FEATURE: Spotlight: Gracie Abrams — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Gracie Abrams

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ONE of the most talented and important…

young artists in music today, I thought it was time to include the amazing Gracie Abrams in Spotlight. The twenty-two-year-old Pop artist from Los Angeles is a sensational songwriter and artist. Her debut E.P., Minor, was released on in July 2020. Her second E.P., This Is What It Feels Like, was released on 12th November, 2021. I wanted to include a few interviews conducted around the release of that sensational E.P. I am also going to include a review of it. CLASH spoke with Abrams back in November:

“The daughter of producer J.J. Abrams and producer Katie McGrath, Abrams grew up in a creative household. But the inklings of a music career really began with journaling, where her barebones thoughts would fill her pages. At eight, her parents enlisted her in drum lessons. While those didn’t take, she pursued piano and guitar. In-between, she found kindred spirits in artists like Elliott Smith and Joni Mitchell. “Growing up my parents would play [Coldplay’s] ‘Yellow’ in the house, and that kind of production is nuts,” Abrams laughs. “And it definitely made me feel like I could imagine different things, sonically.”

When the singer-songwriter started making her own music, she shared it privately at first, but later on SoundCloud and Instagram where she began garnering a following of her own. By 2019, she signed to Interscope. And even now, her parents’ involvement has remained non-existent — aside from support. “I love them, but I definitely would also love to be able to not be associated with what they do for work when it comes to what I do for work,” Abrams notes. Still, she’s “grateful and so aware of the privilege of being a part of this family,” she adds.

Despite releasing ‘Minor’ last year, Abrams has barely slowed down. In March, she teamed up with Benny Blanco for the stripped-down single ‘Unlearn’, and by May, she shared the downtempo pop anthem ‘Mess It Up’ rife with insecurities. “I felt like I was finding myself in situations where I would get really close to something being great and somehow find creative ways to break it all down,” she says of the track.

While Abrams doesn’t have concrete plans for a new release following ‘Mess It Up’, she’s continued to write and knows her music will be a departure from what fans heard on ‘Minor’. That, she says, came from “a more urgent confessional standpoint where I just like had the first real breakup of my life.” Now that she’s emerged from that transitional state, her work is coming from a different place. “I've been considering how to introduce myself more personally through this music,” Abrams says. “Not that it wasn't a reflection of me with ‘Minor’, because it so literally was, but it felt like a breakup record.”

Shifting her vision has also been a gift — it’s given — the pop singer the space to dream about future collaborations. For Abrams, she’s most intrigued by the prospect of teaming up with James Blake. “I just feel like watching him produce would be the craziest experience of all time,” she says. “Every time he puts anything out, it's raging jealousy that I feel. So, to be in the same space as him, I would love that more than anything.”

But right now, connecting with fans in person is something Abrams is really fantasizing about — something she couldn’t say a few months ago. “I've never heard anybody sing my songs back at me before,” the singer says. The thought makes her emotional: “I don't know what that's going to feel like, but I can imagine”.

PHOTO CREDIT: Meg Young for CLASH

I would advise everyone to listen to This Is What It Feels Like, Mature, nuanced and utterly engrossing, Gracie Abrams’ second E.P. is a remarkable release. Having released her debut E.P. during a pandemic, it would have been strange and hard to make an impression. Her second E.P. confirms her as one of the finest Pop artists in the world. The Forty-Five talked with Abrams about her (at the time) forthcoming and anticipated E.P. She has a remarkably level and wise head:

“Releasing her debut EP into the thick of the pandemic netted Gracie a unique duality in her musical success – an explosively popular and resonant project, but whose feverish reception played out entirely virtually, almost on “mute”. She has played to fans on “bedroom tour” for the last year, and made her Jimmy Fallon debut with a live-streamed performance from the foot of her childhood bed. The view from the front rows of her Sydney and Berlin “shows” looked the same, from the crumpled bedsheets in the corner to the glow of the desk lamp beside her.

This autumn, Gracie performed her album for a live audience for the first time. Watching her onstage at the London Omeara on her last night of tour, the palpability of the experience is contagious. She physically takes in the room, her eyes peering from corner to corner full of wonder as fans address her with familiarity and endearment in their hollers and cries. She peppers her performance with little waves and outstretched arms, directed at specific members of the audience each time as if she recognises each person from somewhere in particular. “This is literally crazy,” she beams in disbelief.

