Maddie Regent’s ‘Lizzy’ is the New Hopeless Romantic Anthem

Maddie Regent’s ‘Lizzy’ Album cover art by Maya Sassoon

Maddie Regent is an artist who is not afraid to be honest in her music and say what needs to be said. This can be seen throughout her discography in which she pairs electric ear worm pop beats and her cathartic lyricism that keeps you wanting more.

Regent’s new single is the perfect example of this — built around sharp, conversational lyrics and simmering romantic tension, “Lizzy” follows a narrator doing everything in her power to convince herself she hates someone she very clearly can’t stay away from. From showing up at a party she swore she wouldn’t attend to admitting, “I’m trying everything to hate you darling/I hate to say but I can’t,” the song plays out like an enemies-to-lovers story lifted straight from the pages of a romance novel. "

“My favorite love stories start with two enemies who spend all their time fighting their attraction to one another,” says Regent. “I wanted to write a song that captured that stubborn inevitable love.”

And capture it she did. Not only do the lyrics reflect the unavoidable pull of a lover you know you probably shouldn’t be pining after, “I couldn’t seem to stay away/I know we both feel gravity pulling me to your body/But you can’t see it on my face” but it is present sonically in the song as well. The verses contain a plucked guitar, strings, and a saxophone melody that is calm and hopeful however, as the song progresses through the chorus’ and the bridge a piano melody is added in and the other instruments become louder and more intense almost as if they’re mimicking the intensity of feelings and romantic tension between Regent and the love interest she sings about, “They all say you’re the man/You’re just a gun for hire/Don’t ask me to dance/I’ve still got no desire/You can keep your fitting hand/But baby, I’m a liar”.

I believe that this single is one of the most thoughtful and versatile pieces throughout Regent’s discography and a track that will leave you yearning for a cinematic love story.