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I first discovered Lizzy McAlpine in 2020, at the height of COVID-19, through her song Pancakes for Dinner. Her songs were my retreats, her voice was my lullaby. Ever since then, her songs and I have been inseparable. I listened to her throughout my study years, my working era, my single phase, the one year I was in love and now, during my breakup phase. Her songs have been the soundtracks of my years. It's no surprise that despite her latest album being released last year, it remains significant to me this year. So here are my thoughts on the album and tons of oversharing (uncalled for), track-by-track.
track #1: The Elevator
Thoughts: The perfect introduction to the album. It starts with such good energy and momentum — the kind that lifts you up instantly. And somehow, this song lingers throughout the rest of the album; no matter which track you’re on, you keep circling back to this one. It’s the heartbeat that echoes through everything that follows.
Lines that hit too close: 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.
Why they hit: This perfectly captures how I feel at the start of something new — a relationship, a connection, even just a possibility. (Confession: I associate this song with two different guys, LOL. Maybe that’s why it’ll always symbolize beginnings for me.) There are moments so good you don’t want them to end — when everything feels suspended in time, untouched by reality. These lines hold all that hope, that naïve belief that maybe this time, it’ll last.
track #2: Come Down Soon
Thoughts: THIS SONG. It feels like you’ve just reached the first floor of a building — not even your destination yet — and you already know something’s off. You can sense what’s coming: the excitement, the chaos, and that inevitable crash. There’s this eerie anticipation, like you’re bracing for the fall even before it begins.
Lines that hit too close: Nothing this good's ever really good for me. Oh, it'll come down soon, you'll see.
Why they hit: In The Elevator, you’re going up — hopeful, heart racing. But Come Down Soon is the voice in your head whispering, “it’s going downhill from here.” I can’t help but associate this one with my last relationship — the one I somehow knew was doomed from the start. It’s that bittersweet awareness that even in the best moments, you’re just waiting for gravity to do its thing.
track #3: Like It Tends To Do
Thoughts: I didn’t listen to this song much when it first dropped — it didn’t click then. But now, after going through a very real breakup, this song hits on an entirely different level. It makes me anxious and weirdly emotional about the idea of running into my ex again. Like, what would happen? Would we talk? Pretend we don’t see each other?
Lines that hit too close: If we were standing in the same room, would we be in separate corners? Would I actively avoid you?
Why they hit: The same question I've been wondering—the whole song is, to be honest. I probably won't avoid him. I told my ex I would avoid him, but knowing me, in a situation where we're in the same room, I know I would go to him with the same warmth I had when we were together.
track #4: Movie Star
Thoughts: Like many songs on this album, this one scared me, because I was terrified it might turn out to be premonitional of my own life. Listening to it at the start of a relationship felt… dangerous. Too close to home. So I avoided it, completely. It’s that eerie kind of song that feels like it’s looking you straight in the eye and saying, “this could be you.”
Lines that hit too close: I wanna change, I wanna grow, but it's physically impossiblе to stand here and not say that I love you even if I don't.
Why they hit: The contrast between this verse and the first one — from the thrill of new love to the exhaustion of forced affection — just hurts. It’s that chilling moment when passion turns into performance, when you realise the words you’re saying out loud no longer match the way you feel inside.
track #5: All Falls Down
Thoughts: The production on this one... paired with the lyrics... Lizzy McAlpine, once again, proves she’s a genius. If Come Down Soon was your mind whispering, “it’s all going downhill from here,” then All Falls Down is the moment you actually start falling — not just your relationship, but everything else too. The slow unravelling. The chaos that doesn’t wait for your permission. It’s the sound of everything collapsing in sync, just like every kind of fall tends to be.
Lines that hit too close: Doing fine, like I always am! Am I that good of a liar that I believe myself again?
Why they hit: That line is the entire energy of the song. The denial, the forced normalcy, the pretending you’re okay when everything’s quietly breaking apart. It’s painfully self-aware — and that’s what makes it hit so hard.
track #6: Staying
Thoughts: With Ceilings from her previous album, I totally expected it to go viral — it had that undeniable “it” factor. But this song? I honestly didn’t think people would get it the way her long-time listeners would. And yet, somehow, it blew up. Which makes me so happy, because this song deserves so much love. Loving Staying feels deeply personal to me; it’s the embodiment of my last relationship. I always knew it would end, that eventually one of us would have to walk away… but neither of us could. We just kept holding on, long after we should’ve let go.
Lines that hit too close: Maybe I would be okay if I let this go forever, send it into space and watch the planets turn. Maybe I will someday let this go forever, hold me until I find the nerve.
