“But it’s not real! And you don’t exist, And I can’t recall the last time I was kissed!”
Gratifying lyrics that have pierced the souls of hundreds if not thousands of young people all across TikTok. Lizzy McAlpine’s sleeper hit, “Ceilings,” has taken the social media app by storm and resonated with a wide variety of teenagers and young adults across the country and even the globe. So, what is it about this melancholic rock ballad that has captured the hearts of so many who find themselves passionately lip-syncing along to the lyrics?
Well to answer that, we have to first address what the song is about. “Ceilings” describes an imaginative romance, an idea of love, that Lizzy has created for herself. Her listeners follow along unknowingly as she paints the picture of these romantic encounters and her feelings to match, to the point where it feels too good to be true. That’s because it is. In the last verse, Lizzy sings the most iconic lines from this song as read above, confirming that this idea of romance she dreamt up in her head is exactly that– a dream.
When we were young, we were spoon-fed this notion of a great love. From the Disney movies that had almost every little kid imagining what it’d be like to live in a castle to the dozens of infamous rom-coms or movies with romantic undertones, we watched in our formative years. Not to mention the hundreds of thousands of love songs we grew up listening to. To say we were bred to be for romantic love is an understatement. Some of us do get to live out our fantasy of falling in love. We get the kiss that’s just right even if it’s with the wrong person and the first date that leaves butterflies swarming in our guts. Some of us fall and the lucky few can say it was better than they expected. Then there’s the majority of us who haven’t experienced that. Even if you do find a person to love, it’s probably not the fulfilling, life-changing, all-consuming romance we grew up idolizing.
When you live in a world that centers on romantic connection and having someone if you want to be someone, it’s perfectly understandable why so many of us daydream about it. The perfect love story to take us away from our imperfect reality. A prince charming to sweep us off our feet or a beautiful princess who takes our breath away. Although most of us outgrow that fairytale setting, a lot of us still crave to find the love of our lives.
Our person, our other half, our… one true love.
So like Lizzy, we stare up at ceilings and imagine a world where we’re not alone. Well, we are loved wholly in the way we’ve been taught we should be. We imagine someone taking our hands and kissing us softly. We imagine incredible nights together and a warm, intimate morning when we wake up to them by our side. When the curtains close and we’re forced back down to earth, we can’t help but hope and wait for the days when that fantasy can become reality.
“Ceilings” is for the romantics. It’s for the daydreamers and the escape artists who disappear into the depths of their imaginations whenever they get the chance. It represents a universal experience that almost all of us know but we’re not supposed to talk about. One of those unspoken societal rules and whatnot. But Lizzy did and by doing so, she made so many of us feel seen. She made us feel heard and understood. She makes it clear that none of us our alone in these elaborate ideas that plague our minds and our want to love and be loved is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s one of the most human things about us. That, folks, is one of the most powerful things a person— no, an artist— can do.
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