"Ceilings" is a song by American singer-songwriter
Lizzy McAlpine
Elizabeth Catherine McAlpine, also known as Lizzy McAlpine (born September 21, 1999) is an American singer-songwriter.
Early life and education
Lizzy McAlpine grew up in Narberth, Pennsylvania, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She has written ...
. It appeared on her second studio album, ''
Five Seconds Flat
''Five Seconds Flat'' (stylized in all lowercase) is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Lizzy McAlpine, released on April 8, 2022, by Harbour Artists & Music in association with the AWAL music distribution company.
Background ...
'', which was released on April 8, 2022. The
folk-pop ballad, which has prominent strings in its instrumentation, describes the end of a night with McAlpine's partner that turns out to be a daydream about a relationship that already ended.
"Ceilings" became McAlpine's breakthrough song after becoming popular on
TikTok, where a trend of young women running through the rain and snow to the
plot twist in the song's final verse soundtracked hundreds of thousands of videos. "Ceilings" peaked at number 54 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. Outside of the United States, "Ceilings" peaked within the top ten of the charts in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The song was later released to
mainstream radio
Contemporary hit radio (also known as CHR, contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format that is common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by ...
in the United States on March 14, 2023.
Background, music video, and TikTok success
"Ceilings" was included on
Lizzy McAlpine
Elizabeth Catherine McAlpine, also known as Lizzy McAlpine (born September 21, 1999) is an American singer-songwriter.
Early life and education
Lizzy McAlpine grew up in Narberth, Pennsylvania, in the suburbs of Philadelphia. She has written ...
's second studio album ''
Five Seconds Flat
''Five Seconds Flat'' (stylized in all lowercase) is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Lizzy McAlpine, released on April 8, 2022, by Harbour Artists & Music in association with the AWAL music distribution company.
Background ...
'', a
folk-pop record released on April 8, 2022, on
AWAL.
A music video starring Michael Hanano, McAlpine's boyfriend at the time, was released on February 14, 2023.
In early 2023, a sped-up version of the song's final verse became popular on
TikTok, where it was used in over 200,000 videos, mostly of young women lip-syncing to the song while running through the rain or snow.
Its online success led to the song being McAlpine's breakthrough song.
She performed the song during her
Tiny Desk Concert for
NPR Music
NPR Music is a project of National Public Radio, an American privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization, that launched in November 2007 to present public radio music programming and original editorial content for music ...
in November 2022 and on ''
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon'' in March 2023.
Composition and reception
"Ceilings" is a
ballad with prominently featured strings.
The lyrics of "Ceilings" detail the end of a night with McAlpine's partner that she does not want to end and they end with a
plot twist that the night was actually a daydream about a relationship that already ended, as McAlpine sings, "But it's not real/And you don't exist/And I can't recall the last time I was kissed" in the song's final verse. She based the song on a relationship she ended in college, as well as her going to London for three months to forget about it.
"Ceilings" was called "doleful" and "a plot-twisty ballad of heart-stomping hallucinations" by Bobby Olivier of ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', while Maggie Mancini of ''PhillyVoice'' similarly called it a "heartfelt" and "wistful, sometimes hallucinogenic ballad".
''
Dork
Dork is a pejorative term for a person (compare with " dweeb" and "fool").
Dork may also refer to: People
* Dork Sahagian, Armenian-American climate scientist
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Dork'' (EP), an album by AFI
* ''Dork'' (magaz ...
''s Neive McCarthy praised "Ceilings" as "a particular standout" from the songs on ''Five Seconds Flat''.
Chart performance
"Ceilings" debuted on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 on the chart dated March 4, 2023, becoming McAlpine's first song to enter the chart. It also peaked at number eight on the
Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart.
In the United Kingdom, "Ceilings" peaked at number six on the
UK Singles Chart on March 24, 2023 – for the week ending March 30, 2023 – becoming her first top ten song in Britain.
Cover versions
On April 18, 2023,
Niall Horan
Niall James Horan ( ; born 13 September 1993) is an Irish singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence as a member of the boy band One Direction, formed in 2010 on the singing competition ''The X Factor''. The group released five albums and went ...
performed a cover of the song whilst appearing on
BBC Radio 1's ''Live Lounge''.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Lizzy McAlpine
2020s ballads
2022 songs
AWAL singles
Folk ballads
Pop ballads
Songs about heartache
Lizzy McAlpine songs
Songs about dreams