By Nora Schindler

Gracie Abrams is currently taking the world by storm with her sophomore album The Secret of Us. Her success skyrocketed with the lead single “Risk” kicking it off. She got her start in a niche genre of music called “bedroom pop,” performing Zoom concerts during the pandemic to grow her fan base and gain some experience. 

 Now, with her songs constantly rising on charts and the US leg of her tour ending, she released four new tracks and three live versions on the deluxe album. The brand new tracks include “Cool,” “That’s So True,” “I Told You Things,” and “Packing It Up,” as well as live versions of three tracks already on the album, “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” “I Knew It, I Know You,” and “Free Now.” 

“That’s So True” hit massive success by blowing up on social media platforms, going #1 in the UK and hitting 25th on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US. It can be labeled as her most popular song at the moment but that in no way means that the other deluxe tracks lack in some way. 

“I Told You Things” is the sixteenth track and it’s a beautifully written and produced song. The focus of the song is the narrator reminiscing about things they’ve said to a partner that they wish they never said. Abrams regrets the fact that this person now knows things about her she never told anyone else. The first lyrics shape the story entirely: “I told you things that I never said / You’re the golden boy and my worst regret.” 

Along with that masterpiece “Cool” and “Packing It Up” are amazing additions that tell two completely different stories. One of the stand out lines of “Cool” is in verse two: “I’m not pretending the way you are / You run your hands through your hair, phony superstar / Then say you miss me, you’re sad, yeah I bet you are.” There is a switch for “Packing It Up” being a surprising love song. The contrast between a line in “I Told You Things” shows Abrams talent for intertwining lyrics: “But I’ll pack it up and practice leaving” and “Got so damn close to packing it up / But that’s just when you happened.” 

Overall, the album plus the deluxe songs are more than worth the listen. Even though some describe her as a cookie cutter singer-songwriter, I personally believe that she is intentional and experimental with these tracks, making them much more than formulaic pop songs.