Elijah Nathan Borders, known online as theexelijah or just elijah, is an alternative/hard rock artist from Nashville, Tennessee. Over the course of his career, Borders has released six albums: “fighting myself – EP”, “virus”, “HOSTAGE”, “FAMOUS”, “how it starts”, and his lastest, “lowest,” which includes hard rock, alternative, and pop-like songs, with amounts of screaming and raspy lyrics.
The album is split into three phases, starting with phase one beginning with a robotic female voice asking if the listener is sure they want to begin to listen. Phase one includes four of the 10 included songs, starting from “SKIN” to “between my lies”.
Phase two opens up with “holding…” where the robotic female voice says Phase one is complete and begins to upload Phase two, with a queuing up song playing for one minute before coming back to say phase two is initiated. Phase two includes three additional songs, starting with “UNDERRATED” and ending with “I don’t give a!”
Phase three begins with “confirm”, where the voice asks if the listener is still there, asking if they wish to continue with the album, asking two times if the listener is sure they want to, where a phone is hit and the voice replies with “enjoy.” Phase three includes the last three songs, beginning with “Hurt” and ends with “lowest”, where, at the end of the song, a phone appears to hang up and the voice comes back to say thanks for calling the lowest hotline, and if they wish to listen again, hang up and call back, finally ending with goodbye.
The album includes many songs that reflect on a toxic relationship and its outcome in the end. All songs are tied to his own personal life and how it has shaped him. The following is the album’s songs, in order, alongside the length of listening time for each song.
Songs:
- hello? (0:31)
- SKIN (3:41)
- Grip (3:47)
- my own misery (3:28)
- between my lies (3:35)
- holding… (1:30)
- UNDERRATED (3:27)
- victim (2:37)
- i don’t give a! (3:32)
- confirm (0:15)
- Hurt (3:50)
- how it starts (3:31)
- lowest (3:53)
The album opens up with “hello?”, featuring a robotic female voice that introduces listeners to the beginning of the album. It is made to sound like everything is placed through a phone call or hotline of sorts. The voice directs listeners to press the number 1 button to start the album, following with saying phase one will begin.
The first song to play is a single that was released months prior to the album titled “SKIN”, a song about questioning if it is the end of life, talking about being poisoned, and his partner “living in his skin.” The song’s lyrical depth is explicit with mentions of ways to die, and being stuck in a relationship that he can’t easily leave.
The second song is titled “Grip”, a song that looks at staying intact with mental health, and slowly “losing grip” with sanity. The song looks into insanity and paranoia, and communicating with paranoia like it’s an actual entity, trying to persuade the entity to allow him to let go. The song has an eerie beginning with ghostly whispers and piano, before picking up guitar and drums. The beat picks up into a rock rhythm with later having a pop-like rhythm.
The third song is titled “my own misery,” a song about Borders blaming himself for his own problems and that he might be addicted to his own suffering. Saying it’s “easier to keep myself broken.” The song starts off melodic with piano for a few seconds, before kicking off with Border’s well known instrumental rock drums and guitar.
The following song, titled “between my lies”, starts off with heavy rock drums, with Borders’ screaming the first few lines, before taking on a pop-like voice. The song is about his own problems with his lies, not being able to keep them straight and knowing the difference between the truth and his lies. Elijah talks about his regrets and not being able to find the right words to express about his downfall.
Phase two begins with “holding…”, where the female voice comes back to say that Phase one is complete and that the listener will have to wait for Phase two to “upload.” A unique background soundtrack begins to play, not quite like Elijah’s known style. Eventually – after a queue of a minute and a half – the voice comes back as the music slows down to say that Phase two is initiated.
The first official song of Phase two is titled “UNDERRATED”, featuring heavy screaming. Borders talks about his struggles with being an outcast and that he has plenty of potential, saying all you need to do is watch him be great. This song is probably the most scream-heavy song in the entire album. He makes a nod towards the end of the song that someone took him for granted with dropping an f-bomb towards this person, once again, most likely his toxic partner.
The second song of Phase two is titled “victim”, my personal favorite on the entire album, begins with Border’s repeating “You are the symptom, I am the victim,” hinting at more of the toxic relationship he’s tangled in. Elijah nods several lyrics towards death after death, like “You’re the one driving nails in my coffin.” This can tie knots with his song virus in the album by the same title, where in both songs, he mentions lyrics talking about “[You’re the] venom in my veins.” The reason it’s my favorite of the album is because it relates to my own experiences and has a perfect mix of screaming rock and alternative pop.
The final song in Phase two is “I don’t give a!”, in which Borders comforts himself with that he’s done with everything, having enough with how he’s been treated. He talks about how he’s fed up and going to “take back [his] life.” He talks about how he’s not the same person he was before, most likely suggesting he’s re-framed himself to understand his own choices and is finally deciding to own up and make the right ones, such as leaving the relationship he’s been trapped in.
At last we reach Phase three, beginning with “confirm,” where the female voice asks if the listener is still there and if they wish to continue the album. The voice asks multiple times to confirm as Phase three tends to be the most emotional depth of the whole album.
“Hurt” begins Phase three with a song that talks about emotional torture. Borders is essentially telling his partner to make him so emotionally scarred that he will never go back into the relationship ever. Elijah encourages his partner to do their worst to him, make him hurt, and that hopefully he will never go back to the relationship.
One of the most melodic of the album is “how it starts,” where Elijah goes back against his previous song, “Hurt,” and begins talking about that everything is his fault due to him falling for every lie of his partner. In the song, he says “why do you torture my only piece of mind until I fall apart again,” which makes the song seem apologetic in sorts when comparing it to “Hurt.”
The final song of “lowest” is the song by the same title. In this song, Elijah mainly focuses on his own state of mind, how he’s lost in what to do, trying to fight even though he’s at rock bottom and no one is helping him climb out. Border says he “needs a miracle” and that he might be already too far gone to even be saved. At the end of the song, the sound of a phone call being cut off, with the robotic voice coming back to say that she’s thankful for you “calling” the “lowest hotline,” and that she hopes you enjoyed it. Following is directions on how to “call back” the “hotline,” and that if the listener wants to reach out to her, her name is…then it cuts off.
Overall, the album was phenomenal, and I would definitely recommend it to any fan of the rock genre. Elijah is a newer artist, releasing music since 2024, but he is a really good singer.
I would recommend “lowest” to any fan of the rock/alternative genre, and to anyone that likes listening to newer artists.
Rating: 5/5
