Gracie Abrams’ blend of confessional songwriting and muted indie-folk has helped her to become one of pop’s most influential voices, even if her own records still struggle to escape the long shadows cast by Phoebe Bridgers and Taylor Swift’s working relationship with The National’s Aaron Dessner, also a key collaborator on ‘Daughter From Hell’.
On Abrams’ third LP the songwriting is consistently above average, full of vivid imagery and carefully observed emotional detail, but as a whole it’s mired in the tasteful melancholy that has become her default setting. Everything is beautifully made, yet surprisingly little forcefully demands your attention.
Look At My Life is an exception. Built around one of the record’s strongest hooks, it manages to capture the casual nihilism of modern twentysomethings with far more urgency than Abrams usually allows herself.
The production, meanwhile, gradually opens out into something genuinely exhilarating, hinting at a bolder pop artist waiting beneath the surface.
Elsewhere, Good Reason showcases her gift for emotional ambiguity, examining why kindness alone is rarely enough to sustain a relationship. It’s subtle, elegantly written and typically restrained. Men Like You injects a welcome burst of momentum, Abrams briefly abandoning her trademark whisper to deliver one of the album’s most genuinely cathartic performances.
That restraint is both its greatest strength and biggest weakness. Dessner’s understated production remains throughout, while Abrams continues to prove herself a thoughtful and increasingly sophisticated songwriter. And yet the songs blur together into a single, tasteful emotional wash, never quite finding the spark that transforms high craft into something unforgettable, pulverising.
Perhaps that’s inevitable. Despite the softness of the music, Abrams is at the centre of an enormous infrastructure of labels, touring, promotion and expectation, backed by big Hollywood. Whether intentionally or not, one wonders if that very machinery is beginning to discourage the creative risks that could elevate her from accomplished pop star to a generational talent.
Gracie Abrams Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Mon April 19 2027 - DUBLIN 3Arena
Tue April 20 2027 - DUBLIN 3Arena
Thu April 22 2027 - MANCHESTER Co-op Live
Sat April 24 2027 - MANCHESTER Co-op Live
Sun April 25 2027 - MANCHESTER Co-op Live
Tue April 27 2027 - GLASGOW OVO Hydro
Wed April 28 2027 - GLASGOW OVO Hydro
Fri April 30 2027 - LONDON Arena
Sat May 01 2027 - LONDON Arena
Mon May 03 2027 - LONDON Arena
Tue May 04 2027 - LONDON Arena
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