Gracie Abrams, the rising singer-songwriter nominated for “Best New Artist” at the Grammy Awards earlier this year, is returning to the music scene. Her sophomore project, The Secret of Us, is set to release on June 21, and fans could not be more excited.
Since the release of her already highly-anticipated debut album Good Riddance in 2022, Abrams has only made a bigger name for herself. She was one of the opening acts for Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour alongside other popular artists like Phoebe Bridgers and Beabadoobee, which took the whole world by storm. One specific night on tour, Swift invited Abrams out to sing with her during her “surprise song” set where they performed a duet of one of her most popular songs, “I miss you, I’m sorry.” Fans of both artists were elated to see the two of them on stage together. As millions of Taylor Swift fans flocked from all over the country to see her perform, they were able to discover Abrams’ folk-pop music along the way.
Swift’s involvement in Abrams’ sky-rocketing career doesn’t stop there, as she is set to feature in the fifth track of the new album titled “us.” Not much is known about the song yet, but fans are ecstatic to hear just what their two minds put together sound like. Additionally, both of them have been known to work with artist and producer Aaron Dessner, who produced both Abrams’ debut Good Riddance, and Swift’s folklore and evermore, and it has been confirmed that he produced the majority of The Secret of Us as well.
“I never actually got to go to The Eras Tour, but when I saw Taylor bring Gracie out to sing “I miss you, I’m sorry” with her, I thought it was really cool. I’m excited to see what their new song together is going to sound like,” said junior Rylee Thomson.
In December, Abrams collaborated with folk singer Noah Kahan, who has been on the rise thanks to his album Stick Season, and was nominated for “Best New Artist” alongside her. Their track “Everywhere, Everything” debuted at number 79 on the Billboard Hot 100, and marked Abrams’ first time on the charts.
“I can’t wait to listen to Gracie Abrams’ new album! Her songs are great to listen to while doing homework, and I’m so excited to have more,” said junior Audrey Ren.
Fans have only grown more excited since she took to Instagram to announce the album on Apr. 21. With a mix of pictures and videos featuring bright yellow and pinks, Abrams has put out short clips of her singing select tracks from the record on her social media pages. So far, this includes “Normal Thing,” “Tough Love,” “Blowing Smoke,” and “Close To You”. The latter track is being especially discussed on the internet, as fans have been begging the artist to release it since a small snippet was leaked all the way back in 2017. The track was officially released on streaming services on June 7.
“I am so unbelievably excited for Gracie Abrams’ new album! I’m obsessed with the lead single “Risk,” and am so excited to hear the rest of the album… I’ve loved Gracie ever since I saw her open for Olivia Rodrigo in 2022. I saw her open for Taylor twice and have seen Gracie on her own once. It’s been so amazing watching her grow to become such a big artist. I think she is an amazing lyricist and singer and cannot wait for her new album,” said junior Kate Kerpen.
To kick off the album’s release, Abrams released a single and a music video on May 1. The song “Risk” gained 30 million streams on Spotify alone throughout the month, and was performed by Abrams and her band on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon on May 8.
“I’m so glad Good Riddance is what it is, and it feels like the foundation for me, but I am looking forward to playing this new stuff, because I find myself singing it in the shower mindlessly. And I am not really a singing-in-the-shower person, but I like that that’s how it feels in my body,” said Abrams to Sara Austin for ELLE magazine.
Her new songs seem to be experimental compared to her past projects, as it’s much more fast-paced and upbeat than any of the songs on Good Riddance or her other LPs. If this is telling for the rest of the new album, who knows what this project could bring.