It’s tempting to say that when you’re passing from your teens into your 20s, all you know is the present. But Ally Cribb’s haunting “Now” is far more world-wise than that oversimplification and the song’s own deceptively simple title—might suggest. With an eagle-eyed perception that would be enviable at any age, the Toronto-born, Halifax-based singer-songwriter describes the feeling of exiting a relationship (and, by extension, an entire era of your life) that your brain knows you have to put behind you, even though your heart may be slow to get the message.
If I could let it go I would
Staying won’t do me any good
There’s nothing left for me now
Now, now
Now I know what I was missing
’Cause now I’m missing you
Now the damage has been done
But I’m not done with you
Oh I wonder what you would do
If you knew
“I started writing ‘Now’ when I was 18 and watched it evolve over the past two years,” Cribb says. “The song’s narrator is a girl struggling with uncertainty in herself, turbulence in her life, regret about decisions and wistful hope for what might lie ahead. It’s where I am. Now.”
It’s also the title track to Cribb’s sophomore EP, a five-song affair that represents a giant leap ahead for her as an artist on several fronts. For one thing, this is the first record she’s written entirely by herself, and the sophistication of tracks like “Know Better” and “Not This Time” shows that she’s wholly justified in being proud of her development as a lyricist. Then there’s the matter of musical direction: Now constitutes a move into pure country after her previous dalliances with pop and adult contemporary—an artistic gambit she credits her producer, Igor Vrabac (of Toronto’s Akashic Rekords), with encouraging: “He’s incredibly talented and trusted me enough to follow my vision of creating a country EP, as it’s the direction I’ve always seen myself following since I first picked up a guitar.”
But this isn’t the glossy, crassly calculated brand of contemporary country that’s meant to provoke instant gratification on Tik Tok. Rather, Now is remarkably composed and gentle in a way that betrays Cribb’s debt to her heroes Joni Mitchell, Shawn Colvin and Taylor Swift.
That’s just one reason the critical response has been so rapturous. Female-centered UK rock mag Lock called the EP “wondrous,” writing: “Continuing to explore more of those warm and riveting aesthetics that have made her such a compelling artist lately, Now feels like a bold and assured step forward in her musical evolution to date.”
That evolution began with the DNA Cribb inherited from her musician father, but really kicked into high gear when she began taking singing lessons at age 8. In 2019, she released a cover version of Radiohead’s “Creep” that ended up netting more than 200,00 views on YouTube. She followed it up with “Bigger,” an anthem of resilience that constituted her coming-out party as an original artist.
On her subsequent debut EP, Unbroken, she worked through the grief she was experiencing after suddenly losing her mother in the thick of covid-mandated isolation. The unvarnished sentiment struck a nerve with listeners, leading to thousands of streams per week and highly positive coverage by dozens of media outlets.
With so much life and loss already under Cribb’s belt, it’s no wonder Now is such a penetrating, even essential work.
“This EP was inspired by the last two years of my life—walking through that portal, leaving behind who I was, beginning to invent who I want to be and learning about the emotional stakes of relationships that shape it all,” she says. “It’s part diary and part observation about how love behaves; how we let people back into our lives even when we know we shouldn’t for reasons we don’t understand and how it all changes us.
“I’ve always focused my writing on personal experiences. After struggling with letdowns and heartbreak, I felt these stories deeply. And I thought there must be others out there who might feel the same as me.”
Not only are there plenty of listeners who feel the same as her, but her peers seem to think she’s kind of great at communicating it too. Two songs from Unbroken reached the finals in the International category of the Song Academy Competition (in 2022 and 2024, respectively). More recently, Cribb’s original composition “California” was named the one of the four winners of the 2024 Write Out Loud song contest (a U.S.-based competition co-founded by Tony Award winner Taylor Louderman, who originated the role of Regina George in the stage adaptation of Mean Girls). As her prize, Cribb will get to hear her song re-recorded by a Broadway star for release on iTunes, Apple Music and Spotify, and performed live in a special concert at New York’s 54 Below.
Ally Cribb on Broadway? Sure, why not? With talent and insight like hers, she’s already proven she could go just about anywhere. In the meantime, Now is a pretty wonderful place to be.
