According to their website, “Leith Ross is a songwriter, singer, and artist born and raised in a small town outside of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. They’ve been a sensitive and overly artistic person since birth and when they started writing songs around the age of 12 it quickly became Leith’s favourite way to be sensitive and overly artistic. Still is. Since then, they’ve recorded and released two projects, and have a new one underway. Inspired by the likes of Lucinda Williams, Dolly Parton, Disney movie soundtracks, High School Musical, and their dad’s horrible parodies of all of the above, their songs attempt to explore themes of gut-wrenching and cheesy love, silliness and extreme existentialism. Their favourite stuff.”

To Learn by Leith Ross was an album that was already amazing in so many different ways, so when To Learn, More was released, it’s understandable why so many fans were so excited. Before we continue this review, I do want to give a content warning for a few of the following songs, as they do discuss topics of sexual assault. If you are uncomfortable with the topic, or may be triggered by it, I would kindly ask you to skip this week’s Buzz Beats and read any prior reviews that are published! This week’s Buzz Beats will also be a bit longer than usual, as I will be diving into some of the meanings of the songs, what the artist has said about the album, alongside some of my personal favorite lyrics.

To Learn, More is the extended version of Leith Ross’ debut album, To Learn. Leith Ross discusses many different topics throughout this album, ranging from love, sexual assault, sexual trauma, asexuality, LGBTQIA+ issues, and more. This album also features an array of genres, which features Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter Chamber Folk, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Bedroom Pop. This album features one of Ross’ most popular songs, We’ll Never Have Sex, a song that discusses a relationship in which the partner doesn’t love them just for their body. This song went extremely viral on Tiktok, with the original video posted of it reaching 8.5 million views.

I’ve been obsessed with this album since my first listen, and continue to love every song on it. Although you’ll see in my ranking that two of the songs aren’t at “Amazing!” or “Perfect!,” it doesn’t mean that I don’t like the songs. Don’t get me wrong, every single song on this album is so so amazing, however, with so many good songs back-to-back, some get lost in the loop.

Featured here are my favorite lyrics from (almost) every song, and the meanings behind most of them.

5AM:

• Wet hair from swimming in normal clothes/The smell in the air right before it storms

I Just Don’t Think That You Like Me That Much Anymore:

• I think that I’m just feeling sore/’Cause the truth is that you just don’t like me that much anymore
• You stopped calling first, not that I’m keeping score
  • There’s nothing quite wrong and I guess I can’t really be sure/But there’s sick in my gut and fine, I’m keeping score
• Just leave it unspoken and leave me unsure
• And I’m so embarrassed, I’m acting like a little kid/Passive aggressive and practicing little tricks
• Watch me, I learned this for you/Look at the things I can do

To me:

• If I’d do anything for you that means/You know you could do anything to me
• You put a picture up and it didn’t feel like love/Just a reminder of contractional debt and luck
• I begged for forgiveness that I didn’t need

Orlando:

• Your voice puts sickness into my gut/And I swallowed just a little too much
• I don’t know what I did wrong/It’s not your fault, I just think I was in love
• You make every part of me small/I’m short of breath and two feet tall
• What was the day that you ceased to think of me like that?/I don’t know what I said but I’d like the chance to take it back
• None of this would be worth the fuss if I hadn’t been in love

We’ll Never Have Sex:

• Oh, dilute me, gentle angel/Water down what I called being grateful
• Oh, you kissed me just to kiss me/Not to take me home
• If I said you could never touch me/You’d come over and say I looked lovely
• Come and kiss me, pretty baby/Like we’ll never have sex

On August 29, 2021, ‘We’ll Never Have Sex’ was first posted on TikTok. As soon as the video went viral, a huge number of fans asked for the song to be released.  In the song, discovering someone who genuinely loves you and isn’t just using your body is shown throughout. Leith added that it was about sexual trauma, asexuality, being transgender, queer, and gay in a TikTok comment section.

Guts –

• You held me down and told me/That I thought that you were handsome, but you’re wrong
• Then you wrote yourself a letter/To my name for all your trouble
• I told my friend about you/He was so upset I thought he might’ve cried/But outside on the pavement/Well, it turned to “I like playing with the guy.”
• All these feelings I can’t name yet/Claimed and touched and played with in my sleep
• But do their mothers know?
• I know it’s not really her fault, but I/I do think that she’d cry if I called

The bridge of this song is extraordinary, especially as it talks about how if the mothers of the perpetrators knew about what their children were doing, they’d feel even more guilt than the perpetrators themselves. 

