Brutal honesty, unabashed jealousy, heartbreaking bridges — these are trademarks of singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams’ music. Her new album, The Secret of Us, stays true to its title, luring listeners into Abrams’ world of unrequited crushes, regretful breakups, and anxiety about being in her 20s. Produced by Abrams’ longtime collaborator Aaron Dessner, the album expands on the artistic foundations Abrams laid in her debut studio album Good Riddance (2023), yet occasionally falls short.
Abrams’ voice — breathy at times, loud and desperate at others — is fearlessly honest. Her lyricism is sometimes reminiscent of Phoebe Bridgers: gut-wrenchingly relatable, sad without dripping in self-pity.
“That’s just the way life goes / I like to slam doors closed / Trust me, I know it’s always about me / I love you, I’m sorry,” Abrams sings in “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” a standout track on the album. She knows the relationship will never work, she’s sorry about that and that’s just how life goes.
Abrams’ gift lies in her ability to sing about incredibly sad topics with nonchalance, documenting depressing occurrences with the casualty like you would in a diary. In “Normal Thing,” she sings about a movie star she’s fallen in love with, saying: “Don’t worry, I know I’ll see you again / Uh-huh, you’ll make me cry when it comes to an end / You were all that we hoped, but I can’t recommend.”
Although Abrams is not a normal girl — her father is the Emmy Award-winning director J.J. Abrams. She’s currently touring with Taylor Swift, yet she maintains relatability through her music. That’s part of her appeal. She doesn’t sing about partying on yachts and driving through Los Angeles in a Range Rover and instead roots her music in topics that affect everybody. She falls in love with movie stars on the TV screen. She hates her ex’s new girlfriend. She’s getting over a nasty situationship.
While feeling a bit childish at times, Abrams’ music is incredibly raw, yet playful. Perfectly encapsulating the feelings of falling in love and taking a terrifying chance on somebody. “Heard the risk is drowning but I’m gonna take it,” she sings on “Risk,” which she co-wrote with Audrey Hobart, her best friend. “Risk” is Abrams at her best — her voice is clear, strong, and animated, wonderfully expressing the unbridled anxiety that comes with falling in love.
“I burn for you / And you don’t even know my name / If you asked me to / I’d give you everything,” she sings on “Close To You,” a longtime fan favorite song that snuck onto the album after fans begged for its release. Written seven years ago when Abrams was only 17, the song sounds like it was written by a high schooler desperately chasing a crush.
While the good songs are strong — “Risk,” “Blowing Smoke,” and “I Love You, I’m Sorry” are particular standouts — the rest blur together. Abrams has found her sound, but that sound gets uninteresting quickly.
The album lacks originality, sounding like it’s trying too hard to emulate Swift’s folksy love songs. “us (feat. Taylor Swift),” which was written by Abrams, Swift, and frequent collaborator Jack Antonoff, feels like it was cut from folklore (2020), Swift’s foray into the indie music world. The chorus is weak, with Abrams breathily riffing the word “us” repeatedly.
Abrams’ most successful songs are the ones that sound like her. They’re catchy, toeing the line between heartbreaking and uplifting. The best songs on The Secret of Us call back to her early hits, “21” and “I miss you, I’m sorry,” which drew the world’s attention to Abrams’ unique sound. That sound is still there in The Secret of Us — but it is diluted.
