Gracie Abrams has taken the world by storm over the past couple of years. Touring with Taylor Swift and across the world, attending the Cannes film festival, she is no doubt one of the biggest stars of this generation. And this era all kicked off a year ago with the highly anticipated release of her sophomore album The Secret of Us. On this important anniversary, we look back at the album’s impact.
Gracie began working on the album after touring with Taylor, saying that opening on the Eras tour had “informed so much about how I went about writing the album” and expressed her admiration for Swift. Having started the process, she announced in Vogue that the new music would be coming later in the year on March 7, 2024. The official announcement came later, on April 27.
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‘Risk’, ‘Close to You’ and ‘I Love You, I’m Sorry’ all preceded the release and generated immense acclaim even before the album dropped. ‘Risk’ also came with a music video, directed by Hobert and featuring Gracie obsessively stalking a crush. She then performed ‘Risk’ on May 8 on Jimmy Fallon – a performance which has now been viewed over a million times.
When it was eventually released, The Secret of Us skyrocketed onto the charts in Australia, Scotland, the Netherlands, Canada and the UK. The Secret of Us has also generated an impressive number of certifications in multiple countries. From platinum in Australia, Brazil and Canada to gold in Denmark, the UK and Portugal, it’s clear that there has been no shortage of admiration for Gracie anywhere in the world.
Gracie’s passion for her fans came through from the first promotion of TSOU – ‘Close To You’ wasn’t originally meant to be a single, but due to how much people cared about the song, she revisited its inclusion. It had originally been put out on social media as a 20-second clip, and the choice to eventually have it as a single was clearly the right one – the song now has over 400 million Spotify streams.
While Gracie had developed a strong fan base with her first full-length album, Good Riddance, The Secret of Us was truly the album that solidified the obvious depth of her powerful and evocative songwriting. Produced by both herself and previous collaborator Aaron Dessner, Gracie wrote most of the songs with either him or frequent co-writer Audrey Hobert. The influence of Swift is clear in the writing, as Gracie has clearly mastered that interlocked narrative style that is one of the cornerstones of Swift’s work – a formula that clearly works, and to express that way is a talent in itself.
The tracks are all full of depth and musicality, such as ‘Tough Love’ – a key point in the album, which discusses the immortilisation of female friendships. While many of the tracks are about romantic relationships, Gracie connects with every audience by transcending themes and compositions throughout. Embracing growing pains, difficult moments and rooted in the confessional, there’s not a single song on The Secret of Us that isn’t honest and raw in some way.
Just before the album was released, she sang ‘Let It Happen’ on Jimmy Kimmel Live. The performance generated even more excitement for the next day’s release – the clip now has over 6.5 million views on YouTube.
The music video for ‘I Love You, I’m Sorry’ was also promptly dropped on July 17, with Gracie in many landscapes – from the beach to cars with her friends to performing. The video perfectly encapsulates the messiness of the song and the feelings that come with the end of relationships. Today, it’s one of the most-streamed songs from the album, with over 700 million Spotify streams, while its sister song ‘I Miss You, I’m Sorry’ has reached 673 million.
Fans eagerly speculated about a deluxe album – and then it arrived, on 18 October 2024. Introducing 4 new tracks and three new live recordings, it emphasised that if the album was huge before – now it had gone stratospheric. One of the singles, ‘That’s So True’, peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100. Topping the charts in over ten countries and reaching the top ten in an additional 11, the song is Gracie’s biggest hit yet internationally. The bridge of the song, which starts with the lyrics “made it out alive but I think I lost it” and is an overwhelmingly relatable section of the song, has also been used as a sound over a million times on TikTok. The other tracks, ‘Cool’, ‘Packing It Up’, and ‘I Told You Things’, have also been received euphorically, though not quite at the same level. At least two of the deluxe singles also appear on each tour stop’s setlist, to the excitement of audiences every time, especially ‘TST.’
In Aotearoa, The Secret of Us has certainly not been neglected. On initial release, it hit number 1 on our charts, and on 29 April this year, Gracie performed an immaculately composed and sold-out show at Auckland’s Spark Arena. Praising Lorde and talking about how she fell for pranks, she engaged the audience with personal interactions and overwhelmingly won over every single audience member.
@umusicnz u r so sick and twisted for this @gracie abrams and we luv u for it 🥲🤍 #lorde #gracieabrams #cover #newzealand ♬ original sound – UMUSIC NZ
Gracie hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down in regards to releases either – and we’ve loved to see it. Her latest single, ‘Death Wish (Live from the O2 Arena)’ arrived on streaming platforms on April 1. To date, it’s only been played once, but it is yet another narrative masterpiece. The song chronicles a friend’s relationship with a narcissist, who Gracie had heard about a lot – and once again features her double-ended metaphors and symbolism, covering ‘eggshell floors’, ‘power trips’ and the ‘light of a million suns’ that ‘burns through people.’ Having the live performance version also enhances the rawness of those lyrics – it’s easy to feel them piercing your inner self while listening. She’s also released ‘Call Me When You Break Up’ with Selena Gomez and Benny Blanco, a poppy, cheeky single that her voice adds a fresh dimension to.
The Secret of Us has become undeniably moving and profound for audiences worldwide, with specialised tributes visible at the later tour stops. From extravagant hair bows to shiny pastel outfits, the relatability of this album has continued to shine through these symbols of fandom, friendship and connection.
Gracie also isn’t done with the tour – she has upcoming shows with Griff and Role Model as supports among others. She’s also venturing to bigger and better venues including New York’s Madison Square Garden.
As she experiences her rise, a massive part of her success right now has been The Secret of Us and the community that she effortlessly cultivates in her lyrics, and her presence. AGracie is on an unprecedented trajectory, and one that we are all very privileged to be experiencing with her.
Long live the spilling of secrets with Gracie – may its legacy continue forever.
