If last year proved anything to us, it’s that songwriters on TikTok are on another level. Artists like Lizzy McAlpine, Ella Jane and Georgia Webster have found refuge in the app as an emotional release. Luckily we’re graced with lyrical honesty about the female experience.
Katie Gregson-MacLeod is no exception. After going viral with a short clip of “complex” in August of 2022, MacLeod caught the attention of songwriting veterans including Joe Jonas, Gracie Abrams, Dodie and Lennon Stella. Millions of views and likes later, MacLeod grew a massive fan base of patient listeners and released songs written for piano in December of 2022.
MacLeod sets the tone for the EP with “i’m worried it will always be you.” The song introduces us to the drama and despair of growing up and learning about love. As told in the EP’s title, the initial piano line carries us through the narrative ever so gently. The melody is spacey, allowing listeners to fully absorb MacLeod’s sentiment. She writes about the false permanence of her heartbreak and the acceptance that comes with believing there will never be another love like the one she had. “i’m worried it will always be you” is an earnest beginning that encourages listeners to understand MacLeod’s realizations about love and losing it.
On “to be eighteen,” MacLeod shares her wish to see love with the same naivety and innocence she had as a teenager. In agreeance with “i’m worried it will always be you,” “to be eighteen” captures first loves and breakups in a way that tiptoes around anger, turning straight to the insecurity that comes with being young. Perhaps the most melancholic track on the EP, she writes, “Was it just too much for you?/Was it not enough?” Packed with sensitivity in every corner, MacLeod draws from the teenage habit of dancing between being stifling and being apathetic.
After “complex” reached intense popularity through TikTok, Macleod released the song in early October as her first single. Even though this song is the most well-known on the album, ironically, it is also the most intimate.
She writes: “I’m being the cool girl/I’m keeping it so tight/I carry him home while/my friends have a good night.”
MacLeod shares her infectious vulnerability by writing about the mundane experience of staying in a relationship that’s already over. She narrates the story with delicate, yet mournful vocals accompanied by a somber piano line. The melody repeats itself through each line in the chorus, emphasizing the exhausting routine of trying to earn someone’s love. Although soft and sweet, the lyrics are brutal in the best way.
MacLeod ends the album with this song, only she decided to add strings to it. It’s hard to tell which is more emotionally moving—the stripped down piano version or the fluidity of the live strings. Either way, both versions of the song maintain the magic of our first listen.
Before finishing the EP with the string version of “complex,” MacLeod made sure to give listeners one last jab to the heart with “white lies.” Lyrically, the song details the lies we tell to convince ourselves that we don’t love someone anymore. Musically, the song builds from subdued, simple chords to a heavier, fuller sound with the help of some choir-like harmonies. It ties the ribbon on the romantic revelations we find during our coming of age and asks us to determine what discoveries lie ahead.
Considering “complex” made the world weep, we expected nothing less from songs written for piano. MacLeod writes ungaurdedly and without restraint, never once compromising her honesty for something more catchy or polished.
Rating: 9/10
Check out songs written for piano on Spotify!
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