Music Rewind 2024: The Secret Of Gracie Abrams' Success

9 hours ago

The Honey POP

After having no choice but to wallow in the muted tones of self-doubt and sorrow with last year’s Good Riddance, Gracie Abrams’ 2024 has exploded with color. She caught our eyes with the bright yellows and pinks of The Secret of Us and held them with her dazzling tour sets. Gracie Abrams has blossomed into a real pop star this year. And we like to celebrate artists with such successful years as this with a recap. Let’s begin!

The Secret of Us

Gracie has grown a lot from the girl who allowed her insecurities to guide her through Good Riddance. Consistent through every pre-TSoU work is a shamelessly revealed admission that she would throw herself back into a relationship that would probably be better left in the rearview. And that’s what we’ve always loved about Gracie’s music. She crafts her carefully articulated delusions like diary entries. And her stream of consciousness turned into songs have led her to this year’s release: The Secret of Us.

Gracie Abrams is more sure of herself than ever. Where Good Riddance posed questions that rattled relentlessly in her mind, now she gives herself answers. Or she accepts that she may not always have one. And instead of panicking over that uncertainty, she allows herself the grace to grow and learn. Gracie marketed The Secret of Us as her most extroverted work, and that may be true. We can certainly hear the excitement to run home and relay a story to her roommate and co-writer Audrey Hobert. And we can practically hear the laughter as they scribble down lyrics.

But this album doesn’t lose the vulnerability that resembles a diary entry or a conversation with the one person who gets you better than you do yourself. It’s also riddled with regret and longing. And yes, while it’s extroverted and fun, it sometimes aches to share one last laugh, conversation, or secret with the person who fights to be let free from their cage in your past. And then it feels guilty for feeling that way. Rather than simply showcasing her newfound confidence and excitement to make art, she has perfected something much more difficult to convey: the duality of growing up and understanding your emotions.

It’s the war between the joyous and the painful that takes The Secret of Us to a new level. She refuses to limit herself to one theme to string the album together. Instead, Gracie simply allows the truth of her experiences to do that for her. She playfully explores the idea of a fantastical crush, and revels in the love she has for her friends. And then she mourns something that she lost. Through it all, she swears The Secret of Us is the most fun she’s ever had on a record. If we had any trouble believing it, she proved it with everything that followed.

The Secret of Us Tour

Gracie kicked off her North American tour in Portland, Oregon in September. Immediately, she began practicing what she’d preached. This was a new Gracie with a love for performing. If you’ve been following Gracie before this year, you know that she has always had a talent for sharing her art with those of us who connect to it. But coming from bedroom shows and an admitted anxiety for performing when she started out, we’ve seen her embrace the stage this year. She refuses to lose the personal element in every show. She may have evolved from small theater shows to sharing the stage with Taylor Swift, but it makes no difference to Gracie.

After performing to sold out stadiums with Taylor, as well as featuring her on The Secret of Us‘ title track, we’d say Gracie has earned the right to follow in Taylor’s footsteps with her very own surprise songs. And we’d like to think that the one-time inclusion of songs like ‘In Between’ or ‘Rockland‘ on the setlist are the perfect way to keep fans engaged, even if it sometimes means missing your favorite song.

The Secret of Us (Deluxe)

To wrap up this chapter of her musical life, Gracie released four deluxe tracks in October. ‘That’s So True’ was already a fan favorite after the infectious live performances, so of course, it was a hit. Still, she holds back nothing. She goes straight from the lighthearted gossip of ‘That’s So True’ to the uncertain reflection of ‘I Told You Things’. Instead of wrapping it up with a neat bow, she simply offers her feelings and leaves them for us to unpack.

This year was for a partnership between the fans and her. Just as she’s had the most fun with The Secret of Us album cycle, we’ve had the most fun being Gracie fans this year. Blasting ‘Close To You’ on a warm summer night wasn’t something we thought would ever leave our fantasies. But here we are. Fun collabs, a Met Gala appearance, another Grammy nomination, and another leg of tour are waiting for us. No secret here, this one was for us!

Have a favorite Gracie Abrams memory from this year? Let’s celebrate them together! Hit us up at @thehoneypop on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.