diff --git a/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/lib/conventional-commits.ts b/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/lib/conventional-commits.ts
index 4751f50f2237d..14ce826a82f05 100644
--- a/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/lib/conventional-commits.ts
+++ b/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/lib/conventional-commits.ts
@@ -73,7 +73,11 @@ export async function getConventionalCommitsFromGitHistory(args: ReleaseOptions,
       format: '%B%n-hash-%n%H',
       // our tags have the 'v' prefix
       from: gitTag,
-    }).pipe(conventionalCommitsParser());
+    }).pipe(conventionalCommitsParser(
+      {
+        noteKeywords: ['BREAKING CHANGE', 'BREAKING-CHANGES', 'CHANGES TO L1 RESOURCES'],
+      },
+    ));
 
     conventionalCommitsStream.on('data', function (data: any) {
       // filter out all commits that don't conform to the Conventional Commits standard
@@ -134,7 +138,6 @@ export function createScopeVariations(names: string[]) {
   const transforms: Array<(x: string) => string> = [
     (name) => name.replace(/^aws-/, ''),
     (name) => name.replace(/^aws-/, 'aws'),
-    (name) => name.replace(/-alpha$/, ''),
   ];
 
   for (const transform of transforms) {
diff --git a/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/lib/lifecycles/changelog.ts b/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/lib/lifecycles/changelog.ts
index 1f93e7a89c14d..ebcb5c5d856f9 100644
--- a/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/lib/lifecycles/changelog.ts
+++ b/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/lib/lifecycles/changelog.ts
@@ -132,15 +132,6 @@ export async function changelog(
           // which are different than the 'conventionalChangelogWriter' defaults
           ...presetConfig.writerOpts,
           finalizeContext: (ctx: { noteGroups?: { title: string }[]; date?: string }) => {
-            // the heading of the "BREAKING CHANGES" section is governed by this Handlebars template:
-            // https://github.com/conventional-changelog/conventional-changelog/blob/f1f50f56626099e92efe31d2f8c5477abd90f1b7/packages/conventional-changelog-conventionalcommits/templates/template.hbs#L3-L12
-            // to change the heading from 'BREAKING CHANGES' to 'BREAKING CHANGES TO EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES',
-            // we have to change the title of the 'BREAKING CHANGES' noteGroup
-            ctx.noteGroups?.forEach(noteGroup => {
-              if (noteGroup.title === 'BREAKING CHANGES') {
-                noteGroup.title = 'BREAKING CHANGES TO EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES';
-              }
-            });
             // in unit tests, we don't want to have the date in the Changelog
             if (args.includeDateInChangelog === false) {
               ctx.date = undefined;
diff --git a/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/test/changelog.test.ts b/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/test/changelog.test.ts
index 091524515e36c..0c54e395f60c6 100644
--- a/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/test/changelog.test.ts
+++ b/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/test/changelog.test.ts
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ describe('changelog', () => {
     expect(changelogContents).toBe(
       `## [1.24.0](https://github.com/aws/aws-cdk/compare/v1.23.0...v1.24.0)
 
-### ⚠ BREAKING CHANGES TO EXPERIMENTAL FEATURES
+### ⚠ BREAKING CHANGES
 
 * this is a breaking change
 
diff --git a/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/test/conventional-commits.test.ts b/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/test/conventional-commits.test.ts
index d54e726501093..d4d92beac68d2 100644
--- a/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/test/conventional-commits.test.ts
+++ b/tools/@aws-cdk/cdk-release/test/conventional-commits.test.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 import * as crypto from 'crypto';
 import * as stream from 'stream';
-import { ConventionalCommit, createScopeVariations, filterCommits, getConventionalCommitsFromGitHistory } from '../lib/conventional-commits';
+import { ConventionalCommit, filterCommits, getConventionalCommitsFromGitHistory } from '../lib/conventional-commits';
 import { ReleaseOptions } from '../lib/types';
 
 // mock out Git interactions
@@ -38,6 +38,30 @@ describe('getConventionalCommitsFromGitHistory', () => {
 
     expect(commits).toHaveLength(1);
   });
+
+  test('Changes to L1 are considered a note group', async () => {
+    const commitMessages = [
+      'fix(ec2): some fix',
+      (
+        'feat: update L1 CloudFormation resource definitions\n\n' +
+        'CHANGES TO L1 RESOURCES:\n' +
+        'L1 resources are automatically generated from...:\n' +
+        '- aws-cdk-lib.aws_kendra.CfnDataSource.TemplateConfigurationProperty: template property here has changed from string to json'
+      ),
+    ];
+    gitRawCommits.mockImplementation(() => mockGitCommits(commitMessages));
+
+    const commits = await getConventionalCommitsFromGitHistory(args, '3.9.2');
+
+    expect(commits[0].notes).toHaveLength(0);
+    expect(commits[1].notes).toEqual([{
+      title: 'CHANGES TO L1 RESOURCES',
+      text: (
+        'L1 resources are automatically generated from...:\n' +
+        '- aws-cdk-lib.aws_kendra.CfnDataSource.TemplateConfigurationProperty: template property here has changed from string to json'
+      ),
+    }]);
+  });
 });
 
 describe('filterCommits', () => {
@@ -105,8 +129,19 @@ describe('filterCommits', () => {
     expect(filteredCommits[0].scope).toEqual('aws-stable');
   });
 
-  test('scope variants take alpha packages into account', () => {
-    expect(createScopeVariations(['@aws-cdk/aws-batch-alpha'])).toContain('batch');
+  test('alpha packages are not considered stable', () => {
+    const ec2Commits = [
+      commitWithScope('aws-ec2-alpha'),
+      commitWithScope('ec2'),
+      commitWithScope('aws-ec2'),
+    ];
+
+    const filteredCommits = filterCommits(ec2Commits, {
+      includePackages: ['@aws-cdk/aws-ec2-alpha'],
+    });
+
+    expect(filteredCommits.length).toEqual(1);
+    expect(filteredCommits[0].scope).toEqual('aws-ec2-alpha');
   });
 });