Rating: 6.4/10
Nearly four months after the release of “The Secret of Us,” singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams added four additional songs to her sophomore album, accompanied by three Vevo live performances.
Unfortunately, the summer success story Abrams produced remained more or less the same. The four secret tracks revealed nothing more than what the 13 previous ones already detailed.
Something about the production feels off, almost as if Abrams is either excruciatingly loud or unreasonably quiet. Alongside that, autotune and vocal layers create an echoey air that, at times, listeners could suffice without.
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Abrams carries the opening track “Cool” vocally, as the insignificant instrumentation used throughout minimizes the song’s overall effectiveness.
Supposedly surrounding a love-bombing from American actor Dylan O’Brien after mentions of various women he’s been associated with — Sadie Sink, Sarah Ramos and Elle Fanning — one would think there’d be a bit more intensity.
Rather, a kick beat overpowers throughout the post-chorus. The lack of swelling and a heavily synthesizer-focused production disorients the message of a “phony superstar.”
The chords of an acoustic guitar begin “That’s So True,” with Abrams’ vocals following a split-second behind. With a redundant strum pattern and repetitive chorus, “That’s So True” constructs a gaping expanse requiring more than what’s initially provided.
That expanse is half-fulfilled throughout Abrams’ bridge, where she somewhat maniacally breaks away from the mellow-tempo tune, only to fall victim to it again due to the following chorus.
“Made it out alive, but I think I lost it/ Said that I was fine, said it from my coffin/ Remember how I died when you started walking?/ That’s my life, that’s my life,” Abrams sings at the beginning of the bridge.
The following track, “I Told You Things,” stands out from the others, depending on an electronic-like feel that considerably contrasts with Abrams’ wispy vocals.
Abrams opens with the chorus, followed by two verses that transition into the bridge and then return to the chorus for the end. This varied format is rarely used by Abrams, who typically relies on the common song structure throughout “The Secret of Us.”
However, by rearranging “I Told You Things” to differ from past tracks, Abrams revitalizes her sound, amplifying the soul-crushing heartbreak album even more.
A nearly 10-second pause follows the first verse, and as Abrams sweeps into the second verse with “Hey, wait, guess what?,” the lyrics become drawn out. A hauntingly low-registered Abrams begins to create a sweeping ambiance, with the addition of snare drums halfway through before breaking into an echoey, humming-filled bridge.
The fourth track, “Packing It Up,” details finding a lover unexpectedly, rumored to be about her current boyfriend, Irish actor Paul Mescal.
But expectedly, the acoustic guitar appears yet again, unchanging throughout as Abrams and her purposely delayed vocal layering whisper ever so softly. The track offers nothing new than what’s been heard before, slightly creating an endless boredom awaiting its end.
“Got so damn close to packing it up/ But that’s just when you happened/ And then you happened,” Abrams sings in the chorus.
The three live versions from Vevo include “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” “I Knew It, I Know You” and “Free Now” — and each one of these tracks may be better than the studio versions.
Fans have incessantly questioned on TikTok why Abrams relies on soft-sounding vocals when otherworldly octave changes appear throughout various live performances.
And unless there’s a secret worth telling, I’d prefer she’d stop whispering, too.
