Gracie Abrams released her debut album on Feb. 24, “Good Riddance,” a devastating coming-of-age album filled with poignant and heartbreaking lyrics. In what feels like repeated punches to the gut, the 23-year-old rising singer-songwriter captures the growing pains that come with your early twenties. Her illustrious breathy voice, paired with her lyrical control, gives this indie pop album an effortless glow.
Abrams’ last project, an album-length EP titled “This Is What It Feels Like,” was released in 2021 and propelled her toward stardom. It formed as a symptom of the pandemic, where she reflected on past memories like driving with her best friend to see “After,” a Harry Styles fanfiction turned movie, in the song “Feels Like.” The introspective EP had a sense of disillusionment and of pining for the world before it crumbled.
“Good Riddance” has the same level of introspection, but instead of reflecting on pre-pandemic times, she works through more present emotions and evolves as a person.. “I feel like all of the feelings that I worked through with this album were kind of the realest feelings that I’ve ever had and [about] the most formative experiences in my life,” Abrams said in an interview with Vanity Fair.
The first track – “Best” – acts as a perfect entry point for listeners and might be one of the album’s best – pun intended. The track alludes to a past romantic relationship, one that she made major mistakes in. “You’re the worst of my crimes,” she admits. “Promise I don’t forget all of my fault in this.”
Immediately, Abrams holds herself accountable for her mistakes. She recognizes her toxicity and spends the whole album trying to sort through the complexities of that realization. This intimate accountability brings humanity to the album and her lyrics with a sense of vulnerability and introspection. “I think a lot of my songwriting in the past almost placed blame on others before reflecting on my own role in a situation,” she said to Vanity Fair.
This album’s topics run much deeper than her flaws, though. Many of these revelations of her imperfections stem back to her mental health struggles. She openly addresses the influence these struggles have had on her sometimes problematic thought patterns. The reference to codependency in “Full Machine” and the mentions of drug and alcohol abuse in “I should hate you” and “This is what the drugs are for,” are just symptoms of what she describes as her “terrible condition” in “Difficult.”
“Last night, I spiraled alone in the kitchen. Making pretend that the furniture listened. Wasn’t the best of my mental conditions, but I tried,” Abrams sings in “I should hate you.”
In “Good Riddance,” Abrams explores how her everyday struggles tear apart her mind. This sentiment is nothing new to her discography (see songs like “Rockland” and “I miss you, I’m sorry” from previous releases), but what’s different about this album is the cohesive narrative of heartbreak, mistakes, entering adulthood, and finding love in unexpected places.
Abrams worked closely with The National’s Aaron Dessner, who created a safe space for recording such a vulnerable piece of art. “I’ll never have the right words to express my gratitude for the process [of] making it,” Abrams said in a tweet.
Without such a safe recording space, “Good Riddance” might not have reached the same level of vulnerability. With care, Dessner, who has producer credits on every track on the album, kept the focus on the delicate, candid lyrics. The stripped-back production created a dreamlike sound, which is only amplified when listening to the album through headphones at Abrams’ request.
“This is what the drugs are for” has the most unique production. This indie folk song strangely but irresistibly mixes the Lumineers, Trousdale, and Phoebe Bridgers’ sounds. It strays farthest from the very consistent indie pop style that she has cultivated in all of her projects so far. Epitomizing bedroom pop, “Good Riddance” blends elements of indie, rock, and folk seamlessly.
In this vulnerable space, Abrams is left asking some ambiguous being, “Where do we go now?”, “Will you cry?” She asks the questions that race through the minds of so many young women in their teens and twenties, questions that many do not want to face. Her lyrics read like a diary entry. What makes her songwriting so powerful for so many young women is her authenticity, honesty, and her ability to capture such complex thoughts in a three-minute track.
It’s not until the second to last track on the album, “The blue,” that Abrams takes a metaphorical breath and listeners get an emotional break. Still packed with emotion, “The blue” revolutionizes the album. As Abrams’ first true love song, the mood of the album lightens significantly as a result of the inclusion of this track.
“You came out of the blue like that,” she remarks of this unexpected but real love. Tender lyrics like “send me every song that keeps you up from sleepin’. I bet I could recite ’em all” and “I think you’re everythin’ I’ve wanted” make this track a distinct shift on the album – and in Abrams herself. At the beginning of “Good Riddance,” her lyrics embody confusion and loss, but by the end, she begins finding herself.
Abrams longs for the past while satisfied in the present in the last and longest track, a tragic yet comforting ballad that clocks in at nearly six minutes. During the first verse of “Right now,” she reflects on the tiny details that make up her childhood, like her “dog in the door,” “the light in the kitchen,” and her “mom on the phone.” She feels “homesick” thinking about all that has changed after moving out of her childhood home and starting a life of her own.
In the second verse, she asks if she’s “losing her family” and if her little brother thinks her “leavin’ was wrong.” Her aching sincerity shines through her gracefully strained voice. You can almost hear her holding back tears in this verse, like the emotions are hitting her in real-time. The rawness of her voice only makes the words more impactful. But what might hurt most is the line that inspired the title of the song: “I feel like myself right now,” she repeats. Despite her guilt for leaving her hometown, a part of her feels at peace. “Right now” perfectly ties up the narrative threads that flow through each track.
“Being in my early twenties, I know that I’m only just now scratching the surface of getting to know myself, which is obviously tricky to navigate,” Abrams said in an interview with Rolling Stone following the release of the album’s second single, “Difficult.” As most women in their early twenties can understand, many facets of life don’t make complete sense yet. What Abrams does so well is capture this feeling of longing, confusion, self-assuredness, and all the conflicting and convoluted feelings that come with growing up.
From start to finish, Abrams’ “Good Riddance” is an epic journey, and one she’s eager to share with her listeners. By the end, you’re left smiling with tears falling down your cheeks – just like she is.