“Can we stay like this forever?

Can we be here in this room ’til we die?”

These lyrics from “The Elevator,” the first track on Lizzy McAlpine’s newest album, “Older,” encapsulate the futile resistance 20-somethings often feel toward growing up and moving on from love that has ended or is bound to. It’s not just the first track though; every song on this album packs a profound and painful punch into short, simple lines. 

Following the success of her second studio album “five seconds flat,” featuring the song “ceilings,” which has almost half a billion listens on Spotify, more eyes than ever watched this release. McAlpine has been transparent over the past couple of years about the miserable experience of touring and the pressure of being in the public eye — pressure that only seems to propel her deeper into lyrical vulnerability. 

McAlpine explained in an interview with Zach Sang that the album is meant to take the listener through a previous relationship of hers that was only official for a month before it spiraled into a four-year-long, on-and-off “situationship.” Many of the songs, however, are not solely about that romantic relationship. McAlpine also wrestles with themes of guilt, regret, resignation, substance abuse, and the passage of time, connected in a viscerally relatable set of songs for anyone who has ever loved someone they probably should not have. 

“Older” and “I Guess” — the two singles she released in anticipation of the album — paint a bigger picture of the lifelong cycle of trying and being disappointed and starting over again while the unstoppable sands of time pass through the hourglass.

Most of the songs are two to four minutes long, saying what needs to be said and letting the song end, rather than dragging it out or repeating the chorus six times. Even the songs that do err more on the repetitive side, such as “Come Down Soon” and “You Forced Me To,” come across as substantive, complete works. That said, listeners will likely have to keep the songs on repeat for a while to really hear what McAlpine is trying to say. 

The album’s orchestration, led by Mason Stoops and a group McAlpine said she “stole” from singer Ryan Beatty, perfectly underscores the album’s lyrical depth. Songs like “Vortex” are intimate and musically simple with lyrics that tell a heartbreaking story all on their own. 

“All Falls Down” provides an ironically upbeat, almost groovy backing to a song about the biting acceptance that comes with everything going wrong. “Broken Glass,” features an epic, almost cinematic bridge that completely changes the vibe of the song, similarly to the song “firearm” off her second studio album. With the right amount of emotional investment, listeners can expect their hearts to swell and slow with the instrumentation, in typical McAlpine fashion. 

This is the slowest, saddest, and rawest we’ve seen McAlpine, and, three years in the making, it is truly a work of art. While, conceptually, the album laments change, it is consistent with the quality of work that fans expect from her. I wager there are two major takeaways from “Older:” time moves relentlessly and, as long as it does, Lizzy McAlpine will have something thoughtful to say about it.