A year after her album dropped, Lizzy McAlpine’s career has gone through the “Ceiling”

One year ago — April 8, 2022 — Lizzy McAlpine released her second album, five seconds flat. But it’s only in the past few months that one track on the album, “Ceilings,” has become a hit after blowing up on TikTok.

“Pretty much everything has changed,” she tells ABC Audio. “It’s just kind of been going up at a steady increase.” She laughs, “Every time I leave my house, I usually get recognized, and I got to be on Fallon and I’m about to go on my headline tour. It’s just all very exciting.”

“Ceilings” wasn’t a single — it’s barely included in the short film Lizzy made to go with the album. But she thinks she knows why fans gravitate toward the song, which describes daydreaming about a relationship that’s ended.

“I try to write about the feelings that maybe are a little harder to put into words,” she explains. “And I think this song is an example of that. It’s, like, a very specific feeling that’s pretty universal, and I think people just haven’t had the words to express it, or they … see themselves in the song.”

But Lizzy still doesn’t know who started the “Ceilings” TikTok trend, in which people lip-synch to a sped-up version, sometimes while running dramatically, often while wearing long, flowing gowns.

“I just remember scrolling on my ‘For You’ page and just seeing the sound pop up a bunch,” she recalls. “Whoever created the sped-up sound, shout out to you. Because I think that really kick-started it.”

And one particular video made her realize just how big the song has gotten.

“Victoria Justice did the trend on TikTok,” Lizzy laughs. “And that’s crazy, because she was the first concert that I ever went to. So it was pretty full circle!”