Gracie Abrams

Singer/songwriter Gracie Abrams specializes in a stylized, moody modern pop with a subtly shifting sound partially indebted to Lorde. Abrams cultivated an online following through a steady series of single releases appearing toward the end of the 2010s, experiencing a breakthrough in 2020 with the singles “21” and “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” from her EP Minor. She also worked with Benny Blanco on the high-profile 2021 track “Unlearn” before releasing her sophomore EP, This Is What It Feels Like. Abrams’ debut album, the Aaron Dessner co-penned Good Riddance, arrived in early 2023, and she was later nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy Award. While that album had charted well in the U.K. and Ireland, a year later, she landed in the Top Two in the U.S. (number two), U.K. (number one), and Australia (number one) with her sophomore album, The Secret of Us. Again co-written with Dessner, it featured a collaboration with Taylor Swift (“us.“). The daughter of movie director J.J. Abrams, Gracie Abrams was born on September 7, 1999. She began playing music when she was eight, starting with drums. Eventually, she picked up guitar, ukulele, and piano. As she entered her adolescence, Abrams built a following through social media, and her fan base led to connections within the industry who were attracted to her early songs “In-Between,” “Deep Red,” and “And She Will Miss You.” After graduating from high school in 2018, she enrolled in Barnard College with the intention of majoring in international relations. She maintained her musical career, releasing an EP around the same time. Abrams began releasing singles on Interscope in 2019, starting with “Mean It.” “Stay” appeared before the end of the calendar year. Her 2020 EP Minor yielded a pair of streaming hits in “21” and “I Miss You, I’m Sorry.” The following year, Abrams teamed up with Benny Blanco on the collaborative single “Unlearn,” while also issuing another solo track in “Mess It Up.” Also in 2021, she released her second EP, This Is What It Feels Like, featuring production by Aaron Dessner, Joel Little, and Blake Slatkin. A pair of 2022 singles, “Difficult” and “Block Me Out,” set the stage for her first full-length, Good Riddance, released in February 2023. It was the album’s fifth single, “I Know It Won’t Work,” that gave Abrams her first chart hit, reaching number 32 on Billboard’s Pop Airplay chart. The album, which was co-written with Dessner, made it to 52 on the Billboard 200. Abrams’ rise continued later that year with a support slot opening for Taylor Swift’s massive Eras tour. The November release of “Cedars” from the soundtrack to The Buccaneers coincided with a Grammy Award nomination for Best New Artist. An exclusive vinyl release, Good Riddance Acoustic Shows: Live, kicked off 2024, after which Abrams began the build-up to her next album with “Risk,” which reached number 28 on the Billboard Pop Airplay chart while cracking the Hot 100. She made another Hot 100 appearance with a guest spot on Noah Kahan’s track “Everywhere, Everything,” and again with her own “Close to You” before her sophomore album, The Secret of Us, arrived that June. Working again with Dessner — as well as Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff on the Swift-featuring Top 40 hit “us.” — the record’s intimate protestations connected with an even broader audience, reaching number two on the Billboard 200 while topping the charts in the U.K. and Australia in addition to several other Top Five appearances. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine