Lizzy McAlpine: “I’m not trying to model my music career on anyone else's, I’m trying to build my own"

In Lizzy McAlpine’s dressing room at the Button Factory, Hot Press photographer Miguel Ruiz is snapping the singer-songwriter as bright lights shine around her like a halo. Dressed casually in jeans and a t-shirt, make-up free, the young Philadelphia artist appears calm as she readies herself for her second night at the venue.

There’s a quiet self-assurance about the 23-year-old that makes it easy to imagine her holding her own in the studio. From the first minute of new album five seconds flat, McAlpine’s ability to narrate a deeply individual experience with relatability bleeds through each chord. Having dropped in April, the compelling 14-track LP traces the evolution of McAlpine’s sound from her Indigo EP in 2018 and debut album Give Me A Minute in August 2020.

Continuing down the path of diaristic honesty and blistering love tunes, it’s a mightily impressive offering. But first things first - how did her first Dublin show go?

“Last night was really fun,” she enthuses. “It was my first time performing in Dublin, so it was great, I’m not sure about night two, it always depends on the crowd. I felt like the first audience were receptive and vocal, which I like. They knew all the words. It’s always a little crazy trying to wrap my brain around people queuing so early. It’s happened before every show so far. People started lining up at 5.45 am in the States for that tour.”

Does McAlpine’s family come with her?

“No!” she reacts, instantly. “Never ever will that happen. My first tour was only this year and they were busy doing their own things. They have their own lives.”

Impressively, Lizzy began writing at the age of 12. Her parents have always been supportive of her ambitions, even when she decided to drop out of Boston’s Berklee College of Music in her junior year. As it turns out, it was one of the best career moves she’s made thus far. Five Seconds Flat is executive produced by Phillip Etherington — one of her Berklee classmates.

“I wanted to do acting in high school,” she reflects. “I was a theatre kid and visited Berklee when I was applying for schools, but didn’t think it was for me. I have no idea what my life would look like if I hadn’t gone to that school. Probably extremely different. I would not be here right now! Acting is still something I’d like to do. I always run decisions by my family, but they understand that I’m going to make my choices anyway.

“I don’t know where the creative side of me came from, because neither of my parents are musical at all. My sister is a dancer and visual artist, but I can’t see it anywhere in my immediate family. I’ve always been very musical since I was a toddler. My grandma on my mom’s side wants to be musical - we would visit for the holidays and I would sit by the piano and pretend that I knew what I was doing, even though I was just slamming on the keys!”

The track ‘13’ has particular significance - McAlpine lost a parent on March 13, 2020, ahead of her debut’s release that August. The track boasts some incredibly poignant lines: “There are some days when I think that, somewhere, you’re watching / As I grow up without you / I miss it, I miss you”.

Songs of such power have garnered McAlpine comparisons with some of indie-rock’s biggest stars.

“I get this question all the time, ‘Whose career would you want to model yours after?’ but I don’t really think in that way,” she shrugs. “I’m not trying to go down the same line as someone else - I’m trying to build my own career by making what I want.”

McAlpine has also been on the receiving end of condescending takes.

“It’s always complicated,” she muses. “When people say I started my career on TikTok, it’s just not true. It’s patronising. I don’t really respond to that. There was an article that called me a TikTok star and I tweeted about it. For the most part, the people who are actually fans of mine know those things aren’t true. They’re aware that I’m my own person.”

With her collaborators including the likes of Jacob Collier, John Mayer and Finneas, McAlpine’s name is often reduced to her features.

“I don’t want any collaborators on my next album, which has already been written,” she says. “It’s not because of that, I just don’t think there’s a need for them on this content. For what the songs are about and what they mean to me, it’s very personal. In every interview, I get asked what it was like to work with Finneas and Jacob Collier. There’s more you can ask me about than just that. For Five Seconds Flat, it felt exciting to have features. That was definitely the right move.”

As for her first two albums, she’s blunt in her assessment.

“I really don’t relate to any of the songs anymore,” she says. “I wrote them so long ago that I’m already a completely different person, but I have to play them every night. From my first album, I really don’t relate to those anymore! It’s interesting to be put back into that world when I have to almost relive those moments. I’ve been able to detach from them now, but everyone in the audience has a different experience. I’m playing them for them, not me.

“All the songs are written for my third album already. There were like 150, but I whittled it down to probably 14. I write all the time, so a lot of the songs have been cut already for many reasons. The sound is definitely going to be different. The album feels authentic to me at this moment, which is all I can really do. They’re some of my best songs.”
McAlpine’s return to Dublin has already been confirmed, with a Vicar Street date slated for June 2023.

“I think a lot of things will be different by then,” the singer-songwriter nods. “Things change for me so much in the span of one month. I take things day by day, but I’ve had a good time in Dublin so far! We’ve gotten many Irish breakfasts, which I love. Yesterday we went to the Stage Door café. One of the guys who was working there had been trying to get tickets to this show for a month. My guitarist Kelly told his colleague that we’re performing at the Button Factory, so when the other guy came back in, he was like, ‘Oh my God, Lizzy McAlpine!’

“It was really cute and wholesome. He even paid for our meals! Everyone in the café took whiskey shots. We put him on the guestlist for tonight. It made my whole day.”

• five seconds flat is out now. Lizzy McAlpine plays Vicar Street on June 2.

READ: Live Report - Lizzy McAlpine kicks off first headline EU tour at the Button Factory, Dublin

Read more interviews in the new issue of Hot Press, starring Dermot Kennedy, out now.