ARTIST TO WATCH: Lizzy McAlpine

Lizzy McAlpine is the moment. Not just that, but she’s also a sharp, compelling voice that is able to cut through the noise. 

You may know 23-year-old singer-songwriter McAlpine from her hit song “ceilings”, and she recently just earned her first Billboard #1 chart position on their Alternative Streaming Songs chart. The song is also currently going viral on TikTok, with videos of people running to a sped-up edition of the song garnering more than 200 million views. The music video for this tender, emotional ballad dropped on Valentine’s Day of this year, which was a delightfully heart-wrenching surprise. 

“Ceilings” comes from her sophomore album, five seconds flat, which features collaborations with artists such as FINNEAS and Jacob Collier. However, her journey began with her debut album, Give Me A Minute. Originally studying songwriting at Berklee College of Music, McAlpine decided to go full steam ahead and pursue her career in music. It completely paid off, because her sensitive, moving songs resonated with numerous listeners. Popular songs from Give Me A Minute that may ring a bell are “Pancakes for Dinner”, “To the Mountains”, and “Apple Pie”. This body of work made McAlpine a gem in the music industry during its release in the Summer of 2020, but the popular and critical acclaim for her second album is what catapulted her to breakout stardom. 

McAlpine’s style is a mix between indie-pop and folk, and her songwriting is comparable to the likes of Phoebe Bridgers and Gracie Abrams. Through her lyrics, she is able to paint a singular, precise moment or thought so clearly and vividly, which allows her to be a perceptive, empathetic writer. We see this striking evocation in lines such as “I feel more free than I have in years / Six feet in the ground,” “I don’t know why every time that I think of home / I can picture you standing in the cold,” or “I’ll say goodbye, to gossamer skies / The city will move out of frame / But it’s still you who remains.” She has a knack for capturing exact points in time that are seemingly inconsequential and attaching value and gravity to them, which can be seen in lines such as “I caught you lookin’ at me in the 7-Eleven / Under fluorescent lights.” She is a storyteller of small moments, and that is what makes her stand out from the crowd. 

For lovers of video content, McAlpine has plenty to keep you feeling satisfied. In addition to a soul-stirring short film that she wrote for five seconds flat, her YouTube channel is full of vlogs from tour, behind-the-scenes footage of music videos, and inside looks into her creative process. Gus Black directed five seconds flat the film, as well as the music videos for “ceilings”, “doomsday”, and “all my ghosts”. 

So what’s McAlpine up to right now, and what’s next? For starters, her third album is currently in the works! There is a lot of other exciting news to keep up with: Her song “To the Mountains” is a part of the new movie A Good Person starring Florence Pugh, and she co-wrote the title song for a new show by Apple TV+ called "Dear Edward". On top of that, she is set to play at several upcoming music festivals, including All Points East, Barn on the Farm, and Bleached Fest. You can also catch her as a special guest at Lewis Capaldi’s Manchester tour date this August, and she is currently headlining her own SOLD OUT The End of the Movie Tour!