Gracie Abrams released her sophomore album, The Secret of Us, June 21st, 2024 just a little over a year after her debut album, Good Riddance. Abrams was the opener for more than thirty Eras tour shows and is set to open for all nine of the Eras Tour shows in Canada amidst her own tour. Full disclosure, this is more of a review over my favorite songs not the whole album.
The opening track is called “Felt Good About You” ; it immediately marks a steep departure from the slower, gloomier music of Good Riddance. The track chronicles a breakup in which Abrams fell for someone who ended up not being good, leaving her to “walk away and choose.” Ultimately despite the track being filled with longing for someone who “felt good for a bad decision” and it ends with Abrams bookending the track by musing that she feels fuller without the relationship.
Track two is “Risk”, which was also the lead single and the first time audiences were introduced to the new pop centric sound that characterizes the album. “Risk” describes falling in love with the idea of a person, and it details the distinct feeling of meeting someone and creating plotlines with them in your head. The music details Abrams running through and crashing her own party, throwing cake and screaming as she falls for a person that only exists in her head. Also, my dad loves this song which speaks to the quality of it as my father hates pop music.
Track three is “Blowing Smoke”, Blowing smoke details a break up, being cheated on, and left behind. The song shames who Abrams was dating for cheating on her (which is so real don’t cheat on people) as if to rub salt in the wound, she comments “if she’s got a pulse, she meets your standards now,” because he is divulging into something less real, someone who doesn’t know what he is. The entire song is scathing; it is reminiscent of scribbling angrily in a diary.
Track four; “I love you, I’m sorry” (the best song on the album) which summarizes the feeling of knowing you hurt someone in the ending of a relationship. It depicts the guilt and regret that comes with knowing you hurt someone you care about. The bridge of the song starts with an allusion to a Tale of Two Cities; “you were the best but you were the worst,” which artfully reflects the dichotomy of relationships and the common adage that it takes two. The entire song “I love You, I’m sorry” in title and in the theme of an ending relationship echoes Abrams’s previous work in her EP “Minor”; “I miss you, I’m sorry, although I love you I’m sorry,” takes a much slower more melancholy approach at the retrospective look at the ending of the relationship. The music video takes a comedic approach to Abrams taking responsibility for her part in the relationship ending with her accepting the “jerk of the year award” (though, in less school friendly terms) where, while on the stage, she points and angrily screams the bridge; “you were the best, but you were the worst, as sick as it sounds I loved you first.”
Track five; “Us” (featuring Taylor Swift). This song stands out in the album not just because of the A list feature but rather, sonically, it stands out due to the mystical quality of the lyrics and unique production. To be clear, I love this song. I think it’s beautiful and well written; however, I don’t think the song fits musically onto the album, making the full album listening experience a bit jarring. I would be remiss if I didn’t mention the significance of the song being track five. In Taylor Swift lore, track five is the saddest, most emotionally vulnerable song on the album and, in my opinion, it carries through to this album.
Track seven; “Tough Love”. This song takes a break from the themes of romantic loves and breakups that have been intertwined within the album so far, choosing instead to put stock in friendship; with the end of the chorus musing that no one Abrams has dated is “cooler” than her friends. This song, to me, is a stand out. It reminds me of “Supercut” by Lorde and it makes me want to drive with the windows down in the middle of the night.
Track twelve; “Free Now.” This is the original ending track. It starts slow and easy-almost jazzy in tone-but it builds into a big upbeat sound that makes me want to sprint through a field of flowers. This song is ethereal. The track was meant to be a book end, which is evident in the way it ends by calling back to “Felt good about you,” the opening track, which has the lyric “felt fuller without you” by saying “never been less empty, all I feel is free now.”
P.S. “Close to you.” Gracie fans have been begging for this gem to be released since 2018 and it does not disappoint. I know I already mentioned Lorde but honestly in my opinion her influence is all over this song, it would be perfectly in place in the Melodrama album by Lorde. This song is pure pop perfection.
I loved this album, over half of the songs have found a home in my playlists. I think The Secret of Us is a brilliant follow up to Good Riddance and successfully beat the sophomore slump curse.
