Heartbreak and Healing: A Review of Lizzy McAlpine’s Angel
The release of Lizzy McAlpine’s fourth studio album, Angel, leaves fans with a profound sense of humanity, love, and understanding.
Not to be that person, but I’ve been a fan of McAlpine since her early days on TikTok. When I first found her in June 2020, she had posted a thirty-second clip of an acoustic song called “You Ruined the 1975” (still unreleased to this day BTW). I immediately fell in love with her voice and acoustics, and I’ve been a loyal listener since she released her first studio album, Give me a Minute, in August 2020. Needless to say, I was counting down the days until Angel released. If you’ve ever listened to her music, chances are you know that McAlpine is known for writing real, relatable lyrics. Her happier songs will make you feel like you’re floating on air, but her more raw, emotional songs will leave you with a profound ache in your chest.
Prior to the September 18th release, McAlpine had released two singles, “The Light In The Painting” and “Ugly Things.” While the former was a light love song, the latter discussed feeling betrayal from the things that an ex does after a relationship ends. With her two singles being on the opposite ends of the spectrum, fans didn’t know what to expect from the album itself.
Personally, I’m in a loving relationship of almost two and a half years, so I was secretly rooting for a positive album (although I love the catharsis from screaming songs that a past version of me relates to). While there were definitely happy tracks, there were still plenty that would have killed eighteen-year-old me if this album had come out in 2023.
Namely, “Anybody’s Fool” discusses a dissonance between being glad that a relationship has ended and missing having someone to go to with the mundane events of life. Eighteen-year-old me that was coming out of a toxic five-year on-and-off relationship would have heard the chorus of this song and been convinced that McAlpine had based it off of my personal experiences. Now, I hear a song like that and I am reminded of when I was living it, but I don’t relate to it anymore.
Many listeners seem to think that this album took some musical inspiration from Broadway,particularly , McAlpine’s time in Floyd Collins. I agree with the sentiment that McAlpine is a bit more experimental with new sounds than in prior albums; “A Car Wash and A New Pair of Pants” has a particularly eerily beautiful sound to it that I can’t seem to get out of my head five days after its release. While some fans lament the change in McAlpine’s sound, I appreciate it.
Older (and Wiser), you will always be my baby, but I appreciate the ability to pair raw, emotional lyrics with an upbeat backing track.
To say McAlpine is talented at what she does would be an understatement. She writes lyrics that any listener can find themself connecting to, even if they have not lived the situation she’s writing about. Angel is just the fourth in a long line of successes for Lizzy McAlpine, and I can’t wait to see where she takes her music next.