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In the four short years since her debut EP minor, Gracie Abrams has blossomed from the soft-spoken, apprehensive girl who penned tracks like "I Miss You, I'm Sorry," "Camden," and "Block Me Out" to an artist who has refined and defined who she is personally and musically. Guided by vulnerability, trust in her small-but-tightknit group of collaborators, an acoustic-pop niche, and a fresh honesty about just how messy it is to feel yourself grow into your own, Abrams's sophomore album The Secret of Us is undoubtedly her best work yet.
Stand-out tracks: "I Love You, I'm Sorry" "Let It Happen" "Tough Love" "Close to You"
My favorites: "Blowing Smoke" "us. (feat. Taylor Swift)" "I Knew It, I Know You" "Free Now"
The lighthearted shift from Gracie's earlier works is immediately apparent in album-opener "Felt Good About You" and lead single "Risk." Easy percussion, simple acoustics, and Gracie's incredible power with a pen introduce something new in her sound while holding on to the core of what has brought her success on past projects. And let me tell you this – Gracie Abrams knows how to write a bridge. In juxtaposition to many of the soft-spoken lyrics in her discography, the bridge of "Risk" is written to be scream-sung, whether it’s in your bedroom in front of a mirror, in the car driving with the windows down or in a 70,000-capacity stadium. The turbulent craving for consolation in, “I’m gonna bend ’til I break/And you’ll be my favourite mistake/I wish you could hold me, here shakin’/You’re the risk, I’m gonna take it”, builds to Abrams crying out with frustration that it’s just too soon to confess her infatuation – “Too soon to tell you I love you!“
The Secret of Us hits its stride with the golden trilogy of "Blowing Smoke," "I Love You, I'm Sorry," and "us. (feat. Taylor Swift)". The atmospheric acoustic production and wickedly clever lyrics weaving through each of these tracks would be enough to call each one a standout. But Abrams strikes deeper on each progressive track, composing bridges that are just so good that I genuinely have goosebumps thinking about them. From the "And I find your books pretentious now/At the time, they'd fed the fantasy" of "Blowing Smoke" to the "You never read up on it, shame/Could've learned something/Robert Bly on my nightstand, gifts from you/How ironic/The curse or a miracle/Hearse or an oracle/You're incomparable/Fuck, it was chemical" (oh my god?) of "us (feat. Taylor Swift), " Abrams writing has never been more transcendental or assertive.
"Let It Happen" and "Tough Love" are experimental tracks for Abrams; they embrace a wider vocal range than she's ever ventured to and lyrical confidence that would have seemed unfathomable even on 2023’s Good Riddance, proving that her musical capabilities have far surpassed the whispery bedroom-acoustics of her early projects. "Let It Happen" romanticizes the free fall of new love, with Abrams proclaiming, "Here's to hoping you're worth all my time/I might barely know you, but still/Don't love you yet, but probably will/Turn me into something tragic/Just for you, I let it happen." Between the poppier beat and devil-may-care attitude of "Tough Love" and longtime unreleased fan favorite “Close to You," Gracie even makes strides towards crossing the line between acoustic-pop and indie-acoustics.
But Gracie also isn't one to forget her roots; "I Knew It, I Know You" and "Gave You I Gave You I" bring her back to the slow-paced sentimental tracks that romanticize heartbreak and growing beyond the relationships of your past. However, unlike tracks even on Good Riddance, there's an airiness of gratitude for her heartache and growing pains now: "It all changed for me and I told you/You had the wrong idea about me/And all I did was consider you/Until all I could do was consider me."
And Gracie emerges as the most healed she's ever been from the heartbreaks of her past on album closer "Free Now." She's walked away from a relationship that helped her become who she wants to be, but ultimately wasn't worth the sacrifices that came along with it: "Hope you find somewhere safe for your baggage/Every page that I wrote, you were on it/Feel you deep in my bones, you're the current/And I showed no restraint, it was something/I was scared of til you made me love it." After all the stories of love, loss, and growth across The Secret of Us, there's tangible gratitude in closing the project on a note of self-assurance and hope for what is to come: "If you find yourself out, if there is a right time/Chances are I'll be here, we could share a lifeline/If you feel like fallin', catch me on the way down/Never been less empty all I feel is free now."
AM I OBSESSED?
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