It's no secret that "The Secret of Us" is a great album!
By: Natalie Magdics
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Gracie Abrams released her second studio album, “The Secret Of Us” this past summer on June 21, 2024 following her debut studio album, “Good Riddance” which was released on February 24, 2023. Leading up to the release of this album, she has gained lots of popularity. She typically tends to write songs in the folk-pop genre. Abram’s album “The Secret Of Us” received 75.8 million listens during it’s first week being released. This album reflects many different ideas, two of them being love and heartache. This past year, I discovered Abrams after the release of “Good Riddance” so when she announced this album would be coming out I was looking forward to it. Abrams included 13 tracks onto the album and I’ll jump around and go through my favorite ones, as well as singles that were released before the album.
“Risk” was released on May 1, 2024 as a single and is the 2nd track on the album. This track is all about the idea of getting into a relationship with someone and knowing the risks but not caring at all because of how in love you feel. On my first listen, I initially was not a huge fan of this song. However, after multiple listens I began to like it a lot. I feel like this song was very different from other songs Abrams had written and produced in the past. The rhythm of this song is very upbeat and gives off an excited and nerve wracking feeling. This song was a change from her previous album, “Good Riddance” which was more about blaming herself for everything and having lots of self-doubt about the failure of a previous relationship. However, this song felt as if she wasn’t doubting herself anymore and was ready to jump into this new relationship.
Track 13, titled “Close to You” was released on June 7, 2024, 14 days before the album was fully released. It peaked at number 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking her first solo entry onto the charts. Abrams wrote this song around 7 years ago and never planned on releasing it or including it on the album; however, due to popular demand from fans, she included it. This song is personally one of my favorite songs off the album. This song reminds me of summer, pure happiness, and being in the car with all of the windows down. Abrams sings about feelings of wanting to be close to someone who barely notices her. She sings, “I burn for you, and you don’t even know my name, if you asked me to, I’d give up everything, to be close to you.” She wrote this line building up to the chorus and I feel like it really added anticipation to hear the rest of the song.
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Track 3, titled “Blowing Smoke” is a faster-paced song that portrays Abrams’ struggle of moving on from a relationship while feeling many different types of emotions like jealousy. This song is another one of my top favorite songs on the album. When she sings, “And you look stupid going out, If she’s got a pulse she meets your standards now” it’s shown exactly how she feels about this past relationship. I personally love the pace of this song and the lyrics of the song. Abrams wrote it incredibly well and it showcases her emotions perfectly
Track 4, titled “I Love You, I’m Sorry” is another one of the most popular songs on the album. The title of this song is a play on a single she released in April 2020 titled “I miss you, I’m sorry.” This song dives into the moments of honesty and regret in a relationship and overcoming challenging situations while in love. She sings, “‘Cause that’s just the way life goes, I push my luck, it shows, Thankful you don’t send someone to kill me, I love you, I’m sorry.” This song is also in my top 3 favorites from this album. I love the emotion put into this song and how it showcases Abrams’ voice.
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The collaboration between Abrams and Taylor Swift on “us” was an unexpected addition to the album. This song explores the aftermath of a broken relationship that is filled with regret. Both Swift and Abrams question throughout this song if their exes miss their relationships as much as they do. They sing, “Do you miss us, us? I felt it, you held it, do you miss us, us? Wonder if you regret the secret of us, us.” I was surprised when I saw this collab announced on Instagram before the album was released. This song is very slow-paced; I wasn’t a huge fan of the rhythm of it on my first listen. However, after multiple listens, I did start to like it more. I wouldn’t say it would be in my top favorites but I do enjoy listening to it.
All in all, listening to this album had me feeling all different kinds of emotions. I think it’s safe to say that her vocals have improved as well as her songwriting. It’s definitely a step up from her previous album, and it’s 100% worth listening to. There is such strong emotions put into this album, and Abrams deserves all of the popularity she’s gained in the past year. She recently began her North American tour for this album, and it’s exciting to see where she will go next within her music career!
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