The foundation of her musical craft, writing is also what gives Gracie the methodology and discipline to work on herself and keep growing. A lifelong and rigorous journaller, Gracie shares that almost all of her songs began as diary entries. She practices journaling almost like a science, using it as a grounding point and a way of working through things. Through this process, she has felt ready to shift her songwriting focus away from the minutiae of the Gracie Abrams relationship universe onto other themes. “As I grow up, I’m interested in being less self-centred, if you know what I mean. It’s so easy when we’re little to truly believe that we are the centre of our own universe, which is true, but of course only to a degree. I don’t want to be consumed by the relationships in my life and every detail of them. There is so much more that I’m inspired by that isn’t just the romantic relationship I’m in, or my immediate friendships. I’m looking to hold up less of a mirror to myself.”

As I grow up, I’m interested in being less self-centred, if you know what I mean. It’s so easy when we’re little to truly believe that we are the centre of our own universe, which is true, but of course only to a degree.

In music today, though, making everything about you is almost the name of the game. Gracie knows this, but wants to try fighting it anyway. “Joni Mitchell did not have Instagram. She did not have people telling her to post photos of her face all the time. I know we work in totally different times with different audiences, but I care much more about writing than the ‘artist’ stuff that’s all about me. I’ve always just loved how writing makes me feel.” She is begrudging about the trappings of streaming, algorithms fuelled by pictures of yourself, and the apparent necessity of all these ingredients for a viable music career. “In this job where my name and face are on everything I do, not only do I not recognise that person all the time, but I refuse to allow that to be everything about me.”

Her forthcoming project, ‘This Is What It Feels Like’, is an opportunity to channel this new perspective. It features her latest single, ‘Rockland’, which she wrote with The National’s Aaron Dessner, one of her heroes, at Long Pond Studios in upstate New York. Gracie is intentional and excited about this next chapter of her music. “I allowed myself a different kind of patience in making this project. I’m happy it isn’t ‘minor’ again, as this feels like more of an introduction to who I am as an individual instead of in relation to another person.”

The process of writing ‘Rockland’ alone was already different from how she made ‘minor’. “When you’re out at Long Pond, it feels like the place writes the song for you.” Creating the song with Dessner was effortless. “Aaron was in the booth layering a guitar riff. He was being a perfectionist, fine-tuning it a thousand times. I was outside the booth listening to him, and he couldn’t hear me. I went into a trance listening to him and ended up writing the whole song that way. When he came out of the booth, I had the full song ready. That was the whole process. It was bizarre, an almost 50-50 collaboration. We made it on the second day we met”.

There are a few more things that I want to include. I will get to a review of This Is What It Feels Like. NME featured Gracie Abrams last year and asked her about an E.P. that is more multi-layered and stronger than her debut:

“Abrams’ 2020 EP ‘Minor’ might have taken us into her very personal stories of heartache and break-ups, but she sees her more multi-faceted new project ‘This Is What It Feels Like’ as being a better introduction to who she is. “I took lots of months of failing, being unable to write and then just got very honest with myself,” she says. “When I wrote ‘Minor’ it was definitely in the middle of a break-up and feeling like it was what I needed to write about. I felt a weight was lifted when I put it out, but I feel like I had more patience with myself making this project and got a lot more honest with myself about my relationship with me versus my relationship with others.”

Writing and recording at Long Pond also gave her the space to dig deeper in her subject matter and tackle things she’s “never really addressed in songs” before. “It felt super necessary and I will carry it with me forever,” she explains.

Gracie’s generation pushes her to do her best work, in music and beyond

Gen Z are often spoken about as the generation that will save us all and for Abrams her peers are a constant source of inspiration to do better – whether that’s in music or other parts of her life. During the 2020 US election, the singer-songwriter worked as a poll worker in her area – something she says she was “inspired by friends to get involved with”.

“Unfortunately, for a really long time younger people had assumed we would be OK in the hand of the older generation, but clearly we can’t rely on them to shape the future that we want to see,” she notes.

“Being involved really mattered to me, but also when I think about songwriting, for example, and where I pull inspiration from, it’s not just other music or relationships in my life. It’s seeing people that are passionate about whatever it is they’re passionate about. I feel so compelled to do my best work when I see young people absolutely kicking ass – whether it’s political or from a writing standpoint, or at school or working in their local communities”.

