ALBUM REVIEW: Good Riddance - Gracie Abrams
- jessiehirzel
- Mar 24, 2023
- 3 min read
If you know me in real life, take this as an apology that I never stop talking about my trip to Europe.
To be honest, I'm not really sorry. It was a dope trip. But I keep finding myself slipping into the "girl who went abroad for one week and says it 'changed her life'" stereotype that's all over TikTok. I just keep talking about it.
And that's not gonna stop in this blog post.
I was on the plane from Dallas to Madrid, and could not fall asleep. I reclined my seat, I took melatonin, I got as comfortable as I could. No matter what I did, I just couldn't fall asleep. My mind was still racing from sprinting through the airport to make our connecting flight, and I needed something to calm me down.
Enter: the album that I downloaded on a whim, Good Riddance by Gracie Abrams.
Gracie Abrams always has a way of calming me down. Whenever I'm stressed while doing homework, I immediately turn on her songs "21" and "Feels Like". Her music is just so soothing.
On this flight, it was just what I needed to relax. I didn't fall asleep though, because it was so freaking good that I couldn't stop listening to it.
BACKGROUND
Gracie Abrams, daughter of film director JJ Abrams, became interested in music at a young age. After she graduated high school in 2018, Abrams went to college for a year before taking a break to focus on her music. She released her first single in 2019 and her debut EP, minor, the following year. Her second EP, This Is What It Feels Like, was released in November 2021. She went on a tour supporting this EP, and opened for Olivia Rodrigo on her massive Sour tour.
Good Riddance is her debut full-length project. It was released February 24, 2023. Abrams will go on another headlining tour supporting the album, as well as opening for Taylor Swift on select dates of the record-breaking The Eras Tour.
OVERALL SCORE: 8.16
Banger after banger after banger. This album is so cohesive and just good.
TRACKLIST RANKING
Full machine
Where do we go now?
Right now
I know it won't work
Best
The blue
This is what the drugs are for
I should hate you
Will you cry?
Difficult
Fault line
Amelie
THE GOOD
SAD GIRL SPRING IS HERE!
You heard it here first. Gracie Abrams is the official ambassador for Sad Girl Spring.
Abrams has a knack for writing emotional lyrics, and that's never more true than on this album. She did it on her EP's, and she's done it on this album. Especially on "I know it won't work", "Full machine", "I should hate you", and "Right now".
This entire album is so emotional, and it's cementing Abrams as a lyrical genius.
UNEXPECTED FAVORITES
Confession time: when "Where do we go now?" dropped as a single, I hated it. It just didn't do it for me. I couldn't get myself to like it, no matter how hard I tried.
When I was listening to this album for the first time, I wasn't excited to get to this track. I almost dreaded it. As I listened to it with the context of the whole album, though, my feelings changed. It's just so good.
The more I listen to this album, the better it gets. It's aging so well already, and it's only a month old.
THE BAD
WEAK MIDDLE TRACK
The front half of this album is stacked.
The five-song stretch of "Best" to "I should hate you" is hard to follow. It's intense. It's emotional. It has you nearly in tears. It demands all of your attention. You wait on the edge of your seat, anxiously ready for whatever heartbreaking track plays next.
Then comes "Amelie".
Listen, I love a good acoustic folk-like song, but this one just doesn't do it for me. In the middle of such an emotional rollercoaster that has you thinking of every ex-boyfriend, a bare bones track falls flat.
The tracks following redeem the back half. "This is what the drugs are for" does that almost single-handedly. I just couldn't get over the bland track right in the middle of the album.
FINAL THOUGHTS
I said it about Inhaler, but it's true for Abrams too. She's about to be everywhere.
She's opening for Taylor freaking Swift. On the tour that broke Ticketmaster. And seemingly every person with a TikTok account at those shows is live-streaming the concert. Even if people don't see her in person, they'll know who she is.
Listen to her debut album and her incredible EPs now, so you can say that you listened before it was cool.
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