Why they hit: There’s a whole TikTok discussion about these lines — and rightfully so. The wordplay is genius. “Let this go” is used twice in the bridge, each time meaning something entirely different: the first as releasing it, the second as letting it go on forever. That duality of wanting to free yourself but also wanting to hold on scratches my brain the right way. And honestly? Just thinking about it makes me want to cry.
track #7: I Guess
Thoughts: The second single from the album — and honestly, the perfect preview of what the whole project is about. It captures Lizzy’s growth so beautifully, not just musically, but emotionally. You can hear her maturity, her changed perspective on love, on what it means to care for someone and still lose them. It’s reflective, grounded, and quietly devastating.
Lines that hit too close: 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.
Why they hit: Because we’re all, in some way, dying to love someone — and yet, to love someone is to die a little. Whether you love or you don’t, it hurts either way. That paradox sits right at the core of this song, and of love itself.
track #8: Drunk, Running
Thoughts: The song that sealed it for me. My first favourite from the album. The one that made me cry over and over — even when I couldn’t personally relate to it yet. There’s something haunting about the idea of staying with someone through their dark phase, convincing yourself it’s love, when really, you’re just enabling them. You know you shouldn’t stay. Everyone around you knows it, too. But just like they couldn’t let go of their demons, you couldn’t let go of them.
Lines that hit too close: Make a person out of memories, they won't live up to it, I'm so sorry I stayed when I shouldn't.
Why they hit: Because how long did you stay — not for who they are, but for who they used to be? For the version of them that made you believe staying was worth it?
track #9: Broken Glass
Thoughts: The transition from Drunk, Running to this song — and then into You Forced Me To — is absolutely perfect, both sonically and narratively. While Drunk, Running feels eerily nostalgic, Broken Glass crashes in like the brutal reality check: “we hurt each other and we shouldn’t be together.”
Lines that hit too close: I want you now and then I don't, and every word is a land mine. I hold the glass against your throat, but I can't do it this time. It might seem like I love you, but I just don't want to be alone.
Why they hit: It’s a volatile relationship — you hurt me first, so I hurt you back. My words are sharp; your actions are a freaking meteor.
track #10: You Forced Me To
Thoughts: When Lizzy first posted this song back in 2022, I couldn’t stop playing it. It was my morning alarm and my lullaby — I breathed this song for weeks. The piano, the composition, the atmosphere — it’s haunting in every sense. If Weird from her previous album already felt ghostly, You Forced Me To takes that to another level.
Lines that hit too close: I want you to hate me, I deserve it for my crimes. I know that I loved you but you loved me harder every time, I am not the same as when you met me, I have changed because you forced me to.
Why they hit: I can’t say I personally relate to this one (at least in Lizzy's point of view), but wow. It feels like reading a confession letter you weren’t meant to see. There’s no sugarcoating, no melodrama — just raw accountability. It’s not about blaming the other person entirely, but still acknowledging that yes, they did change you.
track #11: Older
Thoughts: The first single! If I Guess perfectly previews the emotional core of the album, Older perfectly sets the sound. Live instruments, minimal vocal mixing — just Lizzy, her words, and that raw, intimate energy that defines the whole project. Even though it’s probably my least favourite song on the album, I still love it with my whole heart. It feels like the blueprint for everything that follows.
Lines that hit too close: Wish I was stronger somehow, wish it was easy. Somewhere I lost all my senses, I wish I knew what the end is.
Why they hit: It’s that feeling of knowing what the right thing to do is; to walk away, to let go, but realising you just weren’t strong enough yet. You tell yourself maturity would’ve made it easier, but it never really is. Sometimes you just have to live through it to grow into the version of yourself who can do the hard thing.
track #12: Better Than This
Thoughts: This song captures that fragile, spiraling stage of getting to know someone — when you start letting them in but can’t shake the fear that you’re not good enough for them. It’s that gnawing insecurity that someone else might love them better than you do. And the quiet acceptance that, eventually, someone will. Just as someone, someday, will love you better too.
Lines that hit too close: 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 think that I'm not who you think I am.
Why they hit: There was this guy I used to like before my last ex, and I used to tell him how I didn’t feel like a good person, and he’d always reassure me that I was. (I didn’t believe him then, and I definitely don’t now.) When I first heard this line, I swear it felt like Lizzy had been sitting right there during that conversation. It’s eerie — and painfully validating.
track #13: March
Thoughts: Just like Headstones and Landmines and Chemtrails from her first two albums, March is one of Lizzy’s most personal songs, as they are all about her late father. It’s a raw exploration of grief: tender, honest, and devastating. Will it make you cry? Absolutely. Will it make you spiral into thoughts about life’s fragility, the inevitability of loss, and the fleetingness of everything you love? Without a doubt.
Lines that hit too close: 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.
