Lizzy McAlpine released her third studio album, “Older,” in the spring, and the Montgomery County native is now giving fans an inside look at her music-making process with a new documentary.
“Older: The Making of the Album” will be released on YouTube on Friday at 11 a.m., the singer announced on social media. McAlpine also said she’ll be joining the YouTube premiere early to chat and answer fans’ questions.
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The documentary, directed by Neema Sadeghi, was filmed at the Nuffer Ranch in Pasadena, California, and captures McAlpine’s artistic process throughout the writing, recording and production of “Older” alongside her band.
“Older,” which was released by RCA in April, explores themes of grief, change and growing up. McAlpine has said it was inspired by an on-and-off romantic relationship that began while she was an undergrad at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. A review in the New Yorker describes it as an “eerie, sparse, and gorgeous folk-rock record.” It has produced two singles so far, “Older” and “I Guess,” and McAlpine is in the midst of a world tour in support of the album — which included two homecoming shows at the Met Philadelphia in June.
“The experience of making this documentary was so incredibly special,” Sadeghi told Broadway World. “To be able to witness the genius that is Lizzy and this band every day, inside and out, was very an inspiring place to be for me. Beyond grateful to Lizzy and the band for welcoming me in with open arms to capture the magic of ‘Older’ and trusting me to tell this story.”
McAlpine, 24, grew up in Narberth and graduated from Lower Merion High School in 2018. She went on to attend Berklee, where she began recording and releasing music. A number of covers and original songs posted to her TikTok account in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic helped propel her to national fame.
She released her debut album “Give Me a Minute” in 2020. But it was her second album, “Five Seconds Flat,” released in 2022, that brought her into the mainstream. In particular, the single “ceilings” took off on TikTok last year, when it became the soundtrack to a popular trend. It debuted on the Billboard Hot 100, and the official music video has been viewed 23 million times on Youtube. Despite finding previous success on TikTok, though, McAlpine said she is pivoting away from the platform.
“I do not like posting on TikTok. And I do not like having to play the TikTok game to get a song noticed,” she said in an interview with Philadelphia Magazine in June. “I did it more in the past, because that’s what people were telling me to do. But I am at a place in my career, perhaps because of that virality, that I don’t have to play that TikTok game. TikTok isn’t real, and I’m no longer interested in things that aren’t real or authentic.”
Check out the trailer for “Older: The Making of the Album” below: