By Grace Koennecke, Managing Editor

[Indigo Blue, LLC; 2024]

Rating: 8/10

Last Thursday, Lizzy McAlpine announced the deluxe version of her third album, Older, which was released in April. Surprisingly she dropped one of the deluxe tracks the following day, titled “Pushing It Down and Praying,” along with an accompanying music video featuring Role Model.

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Featuring background vocals from pop trio Tiny Habits, this song has the acoustic momentum to easily draw listeners in with just McAlpine’s guitar and soft growl, making it feel like she is alone center-stage, about to share her intrusive thoughts. Once Tiny Habits comes in before the second repetition of the chorus, the singer matches the tempo by upping the loudness of the guitars that strum alongside her, which causes the song’s mood to change.

What makes this song really interesting, and so beyond different from McAlpine’s previous singles, is her bluntness. She opens the song by putting the listener in the midst of a sexual experience, one that McAlpine is enjoying, but knows her mind is somewhere else. She sings, “I love him, kiss his mouth, prayin’ / He can’t see what I see / When I close my eyes / You replace him / Wearin’ no disguise / You erase him,” and one gets the sense that the singer is not truly “in love” as she says she is.

McAlpine strains against wanting her old lover through the chorus, with her vocals holding more weight to them than previously heard. She says, “I wanna feel guilty / I wanna feel that it’s wrong / I wanna know peace again / Wanna sing a different song / I want you to need me / I need to want somethin’ more / He gives what he can / But now I don’t know what he’s given’ for,” signaling to listeners that she’s not fully happy in the relationship, wanting more physically and emotionally.

With Tiny Habits adding more fuel to the fire, McAlpine sounds more confident as well, and her straight-forward lyrics make this song approachable and easy to listen to. I honestly enjoy this song so much because it doesn’t take much for it to work; there’s only a few guitars, some awesome layering of vocals and there’s great visuals to go alongside the track, hence the music video.

The ending of this song is quite telling: “It’s only a question / If somebody brings it up / So I’m pushin’ it down and prayin’ / He won’t see it when I come / I’m pushin’ it down and prayin.’” McAlpine is clearly not interested in this person sexually, but also knows that the fear of leaving them is a weight heavy on her shoulders. Overall, it’s a complicated point of view, but also one that many listeners have felt and seen before.

Overall, this may be one of the best alternative-pop songs to come out of 2024. While this song is simplistic and short, much like a lot of the genre has become, it also proves that Lizzy McAlpine has more in her than we’ve seen, which she needs to lean on more sonically and visually.

Listen here: https://open.spotify.com/track/4wO2JlPZw72Xlu6dGUW4Ce?si=abcb8e150e93445e