Why they hit: If there’s one thing I’ve learned about grief — through death, fallouts, and heartbreak — it’s that it doesn’t move in a straight line. It comes in waves. Some days you think you’ve got it handled, and then out of nowhere, something small cracks you open again. This line captures that so perfectly — that quiet ambush of sadness that keeps reminding you healing isn’t linear.
track #14: Vortex
Thoughts: The final track on the standard edition — and honestly, the perfect sonic ending. If you play the album on loop, Vortex flows right back into The Elevator, creating this beautiful, haunting full circle. To me, that symbolises the cycle of relationships — how they can feel repetitive until you finally grow strong enough to break free. Lyrically, the song carries this sense of hope — that one day, she’ll escape the endless loop of falling in and out of the same kind of love. But sonically, when the album loops back to The Elevator, it contradicts that certainty. That contrast — between wanting to move on and still being caught in the spin — feels so intentional. And it’s genius.
Lines that hit too close: We're just awful together and awful apart
Why they hit: One thing I recently realised about my last relationship was that we were bad for each other, and somehow worse when we weren’t together. We both had our flaws, and even though I stayed and carried more than my share, deep down I knew we were never meant to last. That line — that brutal honesty — sums it all up perfectly.
track #15: Method Acting (Demo)
Thoughts: This song hits me hard, but not from Lizzy’s perspective. I relate more to the person she’s singing to. That blind commitment, that desperate kind of love that keeps you holding on even when you know it’s doomed... that screams me. I knew how it would end, but I stayed anyway. I chose the pain over losing him.
Lines that hit too close: Four years of bein' unfair, still, you don't seem to mind. You say you'd rather live unfairly if it keeps me in your life.
Why they hit: Because how many times did I almost leave, but stayed anyway? Stayed even when the mistreatment was too much, just to avoid being erased from his life. That line cuts right through me, because I know exactly what it’s like to love someone enough to accept being treated unfairly, just so you don’t lose them entirely.
track #16: Pushing It Down And Praying
Thoughts: The net said that if the guys have Glimpse of Us by Joji, we girls have Pushing It Down And Praying and I beg to disagree, because this song is much worse. This isn’t just heartbreak; it’s emotional treason disguised as tenderness. If my partner ever thought what Lizzy’s thinking here, I would crash out on the spot.
Lines that hit too close: Softer, harder, in-between, you know just how to get to me. He is stable, you are deep, I know just how to get what I need.
Why they hit: Peak Allie–Noah from The Notebook vibes — when your head knows one man is good for you, but your soul still aches for the one who ruined you in the most poetic way. It’s that kind of song that makes you realize being the “safe option” isn’t always a blessing — sometimes it’s just a slower heartbreak.
track #17: Soccer Practice
Thoughts: This is the song you play if you want to see me hysterically sob in public. Why? Play the song, I beg you please listen to this song. This is my ultimate favourite off the album, despite its simplicity. Lizzy somehow turned ordinary imagery into grief so palpable it hurts.
Lines that hit too close: 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.
Why they hit: This song hurts from the very first verse because it mourns the future life you could've had with this person. The possibility of mundane day-to-day life with that person, having a future with them, now gone.
track #18: Force of Nature
Thoughts: This one centres around a breakup and losing yourself afterwards—like, who even am I without this person? Hello?? Relatable. Lizzy captures that hollow confusion so well, the kind that hits after the crying stops and the silence gets too loud.
Lines that hit too close: You are еxactly the past I don't want to drag up; all the things that we wеre, all the things that we never got a chance to be.
Why they hit: Coming right after Soccer Practice, this song feels like a slap—because first you’re mourning what could’ve been, and then you’re forced to face what will never be. It’s that brutal realisation that it’s over, for real this time. No more what-ifs, no more maybe-laters. Just the ending, and you—trying to find yourself again in the wreckage.
track #19: Spring Into Summer
Thoughts: This song feels like a breath of fresh air after the storm; that first sunny day after weeks of rain. If the acceptance phase had a Lizzy McAlpine soundtrack, this would be it. It’s about holding onto time even as it slips away, actually growing up emotionally, and learning to embrace change instead of fearing it. A perfect ending to the deluxe album. While Vortex throws you into a chaotic loop in the standard edition, Spring Into Summer finally lets you exhale — it ends the cycle, softly.
Lines that hit too close: You're always gonna be someone that I want, we have too many years between us. If I could jump into the past, I'd only change one thing; I'd never hurt you first, I'd never let you leave. And now I'm here forever, runnin' back to you.
Why they hit: These lines look back at the people who’ve left, or the ones you’ve had to leave. The kind of love that lingers, even when it’s over. You know you’ve accepted it, but if time ever gave you another chance, you’d still run back, just once more. Friends, lovers, family — all the ghosts that shaped who you are now.
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And that's my thoughts on Older (And Wiser) by Lizzy McAlpine. This is by no means a professional review of it, as I'm not musically inclined enough to do so, but my opinions stand. If Lizzy McAlpine has 10 fans, I would undoubtedly be one of them, and if she has none, it means I am no longer a part of this world.
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