Gracie Abrams’s new single, “Risk” gives us every reason to be “actually invested” in her new era of music. Released on May 1, 2024, “Risk” describes a confession of love and a delve into delusion for someone you haven’t formally met.
“Risk” takes a large step away from Gracie’s first album Good Riddance and marks a turning point in her career. While Good Riddance earned Gracie her Best New Artist nomination at the 2024 Grammys for its songs of loss and indecision, “Risk” and its associated upcoming album, The Secret of Us, point to a more colorful and extroverted chapter of Gracie’s music. While “Risk” features an upbeat sound perfect for your summer playlist, it still has the classic confessional Gracie lyricism that fans know and love. Like Good Riddance, The Secret of Us is produced by Aaron Dessner, who describes his work with Gracie as “one of the most natural and prolific collaborations of [his] career.”
“Risk” was released alongside a music video written and directed by Audrey Hobert, Gracie’s best friend and co-writer on the song. In an interview with Hit Network, Gracie describes how she would come home between tour stops to “dish [with Audrey] as quickly as humanly possible” about every detail of their lives, which turned to writing a “tornado of songs” together. The music video shows Gracie taking every wrong step to go after someone she loves — like crashing a birthday party and stomping on the cake — and perfectly captures the “I’m gonna bend ‘til I break” feeling.
“Risk” made its TV debut with a dreamy live performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on May 8, 2024. That night also marked Gracie’s first appearance as a late-night talk show guest as she sat down with Jimmy to discuss opening for Taylor Swift and the meaning behind the name The Secret of Us.
As a standout single in Gracie’s career, “Risk” is only the beginning. She announced the full The Secret of Us tracklist on May 13, 2024, including some songs she has teased on her Instagram: the fan favorite “Close To You” and never-before-heard tracks “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and “Free Now.” The real eye-catcher of the tracklist is “us. (feat. Taylor Swift),” a highly anticipated collaboration since their live performance of Gracie’s “I miss you, I’m sorry” at The Eras Tour. Leading up to the announcement, she had taken a creative, fans-first approach to teasing the album tracklist: mailing handwritten letters to fans, each revealing a new song title.
The Secret of Us is out on June 21, 2024, and fans will undoubtedly have “Risk” on repeat until then. This new era is the beginning of a brighter, more colorful sound from Gracie — and it’s a risk we’re so glad she’s taking.