Indie music’s high-school sweetheart equivalents Tucker Pillsbury (better known as Role Model) and Lizzy McAlpine have reunited to collaborate on McAlpine’s music video for her first single from Older (Deluxe) (out October 4), “Pushing it Down and Praying.”
Pillsbury has gained traction since supporting Gracie Abrams on “The Secret of Us Tour,” and recently announced the “No Place Like Tour” North American leg. Through his collaborations with McAlpine, much of their fanbases have merged. His most recent album was a hit amongst fans of his own and beyond, and he was recently nominated for People’s Sexiest Man Alive. In short, he is the current unanimously agreed-upon leader of the masculine side of the indie-pop world.
McAlpine and Pillsbury have partnered up many times, most recently on multiple parts of Pillsbury’s latest album Kansas Anymore. McAlpine was featured on “So Far Gone,” and had a cameo in the music video for “Look at That Woman.” Fans gushed over their chemistry and were begging for more. With the release of “Pushing it Down and Praying” on streaming and the subsequent announcement of Older (Deluxe), McAlpine had gotten her audiences excited enough. And yet, when fans logged onto the premiere of the music video on YouTube and spotted Pillsbury lifting McAlpine into the air, they practically lost it. Pillsbury shared a video on his Instagram Stories of a longtime fan of both his and McAlpine reacting to the video, in which she immediately began crying at the sight of the two of them together. Disregarding any speculations regarding a real-life romance between the two, which is indeed (and unsurprisingly) floating around, the two have an undeniable magic touch in their musical endeavors, separately, of course, and arguably even more in collaboration.
The “Pushing it Down and Praying” music video goes deeper than a connection between beloved music industry stars, and I would be amiss to fail to appreciate its production and lyrical brilliance amid the excitement of the latest Pillsbury x McAlpine crossover. Perhaps paying homage to her musical theater roots, the video is set on a stage play starring McAlpine a her co-star. As the play begins, McAlpine and a partner are lying in bed together when he suddenly rises and leaves the room. As she watches him leave, McAlpine sings, “I’m in bed, layin’ down, naked/ He’s inside of me/ I love him, kiss his mouth, prayin’/ He can’t see what I see.” When the door closes, with a shameful shake of her head, she continues: “When I close my eyes/ You replace him/ Wearin’ no disguise/ You erase him.” By the end of her sentence, McAlpine is standing in front of a seemingly packed house. A spotlight shines on the door to the bedroom, and as she moves toward the door, she sings, “I wanna feel guilty/ I wanna feel that it’s wrong…” The audience looks to one another in confusion, for no one is opening the door. In a panic, McAlpine goes to open the door to find no one is waiting to enter behind it. She continues, “I wanna know peace again/ Wanna sing a different song…” Backstage, her director shakes his head in disarray. The show must go on. As she returns to the bedroom and takes center stage, the music continues, though her lips are unmoving. “I want you to need me/ I need to want somethin’ more/ He gives what he can/ But now I don’t know what he’s givin’ for.” Audience members prepare to leave as a familiar face reveals itself from within the crowd. He takes off his cowboy hat, greeting McAlpine with a sideways smile. She begins to sing again, repeating a different version of the first verse: “I’m in bed, layin’ down, naked…” The music swells as she realizes who she is seeing. He stands up, and she continues: “You’re inside of me…” She turns around to see a poster of Pillsbury on the wall as if the set has changed at his sudden presence in her mind. He begins walking up to the stage, and she watches in disbelief as stagehands remove the set from behind her. Once they are face to face, mere inches of separation between them, he pulls her arms around him. She sings, “I love him, kiss his mouth, sayin’/ ‘Oh, yeah, baby, touch, and touch, and touch, and touch me.’” As an electric guitar enters the mix and the chorus repeats itself, McAlpine and Pillsbury begin dancing across the stage. McAlpine beams as he spins her around: the one she has wished to be with all along. The two are suddenly flying over the stage hand-in-hand on strings as McAlpine descends into the bridge: “Softer, harder, in-between/ You know just how to get to me/ He is stable, you are deep/ I know just how to get what I need.” The audience gives a rousing standing ovation; this is the show they came to see. Once they reach the ground, Pillsbury leans in for a moment before walking off. She races after him, but she cannot reach him. When she enters her dressing room, she is alone. She stares into the lit-up mirror, singing, “It’s only a question/If somebody brings it up/ So I’m pushin’ it down and prayin’/ He won’t see it when I come…” Suddenly, her original partner bursts through the door.
“Hey, good show,” he says.
She replies, “Wh-what? It’s over?”
“Yeah, sorry I was late for my mark, my mom called,” he laughs, shrugging it off. “But, we killed it.”
Not meeting his gaze, she mumbles back, “Yeah, thanks.”
When he leaves, McAlpine peers at a poster on the wall with Pillsbury’s face. It reads his real name, with the headline “Teen Dream.” The poster winks at her, and the video comes to an end.
Older (Deluxe) will include five new songs including the long-awaited “Spring Into Summer,” which McAlpine wrote and performed while on tour in Boston this past June. McAlpine’s fans are anxious to see what the continuation of the Older story will bring. With or without Pillsbury, McAlpine’s projects unfailingly deliver intentional production and vivid lyrical stories. And yet, the two have an incontestable spark when their creativity combines. “Pushing it Down and Praying” will indubitably become a fall staple for McAlpine and Pillsbury’s fans alike, and is an exciting introduction into the next phase of the Older era, and additionally what’s to come next from the McAlpine multiverse.