Older (Lizzy McAlpine album)

Older is the third studio album and major-label debut by American singer-songwriter Lizzy McAlpine, released on April 5, 2024, by RCA Records. It served as the follow-up to her previous album, Five Seconds Flat (2022). In Los Angeles, McAlpine wrote and produced Older with Mason Stoops, Ryan Lerman, Jeremy Most, Tony Berg, Taylor Mackall, and Ethan Gruska.

Upon release, Older was met with positive reviews from music critics, with praise towards McAlpine's greater maturity and artistic growth. The album was preceded by the release of two singles: the title track on February 13, and "I Guess" on March 13; the former was promoted with a public appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. In support of Older, the singer embarked on the Older Tour (2024), visiting North America and Europe.

Background
Lizzy McAlpine achieved critical and commercial success with her second studio album titled Five Seconds Flat, released on April 8, 2022. In 2023, it marked her first appearance on the U.S. Billboard 200, after the non-single "Ceilings" went viral on the video-sharing service TikTok. The song became McAlpine's first entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, debuting at number 75 and later reaching number 54. It eventually peaked within the top 10 in the United Kingdom. Following its success, McAlpine made her debut televised performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and signed a music contract with RCA Records. In the same year, the singer collaborated with American singer Noah Kahan and Irish singer Niall Horan, and "burst onto" the indie scene.

McAlpine embarked on two concert tours to promote her music. Explaining that her relationship with her songs are "a cycle that begins with her liking them before growing bored of [them]", according to the singer, the second tour was "hard" to do. While she tried to figure out who she wanted to be as an artist, McAlpine started working on her next record. On February 13, 2024, McAlpine announced her major-label debut, Older, set for release on April 5. In a statement, McAlpine explained that "through the long and mostly tumultuous journey of making [the album], I have learned who I am as a person, who I want to be as an artist and what kind of art I want to make. This album is a culmination of that growth, showcasing the rawest and most honest version of me." She continued saying that the goal of the project is to "strip away everything and find what sounded like [her]".

Recording and writing
The writing and recording of Older took place over the course of three years. McAlpine began writing songs for Older during the recording sessions for Five Seconds Flat in 2021. McAlpine started writing Older's songs when she was in a relationship, and "things changed" through the record's conception. She "channelled the whirlwind of a past relationship" as inspiration. "Like It Tends to Do" was the first song written for the album.

The album was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Mason Stoops, with additional production by Ryan Lerman of Scary Pockets, Jeremy Most, and Tony Berg. It was largely recorded live with microphones tracking of the entire band at once. McAlpine had begun recording Older with various producers in a trial-and-error manner with the album nearing completion by August 2023. However, the album's sound did not feel right for McAlpine. In August 2023, McAlpine attended a Ryan Beatty concert in Los Angeles and became captivated by the cohesion of his backing band. In October, McAlpine returned to the studio with Beatty's band to re-record almost half of Older. The album's live recording sessions with Beatty's band took place over the course of two weeks. McAlpine confirmed that the tracks on the album were recorded in one or "a couple" takes. This is in contrast to her previous two albums Give Me a Minute and Five Seconds Flat that McAlpine says were "heavily produced and perfected, to the point where I don't even recognize myself in it anymore". The best live takes, consisting of guitars, piano, bass and drums, would be selected from which overdubs would be added. The album's mixing was also approached differently to Five Seconds Flat. Whereas Philip Etherington would be producing and mixing simultaneously as the sessions went along for Five Seconds Flat, mixing for Older was done at the end of the process. During the album's recording before mixing, this made McAlpine think "it's never gonna sound good".

Music and lyrics
The album was conceived as the follow-up to her previous work, Five Seconds Flat (2022). Older predominantly has an indie folk and chamber pop sound, with tendencies towards baroque pop. According to Canadian music and entertainment publisher Exclaim!, each song on the record represents a journey — "from trust to heartbreak, from naive to jaded, from love to loss" — and together they form an album of observations on the world.

The album opens with "The Elevator", a one-minute and 44-second song which captures the experience of falling in love. It includes the backdrop of McAlpine's piano melody, carrying an optimistic lyrical premise. On both "Come Down Soon" and "Like It Tends to Do", McAlpine continues to "muse about [the] pervasive feeling" of thinking she has something to lose. On "Movie Star", which opens with slow guitar picking, she touches on power dynamics in relationships. The fifth track on the album, "All Falls Down", contains string harmonies and feels "wistful and airy". "I Guess", the seventh track, is "a non-love song" with lyrics "filled with equal parts of uncertainty and acceptance".

