Known for her soft, whispery vocals, indie-pop singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams returns with her second studio album, The Secret of Us, released on June 21, 2024, under Interscope Records. The singer’s EPs Minor (2020) and This Is What It Feels Like (2021) introduced the music industry to her twist on confessional songwriting. Over the years, her audience skyrocketed following her debut album, Good Riddance (2023), and her time opening for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour. The Secret of Us lets listeners glimpse Abrams’ inner world of vulnerability, intimacy, love, and understanding adulthood.
“Felt Good About You” opens the album with folk-inspired melodies and Abrams’ wavering voice. Focusing on a complicated past relationship, Abrams allows herself to open up on the chorus, “Crossed lines, past lives, clear vision / Felt good about you, felt good about you / Felt good about you ’til I didn’t / Surefire trainwreck omission.” The following track, “Risk,” picks up the energy yet keeps a similar anxious nature that radiates throughout the entire album. “I’m gonna bend ’til I break / And you’ll be my favorite mistake / I wish you could hold me, here shakin’ / You’re the risk, I’m gonna take it.”
On the fourth track, “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” Abrams returns to her gentle roots of an acoustic guitar and her empathetic lyricism. The song’s title is a play on her 2020 single, “I miss you, I’m sorry,” both tracks display Abrams’ struggle to navigate the wave of feelings that rise after a breakup. Her raw vocals elevate the track’s nervous nature as she keeps this tense moment close and scrutinizes her actions. “Hope that I don’t, won’t make it about me / (I tend to laugh whenever I’m sad) / (I stare at the crash, it actually works) / I love you, I’m sorry.”
Layered with airy harmonies and gentle melodies, the heartbroken folk tune “us.” (featuring Taylor Swift) feels like an unreleased Folklore or The Tortured Poets Department track. “And if history’s clear, the flames always end up in ashes / And what seemed like fate, give it ten months and you’ll be past it / (You’ll be past it) / Babylon lovers hangin’ missed calls on the line / I gave you mine.” The duo’s reflective take on flawed relationships sets the tone for following track, “Let It Happen,” where Abrams’ relatability shines. She acknowledges the struggle of submitting control in order to fully embrace the joys of a developing relationship. She boldly sings: “I bet all my money that I will / Lose to you and hand you my life / Here’s to hoping you’re worth all my time / I might barely know you, but still.”
![Gracie Abrams - us. (feat. Taylor Swift) [Official Lyric Video] ft. Taylor Swift](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7IcYAGAm6P8/0.jpg)
The lyrics of the twelfth track, “Free Now,” contain a sense of freedom as she finally crosses the hurdles caused by her past partner. Dessner and Abrams cleverly conceal the track’s confidence before amping up the production on the angsty bridge. “We’re collateral here, man, we got hit / Hope you find somewhere safe for your baggage / Every page I wrote, you were on it / Feel you deep in my bone, you’re the current.”
The Secret of Us closes with the romantic pop-infected “Close To You,” where Abrams longs for an unknown crush. With a beat reminiscent of Lorde’s Melodrama, this significant production shift shows Abrams in an unseen light and perfectly adds enough depth to the album. “I burn for you / And you don’t even know my name / If you asked me to / I’d give up everything,” she sings. Ending the album on this note, Abrams eases her way into the pop lane. The Secret of Us carefully collects personal moments of a relationship, from the uneasy anticipation to the freedom and possibility of new love.