Prior to getting to a final interview, there were a collection of really positive reviews for This Is What It Feels Like. Ones to Watch had their say about a remarkable E.P. that everyone needs to listen to:

“All throughout This Is What It Feels Like, Gracie Abrams brings her raw introspection to the most intimate of emotional experiences, including self-betrayal, insecurity, and painfully failed attempts at connection. True to her DIY roots, the 12-track record finds her taking a more significant role in the production process, working with The National’s Aaron Dessner, Joel Little, and her frequent collaborator Blake Slatkin to dream up each track’s minimalistic yet kaleidoscopic sound. Abrams also left her hometown of LA to write and record in such serene settings as the woods of Maine and Dessner’s Long Pond Studio in the Hudson Valley - a move that quickly brought greater clarity to her creative vision.

This Is What It Feels Like continues to explore the sonic and emotional territory heard on her previous project minor. The tone throughout is primarily cynical, but the vibe isn’t all negative. For example, the opener “Feels Like” finds Abrams in the throes of love and expresses that she “would do whatever you wanted/We don’t have to leave the apartment.” Listeners also can see Abrams broadening and slightly experimenting with a more rustic sound on “Rockland.” The track oozes with folky flavors that morph and blend with her gentle vocals and intricate guitar-picking, courtesy of Dessner.

Other tracks of note are the bright yet bleak, Haim-esque “The Bottom,” which examines Abrams’ self-awareness and self-loathing. She puts up her walls and warns the person trying to get close to her, “I’m going to drag you right down to the bottom” and “I’m happier when I’m sad.” Meanwhile, the poppy, “dance while you cry”-inducing, “For Real This Time,” and the soft, acoustic “Augusta” are also great examples of the aural growth and range Abrams has developed since minor.

Abrams is a name that has been popping up everywhere over the last year, and it’s easy to see why. Her smooth and soft vocals have a colorful, dreamy, imaginative element to them, making it a voice you can easily get lost in. In addition, her music elevates her organic, narrative-driven songwriting and passionate relatability”.

Rounding off, I wanted to include a quick-fire interview from Office Magazine. It is a good round-up and overview of when the inspiring Gracie Abrams got into music; a few of her inspirations and earliest memories:

“When did you first get into music?

My first instrument was the drums when I was 8.

How did you discover your sound?

I feel like everything I’ve ever been exposed to has informed my sound and I hope it only continues to develop as I live and breathe and all that. I loved musicals growing up so maybe that’s partly where I fell in love with storytelling in songs.

Where do you find inspiration for your songs?

People and my relationships with them. It’s such a joke because I’ve written some of my favorite ones based on literal minute-long interactions with people I know nothing about. I think I’m just a very romantic person, unfortunately.

How have the past two years been for you creatively?

Two years ago it was tough and as of November I’ve felt like myself again. I feel back in my body and I think therefore I actually connect to the words I’m writing. It’s a relief in a way I can’t even describe to you.

You’re going on tour with Olivia Rodrigo, that’s so exciting! What are you doing to get ready for tour?

I know, it’s gonna feel like a month long slumber party. Or like sleep away camp. We were talking about it this morning, being like, “thank god…” It’ll just be nice having each other on the road, I think. Touring is bizarre and incredible but also sometimes just disorienting schedule wise, so to get ready for it I’ve just been reminding myself that I’ve got her there with me.

What is your favorite part of touring and performing in general?

Oh my god. I mean, it’s all of it. Half of it is confronting the fear of performing I grew up with and then the other half is just being in such disbelief I get to meet new people every single night and feeling so immediately connected to all of them. Every show feels like a family reunion. And then it’s the joy of being in cities I’ve never gone to before, exploring when we have time off, all that.

How does it feel to be prepping to be back on stage after this pandemic?

Touring is obviously a complete 180 from our lives in quarantine. It’s daunting, but I’m constantly pinching myself because it’s such a dream to get to do it.

What is going to be next for you after the tour is over

Writing always”.

Go and follow Gracie Abrams and listen to her latest E.P. I know that she will be putting out more music soon. Her latest single, Block me out, came out a week ago. I wonder whether she is planning an album or another E.P. Whatever comes from her, it is going to be phenomenal. I am excited to see where Abrams heads. The Californian is…