Gracie Abrams’ quick rise to fame and her impressive resume are immediately obvious. ‘The Secret Of Us’, her second album, with which she is doing excellent numbers, arrives just a year after her debut ‘Good Riddance’. Meanwhile, she has received a Grammy nomination for Best New Artist, has opened for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in the United States, and has worked on both albums with Aaron Dessner, one of the most successful producers of the moment thanks to his multiple collaborations with Queen Midas of world pop.
Faced with such a meteoric rise to the big commercial leagues, it is inevitable to question the origin of all this: Gracie is the daughter of JJ Abrams, director of several ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Star Trek’ installments. The status of nepo-baby does not have to influence when evaluating the music of any artist, but when listening to ‘The Secret of Us’ the crucial role that his privilege has played in creating it is so evident that it is difficult not to raise an eyebrow. .
The high budget of the productions is noticeable from start to finish, making everything sound perfectly calculated and clean. Sometimes too much, especially when there is such a clear lack of one’s own style and personality. The singer shows an evident lack of direction, being unable to bring her maximum sound reference – Taylor Swift – into a personal space.
There is no doubt that Gracie Abrams is a very dedicated student of the Swiftian school, but she is blinded by her figure to a point that is almost parodic. The title itself seems to be a nod to ‘The Story of Us’, and the entire album moves between the tumultuous teenage romances of ‘Speak Now’ and the worlds steeped in the “Dessner” label of ‘folklore’ and ‘evermore’. As if that were not enough, Swift not only appears figuratively in each note of the album but she is also the guest artist on ‘us.’, thus making the sponsorship of her new favorite pupil official. The duo does not contribute much to the narrative of the project, as it is not a particularly inspired composition, nor do the whispering vocal performances lead it to be something memorable.
That feeling is extrapolated to the entire project, full of pleasant melodies and candid intentions whose impact is practically non-existent. Abrams talks about breakups and frustrated loves through clichés that do not reveal much about his inner world or his identity as an artist.
The album begins with ‘Felt Good About You’, a folk-influenced song spiced with light violin notes and a predictable crescendo driven by lively percussion where Abrams narrates a disappointment in love. In ‘Risk’ he talks about jumping into the pool of love; “I’ve heard the risk is drowning but I’m going to take it” he sings in a lively chorus that, of course, seems taken from his idol’s repertoire, but also has a certain Mumford and Sons feel in its instrumentation. Third in the sequence, ‘Blowing Smoke’ raises the level slightly thanks to a nice guitar melody.
However, ‘The Secret of Us’ soon falls back into a sound so generic and indebted to its references that it makes listening increasingly monotonous. The album reaches its lowest point with ‘Good Luck Charlie’, a soporific ballad that exposes his limited vocal range and the long road he still has to walk artistically. Fortunately, the last two tracks manage to leave a better taste in the mouth. ‘Free Now’ towards the middle takes off with a much-needed change of pace, while the closing ‘Close To You’ is responsible for providing the most pop and energetic touch of the project, and although it is not a particularly infectious song, it feels like an oasis in the middle of the desert.
‘The Secret of Us’ will bring many commercial joys to Gracie Abrams, but it does not at all materialize the promises of the emergence of a major artist on the global pop scene. Time will tell if she succeeds with future projects; What seems clear at the moment is that she could do with listening to Taylor Swift a little less.
