Gracie Abrams - "Good Riddance"

Sad Girl Vibes are Blue

“Good Riddance” is Abrams’ debut album, just in time for her appearance as a supporting artist for select dates on Taylor Swift’s tour. With Taylor’s apparent blessing on top of her moneyed familial ties (she’s JJ Abrams’ daughter), Abrams has a lot of attention on her debut album.

Abrams’ style is in the vein of Lorde and Billie Eilish - the ‘sad girl’ pop that has become fairly ubiquitous. More specifically, to steal one of Pitchfork’s descriptors (weird that they said something I agree with), Abrams’ style can be described as ‘whisperpop’ - a genre term coined by a Guardian article in 2017. Abrams’ light, barely-there vocals underscore the emotional shifts in the lyrics.

Overall, while there are a couple of songs that are just good or okay, the bulk of the album is very good, and several tracks (“Best”, “I Know it Won’t Work”, “Amelie”, and “The Blue”, to name a few) stand out as exceptional. And the driving concept of the album, “‘Good Riddance’ to the old me and problems I had’, brings it all home well enough to clear the bar into Blue. Officially the first 8+ of the year.

Rating: Blue