On October 18th, 2024, Gracie Abrams released her long-awaited deluxe edition of her album The Secret of Us. After weeks of teasing fans on tour, the album featured four new songs and three live recordings.
One of the songs was one familiar to her biggest fans: “That’s So True”. The song has been an unreleased favorite, and after Gracie’s choice to put “Close to You”, another unreleased song, on the original album, as well as adding it to her tour setlist, it was widely assumed “That’s So True” would be one of the bonus tracks. There were also many rumors of “In Between” having an appearance on the deluxe, but many fans were disappointed to see it excluded from the tracklist. “That’s So True” immediately became a favorite for both old and new listeners, especially once the song started trending on TikTok.
The other three songs were new. While Gracie had performed “Cool” on tour to announce a deluxe release, it was never heard before. “I Told You Things” and “Packing it Up” joined “That’s so True” on TikTok, but with less fervor, staying more in the gracietok community.
All four of the new tracks brought a different perspective to the situation Gracie had written about. Other than “Packing it Up”, the other songs are all breakup songs, but they talk about how she felt post-breakup, rather than during the end of the relationship. While they’re resentful towards her ex, there’s a sense of self-reflection and how she herself contributed to the breakup, not as much as “I Love You, I’m Sorry” or “Free Now”, but the feeling is still there. The three live recordings wrap up the album by presenting songs from earlier in a more wistful and resolved way through the live band and vocal note changes.
Abrams has been opening for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour the past few weeks, and has been able to play her new songs in a stadium for the first time. She has grown exponentially as an artist compared to this time last year, now with her first ever Grammy nomination for her song “Us (feat. Taylor Swift)”. The Secret of Us has not only cemented her place in the industry as a serious artist, but also amongst all of us who have cheered her on from the start.