Gracie Abrams, My Favorite Nepo Baby

There’s a very real possibility that Gracie Abrams is my favorite nepotism baby. In fact, I’d give up Star Wars (sorry, JJ) just to keep listening to Gracie’s new album, The Secret of Us.

I’ve been a casual Gracie fan for a while. I saw her open for Olivia Rodrigo in 2021 and for Taylor Swift in 2023. I own one of her records (This Is What It Feels Like EP, you will always have a home in my heart) and her 2023 album Good Riddance was in my top 10 albums of 2023. So, it’s safe to say that I do love that woman.

While I do love Gracie’s music (obviously), sometimes, at least for me, the songs start to run together. She knows what works for her and uses it to her advantage. No shame in that. The whispery vocals, the intentional voice breaks and the relative quiet feel of her music is her bread and butter. I enjoyed this album more than her other work because while she keeps true to her formula, The Secret of Us feels more like a story with changes in tempo (which I adore). I also appreciate that there are tracks in this album that don’t take themselves too seriously (very important) and tracks that will have you sitting on the kitchen floor hanging your head (“I Knew It, I Know You,” I’m looking you straight in the eye).

The first track, “Felt Good About You,” really sets the tone for the entirety of the album. The first line is, “Felt good about you ‘til I didn’t” which encapsulates every single song on the album. I love how that works. Revolutionary. Visionary, even.

The lead single for this album was the second track, “Risk.” I knew I was going to love this album when this song came out a few months ago. That song went double platinum in our house. Every shower, every car ride, and every cooking time Zoee and I were clocked in to “Risk.” For this particular song, I love how she screams, “Too soon to tell you I love you” before she delves into the last bit of the song. And then she goes quiet again, just to come back with more screaming. Yes, please.

I’ve said this ten million times, and I will say it ten million more; I’d rather have an artist that sings with emotion in their voice with voice cracks and little mistakes as opposed to an artist with a perfect voice with no vulnerability. I’m not a fan of a robotic voice. I personally love a voice crack, intentional or not.

I read a tweet the other day that Gracie’s music is for people who know they are seen as the villain in certain relationships. I thought that was an interesting take. It was definitely one that I’d never considered. I didn’t really have any experience with that perspective until a little while ago, but now when I hear certain songs I find them to be slightly unnerving. It’s a really distinct perspective, though. It’s different. And that’s the point of honest music, yeah? To make you face the uncomfortable truths whether you’re ready to or not.

To me, the songs that perfectly capture this are “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and “I Knew It, I Know You.” Funnily enough, these are two of my favorite tracks from the record.

I’m obsessed with the fact that Gracie had a song called “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” from her 2020 EP, and on this album she has “I Love You, I’m Sorry.” I’ve been sitting here for a minute trying to find the words to describe how I feel about this song without exposing too much of my brain or experiences or emotions, but then again that’s kind of the point of writing this, I suppose.

I think the lines that send a shiver down my spine the most are, “I like to slam doors closed / Trust me, I know it’s always about me” and “I push my luck, it shows / Thankful you don’t send someone to kill me.” The outro to this song is phenomenal. I adore it. The last five or so lines are just killer:   

Joyriding down our road / Lay on the horn to prove it still haunts me / I love you, I’m sorry / The way life goes / I wanna speak in code / Hope that I don’t, won’t make it about me / I love you, I’m sorry

I also want to lay on the horn to prove it still haunts me. And I want to speak in code. And I hope that I don’t make it all about me. My Pinterest boards and Spotify playlists could all be simply summed up with those lines. Terrifying!

“I Knew It, I Know You” is my absolute favorite song from this album. The first time I heard, I was convinced Gracie was shining a flashlight into my brain and clearing out the cobwebs. Wow. I’m struggling to decide which lyrics to include because I feel like they are all permanently inked onto my forehead. If you want to crawl around in my mind for four minutes and 12 seconds, please be my guest and hit play!

I’m truly on the verge of just typing the entire song out. And I love how it’s not an angry song when it easily could be, but it’s more exasperated and tired.

I worship the outro of this song. The switch-up from the beginning of the song is so delicious. The tempo changes, the structure changes, and she is absolutely brutal with her lyrics. If you drive in my car with me, this will be the first song in the queue, trust that. I’m going to list the lines of the outro for you so you can see them written out and take a moment to soak them in:

•  “It all changed for me, and I told you”

•  “You had the wrong idea about me”

•  “And all I ever did was consider you”

• “Until all I could do was consider me”

•  “I was your entertainment from a dark place” (OUCH)

• “You don’t know how to step outside yourself”

• “It’s not my fault you can’t sit with the hard thing”

• “You really thought you would get what you wanted”

The outro tells a story in so few lines that it genuinely baffles me. I would’ve loved to be in the room when this song was written.

This song is so gut-wrenching because you can tell someone exactly who you are and what to expect so many times, and then you’ll be who you are, and they’ll expect an apology for that. Quite literally the lines, “And I think that you earnestly have waited on apologies / But I can’t pretend that I’m sorry / When I’m not sorry.”

Some of my favorite other lines from this masterpiece include “I’m pretty sure, I mean I’ve heard, you never faced / I understand, I changed your plans, I had to, baby / And all I did was right by me, I head that almost killed you” and “You had the wrong idea about me.” The wrong idea line particularly drives me crazy in the best way.

Both of these songs are selfish. I love them so much for that reason. In my humble opinion, selfish art makes the best art.

I love Taylor and Gracie’s friendship because then we get awesome collabs like “us.” It’s always so fun when two artists you love also love each other and enjoy working together. “Tough Love” is a fun track, as well. With lyrics like, “No chance I’d waste my twenties on random men / Not one of them is cooler than all my friends,” I knew this one would be a new TikTok template. And I love seeing all the videos of girls with their friends to this audio.

I won’t go too into depth on the other songs, but some of my other favorites are “Normal Thing” and “Gave You I Gave You I.” They both devastate me in unique and fun ways!

Favorite lyrics from “Normal Thing”: “I did my pacing and reeling / I even think it looked cute at times / I know there’s more than that feeling / I didn’t know it for most my life” and “I practice speeches in private / I was impressed with my every line / I think we call that performing / That’s not how I want to spend my life.” And honestly, honorable mention to the line “It’s a normal thing for me to become underwhelmed.”

Favorite lyrics from “Gave You I Gave You I”: “When did you slip through my fingers, did I ever have you? / Was I just a placeholder to fill the hole inside you? / I’ve been feeling sick, but I should help myself, not call you / Nothing left to say, ‘cause you’re not over her, now, are you?” and “I won’t lie and claim confused when I know just what happened / You got bored, and I felt used, now I’m all sad about it.” And honorable mention to, “But I’m just so embarrassed now.”

As you can probably tell, I adore this album. It feels raw and real and vulnerable, and that’s my favorite kind of music. I love Gracie Abrams. I love music that forces you to look in the mirror. I love this album (but honestly, not a huge fan of the cover art). 10/10 album for me, and 100% sure it’ll be high on my 2024 top albums list.

I love you, and I’m not sorry! Thanks for reading xx