From being an opener for Taylor Swift’s eras tour and an artist not many knew of to walking the path of a world-renowned pop star can only be said for Gracie Abrams. As of 2024, the music industry is booming with album releases and major concert announcements, though Abrams has managed to make a name for herself in the pop world with The Secret of Us (Deluxe). In this extended version of her delicately crafted sophomore album, Abrams continues to navigate her songs through her themes of love and heartbreak. Despite the newly added songs’ similar sound to the original tracks, they still offer fans a pleasurable listening experience as they continue to become a sensation across media.
The original album was released on June 21, 2024, and the deluxe was released a couple of months later on October 18th. The latest version consists of 4 new songs: “Cool”, “That’s So True”, “I Told You Things”, and “Packing It Up”. It also included live VEVO recordings of three original songs: “I Love You, I’m Sorry”, “I Knew It, I Know You”, and “Free Now”.
Again, these new songs don’t deviate much from the album’s original version but that doesn’t make them any less of what they should be and of what they are. Before its debut, the live recording of “I Love You, I’m Sorry” found its way to fame through the network of TikTok. Fans were delighted by this version of the song almost as much as when its predecessor was released, specifically because of a note change in a lyric — “Prove that it haunts me…”
Not only are her new songs magnificent due to her note changes, but Abrams is quickly climbing the ranks to becoming a “master of bridges” in song making, on par with artists like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo; possibly already better. With each song she creates, her bridges have a recurring pattern to become the most popular and well-known parts of the lyrics. Her upbeat tunes provide a majestic build-up for her bridges as the lyrics evoke such feelings allowing her fanbase to connect to her and each other.
The music comes as no surprise as it was produced by American musician Aaron Desner, Abrams herself, Abram’s best friend Audrey Hobert, and even has contributions from Taylor Swift and Jack Antonoff. The album’s first track, “Risk”, was characterized as “frenetic and melancholic”. With Abram’s vocals improving as the production progressed, it sets the stage for her lyrics to benevolently collaborate with the music to create a piece of art.
Though the majority of the deluxe album contains optimistic and a mix of melancholic music, the lyrics don’t necessarily reflect that as they capture the essence of traversing through the high and low erratic emotions one feels after experiencing heartbreak. With her lyrics being naturally and expertly crafted, they significantly intensify the emotional depth of the album and each song in particular.
While the album is beautifully forged and made with great care, Abrams disappointed fans across the globe when she didn’t include one of her most famous and anticipated unreleased songs, “In Between” after continuously talking about it on her tour and supposedly promising to release it. The song was uploaded to Soundcloud about eight years ago in 2016 and fans have been desperately waiting and begging for Abrams to release it.
However, it wouldn’t make sense for “In Between” to be on this specific album as the song holds more positive themes about love and feeling all the good aspects of it while also having a contrast of one being too afraid to love and commit. The Secret of Us, nor its deluxe, doesn’t have similar themes while it explores the worst aspects of loving someone.
Altogether, the new additions on The Secret of Us (Deluxe) are adept pieces of work with expertly crafted lyrics and though the songs continue with the same themes as the rest of the album, which isn’t a bad thing, they do create some superior earworms for the next few months.