Ask First –

• I imitate, I trace your words/To better fake a better sorry
• And I’m seeing you when you’re out of sight

Ask First is a song that discusses, “…when you still love someone so much but you have to choose to let them go because of something they did to you and because it’s not good for you.”

Everything Ends – 

• Everything ends/And that’s the saddest thing I think I’ll ever hear
• Everything ends/And that’s the sweetest thing I’ll ever hear again

(You) On My Arm – 

• But it’d become nothing, it’s nothing/And you’d smile at me
• I wanna be, I wanna buy you/Pretty little things and never ever lie to you/Watch you get dressed and compliment your taste
• You’d swear to keep me up/And fall asleep beside me/And nothing, no terrible dream/Could ever wake us

“This song is about having a massive crush on someone. It happens, fortunately and unfortunately. I hope it can help with any yearning you may feel the need to do. That’s what it has done for me. I love being gay.” (Leith Ross Celebrates Queer Love With ‘(You) On My Arm’ | News | Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews)

To Learn –

• I’m losing again/From holding too tight/But I’m living to lose/What I can do without
• What can I say?/I’m learning to die/But I’m living to learn

Too Much Time In My House Alone

• At the back of a school bus/Knowing I’m late to get home/Not used to being on my own, trying to be normal
• But I guess I’m going/Or I’m dying/And I’m finding out
• Running, running from lightning/Waiting for thunder under her dad’s wing

Too Much Time In My House Alone is a song about, “Choosing to continue to try and to learn and to love, even if sometimes it ends poorly, is always a worthy choice in the end. To me, that’s kind of what that last song, “Too Much Time in My House Alone,” represents.” (Learning to Die and Living to Learn with Leith Ross)

Monogamy –

• Did my lovers all think I was kind?/And when I left, did they know I was lying?
• Would you tell me if you had to fake it but you loved me honestly?
• I want people to think/That I am the love of their lives/When I know they aren’t the love of mine/And then I call myself cruel to be kind
• I fall in love/With a different person each week/But I can only do monogamy/Someone tell me what that means

“Monogamy,” the second single by Canadian singer-songwriter Leith Ross, was first released in October 2021. It was released in between their debut EP and first full-length album. After the song’s original version was removed on November 24, 2023, the singer declared on Twitter that, “Monogamy will be back, it will just be different. I needed this, ok? Trust me. Love you.” It was re-released early in December of that year as a part of “To Learn, More.” The song describes the story of a person who only wants a monogamous relationship but who appears unable to commit and is constantly falling for different people. Unlike polyamory, which involves having multiple partners at once, monogamy is the practice of being in a relationship with one person at a time.

Music Box – 

• There is a cottage by the lakeside/Where fairies come out at night
• A butterfly the size of you/Offers to go flying with you/Climb on to her back/And doze off as you relax
• Oh the places in your dreams/Are they fiction, or memory?/If you listen for long enough/You’ll fall asleep

Music Box is a song that’s lyrics evoke a feeling of escape by emphasizing a Wonderland-style scene.

This album was recommended by EHHS Senior, Daniel Bowden. When discussing the reason on why he loves this album, he states,

“I like it bc it makes me feel things in the best and worst way. Also, some songs remind me of the prettiest girl I have ever had the blessing to lay my eyes upon. I love [We’ll Never Have Sex] so much. I just think that the meaning is really important and I’ve never heard it in a song before. It was the first song with this topic that I’ve related to. It’s hard to describe in words how much I love this song. Music Box, can I just say, just sounds beautiful. Taking away the lyrics, the instrumental is just gorgeous. Usually when I listen to a song, I have to like the way the song sounds to fully like it. I could take out all the lyrics of [Music Box] and still be just as in love with it. [Monogamy] is such a gut-wrenching song. The lyrics, “I want people to think/That I am the love of their lives/When I know they aren’t the love of mine,” make me want to sob my eyes out in the best way possible. Their lyrics throughout this entire album are just beautiful.”

Overall, I’d rate this album a 9.4/10, and absolutely would recommend this album to anyone in the mood to have their heart and soul crushed by the lyricism throughout.

Find “To Learn, More” on most streaming platforms, such as Spotify, Apple Music, and more.