It Was Always Me

“It Was Always Me” is a song about recognizing that the person who must interrupt your life may be you.

Elza states the problem plainly: “Waking up is painful, didn’t know I was asleep / I’ve got more regret for life that’s lived, can’t afford to waste my time.” The tension inside those lines is what gives the track its force. Awakening is framed not as relief, but as the moment regret becomes visible—and therefore actionable.

The arrangement turns that realization into movement. A stomp-clap pulse pushes forward while acoustic guitar gives the rhythm texture and weight. The sound recalls the direct physicality associated with KT Tunstall and the communal lift of The Lumineers’ “Ho Hey,” but Elza uses those mechanics for an inward reckoning rather than a simple sing-along.

Her vocal is raw without becoming shapeless. It carries urgency, but the experience behind her work as a sync writer for outlets including ABC and Netflix is audible in the control of each phrase. The song knows when to tighten, when to open and how to make a chorus feel inevitable.

That craft protects the lyric from sentimentality. “It Was Always Me” does not celebrate self-discovery as an easy cure. It acknowledges the grief of time already spent, then allows the beat to insist that time is still moving.

The artwork by Yuliya Lanina extends the song’s visual identity, but the central image remains internal: a person crossing the threshold between recognizing a life and choosing it.