Gracie Abrams hits a wall on her new album
Annabelle Ross
Gracie Abrams, The Girl From Hell
★★
Having Taylor Swift as a mentor can be a double-edged sword; just ask Olivia RodrigoIt looks like she’s still on cold terms with the billionaire after a bitter disagreement over songwriting credits. You can’t want more exposure than opening for Swift, as Abrams did. ages Tour in the USA. At the same time, this proximity to such an obvious influence reinforces the impression that Abrams, unlike Rodrigo, has yet to establish his own distinctive voice.
where was it little bite in 2024 Our Secret (Co-written by Abrams’ sharp bestie Audrey Hobert, now He is also a rising star), Abrams’ third album The Girl From Hell sounds lukewarm and toothless (his only collaboration is with Hobert, Mini-baris an outlier). Sixteen songs is a tough question for the average listener these days. For an acoustic folk album with minimal tonal variety, it feels more like a lament.
Since his album-length EP was released in 2021, Abrams has worked closely with The National’s Aaron Dessner, who has also produced for Mumford & Sons, Noah Kahan, and Taylor Swift (most notably in the 2020s). Folklore).
At this point, Dessner’s signature palette (muted acoustic, finger-shaking guitars, soft piano) feels more like a background template; The personalities of her clients are blurred and buried under a blanket of autumnal textures.
Two of his favorite collaborators, both of whom have worked with Abrams before, appear on this album and add little. Justin Vernon aka Bon Iver keeps singing I Broke My Heart And Buzzing and Marcus Mumford duets with Abrams in twee What if it’s trueBoth are restrained accompaniments in different shades of beige.
The title track, heavy with reverb-drenched guitars, at least sounds important, but it’s far less revealing than its title promises. If the young Abrams was “ruthless” toward his parents, as suggested in interviews, there are no tales of seductive rebelliousness meant as admiring tributes to his mother.
In light of the “nepo baby” accusations that have dogged Abrams from the beginning (his father is film producer JJ Abrams, his mother is TV executive Katie McGrath), somewhat playfully, Buzzing It’s a reference to the Los Angeles wildfires of January 2025, which disproportionately affected wealthy celebrities. “Every kid I grew up with lost their childhood home,” Abrams sings. “You stay numb? But you can’t when you see how they all enjoy our pain.”
Open look at my life (a slightly more upbeat song co-produced by Rodrigo’s main magic creator, Dan Nigro), he further challenges preconceptions about his magical existence and admits that “it’s kind of a bad time.”
Privilege aside, Abrams is convincing when he sings “I got what I wanted, it just doesn’t fit.” Hit the Wall He reveals a more serious concern by describing “a room full of doctors and an ink stain” and warning that “sooner or later you will understand/that I live in a pattern of depressions”.
The most intriguing of all is a piece called. Death Wish. If you were to entertain the idea that Abrams and Swift might have a falling out of their own (Abrams’ recent Instagram post, which included a selfie from Swift’s wedding and Swift’s ex Joe Alwyn in the same photo carousel, scandalized Swifties), the lyrics could plausibly lend weight to that theory.
Abrams’ music career took off on Instagram, where raw acoustic versions of his early songs garnered praise from stars like Swift, Lorde, Rodrigo and Phoebe Bridgers. He sings well live, plays piano and guitar, and is capable of emotional resonance.
However The Girl From Hell It sounds less like a bold artistic statement and more like the soundtrack to a Nicholas Sparks adaptation, an anonymous wave of confessional indie folk in a landscape populated by faint-voiced singing women.
After three albums, Abrams’ point of difference becomes increasingly unclear.
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