"Drunk, Running", the first track of the second half of the album, explores how alcoholism can "introduce tension into a relationship" while the next track, titled "Broken Glass", describes emotional violence. The later and "You Forced Me To" frame accusations in "velvety, lugubrious" arrangements. The previously released title track is a "pared-back" voice-piano-electric guitar ballad, described as "gut-wrenching". It "bleeds nostalgia", reflecting on the ride of "a lost childhood". On "Better Than This", there's "a glimmer of hope but it's built on disconnection and loneliness", as she sings: "What if I'm not a good person? / You always say that I am / But you don't know me at all now". It deals with self-doubt and acceptance. The penultimate song, "March", is a piano-driven ode to McAlpine's father Mark, with reflections on grief, and feelings of love and loss. McAlpine's father died in March 2020 and she had previously written about his death on "Headstones and Land Mines" from her debut album. The closing track, "Vortex", is a resolution to Older's tale, where McAlpine motivates herself "to gain the strength to leave a toxic never-ending relationship". The album was originally to be titled Vortex.

Singles
Older was preceded by the release of two singles. The title track, was announced on February 1 and released on February 13, 2024, as the lead single from the album. It became McAlpine's third entry on the U.S. Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart published by Billboard, peaking at number 33. On March 27, 2024, McAlpine performed the song live for the first time on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. The second single from the album, titled "I Guess", was released via streaming platforms on March 13, 2024. It reached the number 36 on the same chart.

Tour
To promote the album, McAlpine will embark on The Older Tour, with dates in Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, Paris, London, Manchester, Birmingham, Dublin, and different cities in the United States. It began on April 21, 2024 and end on October 31.

Critical reception
Upon release, Older received generally positive reviews from music critics, with praise towards McAlpine's greater maturity and artistic growth.

Matt Collar of AllMusic described Older as a "lovely and bittersweet experience", with crafting songs that are "as lyrical and delicately rendered as they are affecting". According to Elise Ryan, writing for the Associated Press, McAlpine navigates "grief and growing older" on Older. In a review for Exclaim!, Aisling Murphy wrote that the album represents McAlpine entering "a new era of her career" following McAlpine's self-admitted ambivalence towards the success of "Ceilings". The critic also predicted that "Vortex" will become "her next catalog-defining anthem".

Matthew Kim of The Line of Best Fit called Older "an ornate exploration of coming-of-age" that can capture a "deeply intimate feel". However, Kim criticized Older's ornate instrumentation as lacking in some regards as it strips back many of the electronic elements on Five Seconds Flat in favor of simpler acoustic guitar and piano compositions. Namely, he criticized the album's title track as being "lyrically interesting but instrumentally lacking". Writing for DIY, Rhian Daly stated that the album's songs "grow and swell with poignant instrumentation, but know exactly when to strip things back to just the singer's voice and a guitar, letting her words shine and deliver an emotional sucker punch to the heart", and that they "prioritise artistry over chasing fame". On the album, BroadwayWorld found McAlpine "stepping into newfound confidence, discovering her voice and defining her artistry with profound simplicity". Melodic Magazine Clare Gehlich cited "Drunk, Running", "Like It Tends to Do", and "Vortex" as highlights on the album.

Track listing
Notes
 * $undefined$ signifies an additional producer
 * $undefined$ signifies a miscellaneous producer

Personnel
Musicians


 * Lizzy McAlpine – lead vocals (all tracks), guitar (tracks 2–5, 7, 9, 10, 12), piano (3, 7, 8, 10, 12, 14), organ (3), Mellotron (8)
 * Mason Stoops – bass (tracks 1, 8, 11, 14), guitar (2–4, 7, 12), background vocals (2), electric guitar (6, 13), acoustic guitar (6, 14)
 * Taylor Mackall – piano (tracks 1, 2, 4–7, 11, 13, 14), Mellotron (1, 3, 14), synthesizer (2, 6); background vocals, guitar (2); organ (8)
 * Michael Libramento – bass (tracks 1, 2, 6, 7, 13, 14), drums (1); background vocals, guitar (2)
 * Tyler Nuffer – pedal steel guitar (tracks 1, 3, 4, 6, 13, 14); background vocals, guitar (2)
 * Ryan Richter – steel guitar (tracks 1, 3, 4, 8, 13, 14); background vocals, guitar (2); electric guitar (6), acoustic guitar (8)
 * Jake Nuffer – guitar (track 2), pedal steel guitar (8)
 * Ted Poor – drums (track 2)
 * Rob Moose – strings (tracks 3, 7–9)
 * Ryan Lerman – guitar (tracks 3, 9)
 * Sean Hurley – bass (track 5)
 * Rob Humphreys – drums (track 5)
 * Jon Brion – piano (track 5)
 * Jacob Scesney – woodwinds (track 5)
 * Sam KS – drums (tracks 6, 9, 13, 14)
 * Aaron Sterling – drums (tracks 7, 8)
 * CJ Camerieri – French horn (tracks 7, 9); flugelhorn, trumpet (7)
 * Jeremy Most – piano (track 7)
 * Pino Palladino – bass (tracks 8, 9)
 * Matt Chamberlain – drums (track 9)

Technical
 * Dave Kutch – mastering
 * Andrew Sarlo – mixing
 * Jesse Honig – engineering
 * Greg Koller – engineering (tracks 3–5, 11)