Rising star Gracie Abrams has released her debut album Good Riddance, inviting listeners to a soft, reflective world, and marking her territory in the world of indie “bedroom pop”. Following in Swift’s footsteps, Abrams worked with The National’s Aaron Dessner and recorded at Long Pond studio, the birthplace of Grammy award-winning album Folklore.

While Good Riddance may not have given many radio hits, it’s safe to say Abrams will be joining Clairo, Phoebe Bridgers, and fellow rising star Ceiling’s Lizzy McAlpine among “sad girl indie” pop stars. Her debut album shows listeners Abrams’ heart on her sleeve as she soundtracks growing up, love, loss, and everything in between in the world of a woman in her young twenties. Her classic soft vocals and raw melancholy lyrics weave their way through the album shining in her singles Where Do We Go Now? and Difficult. 

Ahead of the album release, Abrams reminded listeners of the importance of listening to it in order as the tracks follow a linear story. While the production is beautiful, sounds often seem to blend together, merging with Abrams’ soft voice, too often burying her lyricism. Soft synths and piano are gracefully used but arguably become overpowering at times, easily making it difficult to differentiate between individual tracks. 

Aesthetically, Abrams stuck to a consistent theme, from lyrics to album art to merch. Warped soft grays, blues, and blacks encapsulate the album with the album cover (pictured above) being a distorted portrait of Abrams, photographed by Julie Patterson, whose work has been featured in recognized outlets from Rolling Stone to The Washington Post. Additionally, Abrams’ brother, Henry Abrams, designed a poster that will be sold on tour.

For such a new artist, impressively multiple of Abrams’s songs charted on Billboard’s “Hot Trending Songs” with I Know It Won’t Work leading at number 1 as of March 4. Quickly following her album release, Abrams has set off not only on her own headline tour but also as a supporting act to Swift’s long-awaited Era’s Tour. Beginning as soon as April 1, 2023, you can catch both Abrams and Swift together live on tour.