanied with a stunning music video, which is probably my favorite she’s made so far, and with the announcement that Older (and Wiser) would be coming out a couple of weeks later. It arrived on October 4th, bringing five total new tracks, and elevating the already fantastic album a step even further.

The other song that people have really gravitated towards from this deluxe edition is Spring Into Summer - the final track of the five. And I understand why that is the case - it’s a breathtaking track. The song was written on tour, and thus has accompaniment from a full band; and every instrument fits together into a track that feels like sitting by a cozy campfire in a forest in spring or early autumn; due to their warm, gentle nature, Lizzy’s vocals also fit right in, of course. Subject matter-wise, it stays on the tracks of the main record, as does the rest of the deluxe; I think this particular portrayal of it through the seasons of the year and, once again, the passage of time, is particularly poignant:

Spring into summer, and the winter's gone
I try to hold on to it, but the current's too strong
Somebody finds me in the state I am
Love you like I mean it when I know I can't

- Lizzy McAlpine, Spring Into Summer

Force of Nature also sticks to somewhat similar imagery lyrically, too:

Who am I if not your lover?
Force of nature, big fish on a line
Who are you if all you want is time?
Who are we when all this settles?
Standing face to face, a hand to God
What I want has never been this hard

- Lizzy McAlpine, Force of Nature

However, the remaining two tracks are the biggest highlights, in my opinion - and the two best songs on the album in general, too.

I’m going to talk about Soccer Practice first. This track strikes me incredibly deeply even by Lizzy McAlpine standards - which, as I’m sure you can tell from what I’ve written about these songs, are very high standards. The reason this song soars so high for me, as I talked about once before, is because of how simple and mundane the things Lizzy dreams about in it are. She’s fantasizing about things that most people in committed, long-term relationships take for granted:

You pick up the kids from soccer practice
I wait in line at the grocery store
You sing them to sleep, what else do we need?
You're always sober, I'm always sure

- Lizzy McAlpine, Soccer Practice

The description of this sweet, loving scene makes the return to reality that bit more painful - of course, this life only exists in her mind.

Over and over, I let you down
Something about you, I can't get out
<…>
We could've had it, but then again
We never could've done it, I was weaker then
I hate to say it, I know it's true
I'm waiting for someone who will make me say no to you
When this is over, who will I be?
I wish that you would finally say no to me

- Lizzy McAlpine, Soccer Practice

This track, similar to Vortex, has a really pretty instrumental outro, this one featuring a reversed version of the chorus, adding a layer of mystique to the track, and keeping you engaged very effectively. The general production is particularly resonant, with the instrumental feeling particularly big, almost feeling like there’s a little bit of extra echo in the track.

Finally, my favorite track from Lizzy McAlpine’s Older era, ironically enough, is its least popular song - and the least streamed song in Lizzy’s discography as a whole. I get why - it’s a demo, so it’s obvious why it wouldn’t stick with people as much, especially against all the other beautifully, meticulously produced music on the album. But somehow, the echoing acoustic minimalism of Method Acting only makes it more charming to me.

The main thing that captivates me about Method Acting is just the sheer, bottomless hopelessness of it. There’s no positive caveat, no happy ending, no light at the end of the tunnel - it’s just desperately miserable, and utterly heartbreaking. When I first heard this song, I legitimately had to stop after it was over, because it just absolutely shattered me, and I cried for an extended period of time before being able to continue. I never would’ve thought that a song that wasn’t about death could affect me this way - but Lizzy McAlpine has defied my expectations several times throughout my journey listening to her music.

The writing on this track is genuinely phenomenal, in my opinion the best in her discography. This is the apotheosis of the toxic cycle narrative of the album, in which it dawns on her that she is fully the antagonist, and, although she tries, she can’t break out of it, held back by her own internal struggles.

I put the knife in slowly
Through the ribcage to your heart
I don't know how we got here
But it's tearin' me apart
<…>
I swear one of these days it's gonna kill you
And you will see it comin', but you will not run away
I'll try to stop the bleeding with the hands that crucified you
Oh, the irony in that will not be lost on me, I'm afraid
I'll promise that I never meant for it to end this way
I don't know why, but you'll forgive me
And I'll take that to my grave
<…>
You say you'd rather live unfairly
If it keeps me in your life
<…>
Method acting like you love me
Living constantly in pain

- Lizzy McAlpine, Method Acting (Demo)

The line “I’ll try to stop the bleeding with the hands that crucified you” feels like a particularly heavy blow to the pit of my stomach each time I hear it to this day. But I’m also struck by the idea within the titular lyric of the song - “method acting like you love me” - that something within her makes it impossible for her to believe that this person really loves her - and that they must just be pretending to. That, if anything, adds an extra layer of emotional resonance to this album - she can’t love her partner properly, not just because of their flaws, but because of the tempest raging inside her own soul, not allowing herself to believe, to love and to be loved. In a way, that ties back to Come Down Soon, too. Finally, the outro of the song repeats the first verse - locking Lizzy and her partner in the same cycle that has followed her throughout the record once again, and making the song hit that little bit harder.

The first time I talked about Older on this platform, I referred to it as “a quiet whirlwind”. I stand by that description to this day - it’s an emotional rollercoaster, but it’s all so subtle and tender, that it becomes a hundred times more serious and impactful. It’s composed, structured and produced with such care and attention to detail, and, more importantly, such clear adoration for the craft - speaking to Lizzy’s Berklee background and also the immense talents of both her and her collaborators. It’s written beautifully, with each line feeling intentional without feeling forced, and no end of incredibly quotable or memorable moments.

BONUS: Features

Lizzy McAlpine occasionally makes guest appearances on other artists’ tracks, and a lot of these appearances, be they with her own verse or just retreading one that was already there, tend to be fantastic, too, so I want to recommend them too. My three personal favorites are the following:

• Noah Kahan - Call Your Mom (feat. Lizzy McAlpine)

• ROLE MODEL - So Far Gone (feat. Lizzy McAlpine)

• Tiny Habits - For Sale Sign (feat. Lizzy McAlpine)

CONCLUSION

There’s millions of people who listen to music, and everyone perceives it differently. There’s also many special songwriters in the modern music world. So, it’s my running theory that everyone has one or two new-generation songwriters that connect with them specifically on a deeper level than others. For me, those two people are Olivia Rodrigo and Lizzy McAlpine. I spoke about Olivia at length in my last “the magic of”, but Lizzy’s impact on me can’t be overstated either. Her specific brand of indie folk manages to seep into the very deepest corners of my soul, feeling comforting and warm despite how sad the vast majority of it is. Realistically, I haven’t lived the vast majority of the situations that Lizzy describes in her music - but I still feel like I have, because she has such an incredible ability to relate to the listener and transmit her emotions.

The best music is the kind that changes who you are, or how you see yourself in the world. I believe that Lizzy McAlpine has done that for me. I genuinely believe that listening to her music has helped me get more in touch with my emotions and who I am as a person; it’s also definitely improved me as a songwriter. I’m incredibly grateful for this, and I can only hope that whenever she releases more music in the future, it continues to impact me in this way.

At the end of the day, we’re all getting older. We need something constant to accompany us as we go, to keep us in touch with the fact we’re still here, still going, despite the non-stop wave of things happening, directly in our lives or otherwise. And music is, and will always be that thing for me.