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Writer's pictureAbby Anderson
May 42 min read

SONG SPOTLIGHT: Gracie Abrams' New Single 'Risk' is a Dramatically Charming Acoustic-Pop Hit


In 2023, Gracie Abrams released her debut LP Good Riddance, opened for over fifty shows on Taylor Swift's The Eras Tour, and performed multiple legs of her own Good Riddance Tour as well as some acoustic shows with collaborator and producer Aaron Dessner. What we didn't know was that she was also writing her sophomore album, The Secret of Us, set to be released June 21 on Interscope Records.


The first taste of The Secret of Us hit streaming on May 1, with the release of Gracie's lead single from the project, "Risk." The track was teased with an acoustic performance during the European leg of the Good Riddance Tour last fall. Now, with its full-blown, acoustic-pop production perfected by none other than Aaron Dessner, "Risk" shines with overdramatic vocal desperation and get-stuck-in-your head lyrics.



Since her debut "Mean It" in 2019, Gracie Abrams has always confessed the deepest distress of her heart. But this time around she's passionate, she's reckless, and she's a little bit melodramatic. "Risk" opens with the soft, willowy acoustics and whispered vocals easily recognizable as Abrams' sound until the pre-chorus leans into the tone of running home and telling the most over-the-top romantic story to your friend, which is the narrative Gracie has voiced is the energy that describes her full sophomore project.


The chorus of "Risk" is an extravagant, cheeky delusion that a doomed relationship is undoubtedly worth the fall. Abrams' higher vocal tones echo "God, I'm actually invested/Haven't even met him/Watch this be the wrong thing/Classic!." The simple acoustic-pop production builds upon and brightens a sound defined by Abrams' own "Mess It Up" and "The Bottom," with simple vocal layering and an addictive drum-guitar coupling. Later in the track, the slight lyrical switch to "No, I'm actually invested/Haven't even met yet/Wish that I was kidding/I'm not and I hate it" charmingly depicts Gracie's building frustration with her own neurotic romantic choices.


And let me tell you this - Miss Gracie Abrams knows how to write a bridge. In juxtaposition to so many of the soft-spoken lyrics in her current 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 (perhaps inspired by the success of her own "Sorry!" chant during "21" on tour?). The turbulent craving for consolation ("I'm gonna bend 'til I break/And you'll be my favorite 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!"


For a first glimpse into what's to come on The Secret of Us, "Risk" is the sparkling, more extroverted iteration of the candid lyricism and vibrant production that have already become a trademark of Abrams' discography. With Gracie now fully embracing her flaws and ready to quite literally risk it all, is it too soon to tell you I love this new era of Gracie Abrams?





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