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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Pace chapter.

After three years on the music scene, Gracie Abrams released her debut album, Good Riddance, on Feb. 24. Abrams has many big milestones coming up this year,  with the release of this album, she is currently on her own headline tour and opening for Taylor Swift later this year.  As a big Gracie Abrams fan since she began releasing music in 2020, I have patiently waited for her first album, and it was fully worth the wait. Having written Good Riddance with Aaron Dessner (who helped bring folklore and evermore to life), it was bound to be amazing. 

On Valentine’s Day, 2022, Abrams played what would end up being both the title track and the start of the album. After hearing her play “Best,” I knew that the album was going to be spectacular. Now, a little over a year later, I can confidently say I was correct. This is some of her best work. The album is very meaningful and a journey for both Abrams and her listeners.

Between the lyrics and the maturity of this work, there was a shift in her music in the best way. Throughout this album, you could really hear the growth of Abrams’ writing and even her overall sound. There was also the very obvious influence of Dessner and the oasis that is his Long Pond Studio, which you could hear in the production and in many of the song lyrics. While many of these songs are about her alleged breakup with Blake Slatkin, there was also a new shift into songs that weren’t just soul-crushing and heartbreaking like most of her past music. 

While most of this album was still about the ending and aftermath of a relationship, it somehow felt like a different side of Abrams. She was able to perfectly describe exactly what the aftermath of a breakup feels like. My personal favorite, “I should hate you,” talks about the feeling of knowing that the person was unhealthy for you, but some part of you still can’t actually hate the person, no matter how self-aware you are. This song especially felt like Abrams took a page from my diary and was able to write an exact feeling that is overlooked after a breakup. Personally, I can say this song, along with quite a few others, generated the waterworks a little too easily. 

When I first listened to Good Riddance, I wasn’t expecting track 11, “The blue.” I was taken aback after the rest of the album had me thinking the overall tone was just going to be about her previous relationship and resulting breakup. Hearing a song about a happy and more light-hearted side of Abrams was a nice change. I had been so used to the rest of her discography being about failed relationships and external crises that hearing a song about love evoking a positive emotion from Abrams was quite refreshing.

Overall, Good Riddance was truly unlike anything Gracie Abrams has done before and this evolution makes me excited to see what else is to come. As biased as I may be as a pretty big fan, I can say that Good Riddance is a great gateway to get into Gracie Abrams, with at least one song for everyone. I would overall give Good Riddance a 5/5 in my book. I have had it on repeat for almost a week now and don’t plan on taking it off anytime soon. Finally, I’ll leave it with an overall personal ranking of the album:

Maureen’s Personal Good Riddance Master Ranking:

  1. “I should hate you”
  2. “Full Machine”
  3. “I know it won’t work”
  4. “Best”
  5. “This is what the drugs are for”
  6. “The blue”
  7. “Amelie”
  8. “Where do we go now?”
  9. “Fault line” 
  10. “Will you cry?”  
  11. “Difficult” 
  12. “Right now”
Maureen Corrigan is a chapter member of Her Campus at Pace chapter. She covers areas such as music, tv, pop culture to even personal experiences. She has been writing for Her Campus at Pace since the start of her sophomore year. Outside of Her Campus Maureen is a senior at Pace University with Communications and Media Studies major and a minor in Digital Media Studies. She is also a member of the Pforzheimer Honors College at Pace and was previously on the marketing team as a content creator. Aside from Pace University and school work, Maureen has worked as a PR and Marketing intern at the buyer to buyer re-commerce startup Bulkk.io. When Maureen isn’t in school or interning she can be found absorbing all kinds of media, spending time outside, working at farmers markets, among other things. She is a big music fan, especially Taylor Swift and Fletcher. Maureeen is a frequent attendee of concerts around New York City attending as many as possible, most recently including Sawyer. She is also oftentimes watching women's soccer whether it be watching WSL from the comfort of her home or even going to watch NY/NJ Gotham NWSL games in person.