Gracie Abrams‘ music feels like getting a sneak peek into someone’s soul. Her introspective ruminations on love, heartache, and life come from a profound interiority. Through her 2023 album, Good Riddance, she invited listeners into her inner world. What they found was something captivating enough to earn her recognition from both her expanding fanbase and the industry.
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Abrams created Good Riddance with The National’s Aaron Dessner. They proved to be a well-suited pair, given how affecting the record is. Dessner’s distinctive production paired with Abrams’ candid lyricism created one of the most interesting pop records this year has had to offer.
American Songwriter caught up with Abrams to discuss how her songwriting evolved with the making of Good Riddance and how it helped her become “more curious” about herself. Check out our full conversation, below.
American Songwriter: Firstly, how does it feel to be a Grammy nominee?
Gracie Abrams: It feels like a funny dream. I am still super in shock about the fact that that is a real thing. I’m so deeply grateful for the honor.”
AS: Congratulations. It’s well deserved. Good Riddance has been out for a while. Looking back, how did you feel going into your debut album? Did you feel ready to take that step?
Abrams: I had a real sense of security in it. Aaron [Dessner] and I love it as much as we did while making it. It helped me get to know myself so much better as a writer and as a person. It helped me work through some shit in my life that I wanted to desperately and this was the avenue to do so.
I was deeply grateful even ahead of the release. I think it was the least anxious I’ve ever been. The whole process of making that album generally relieved a lot of the anxiety that I was living with. I was just really ready for it to exist as a foundation for the kind of writer that I am.
AS: Now having sat with the album for a few months, what would you say is the overarching message?
Abrams: I think it’s about walking away from versions of yourself that you don’t recognize anymore and being curious about new versions. “Good riddance” sounds kind of harsh and I think that I get that, but I also do think it’s kind of hopeful. That’s why we ended the album on the song that we did, “Right Now.” It felt like opening a new door. That was really exciting to me.
AS: Are there any songs or lyrics that have changed in meaning for you over the last few months?
Abrams: I find that whenever I’ve written and then released a song, I later relate to it more than I did at the moment I was writing it. So, I do feel like all the songs, over the past year of touring this record [have changed in meaning]. Not only because I’ve experienced more life and gotten to know myself a bit more, but also through the connection with my audience.
People are generous enough to come to the shows so I get to have this really unique experience with other human beings who I don’t necessarily know on a personal level. All of a sudden, we’re sharing these very deeply personal experiences. That always gives me these completely fresh memories associated with all the songs.
AS: What’s been your favorite fan reaction to the record–either online, in person, or in a live setting?
Abrams: It feels like a cheesy answer, but all of it feels equally unreal to me. Every time I get to hear from somebody about what a specific song means to them or their stories, it immediately makes it less about me and makes it feel so much larger. I am so lucky to get to speak to people who are down to be so open about themselves. It’s very inspiring. I think it’s helped me get more curious about myself and more willing to just say it how it is rather than sugarcoating it. I feel like I used to do that out of the fear of feeling itself. If you say it, you make it real.
AS: I have to ask, what’s it like opening for Taylor Swift? You have a few more dates with her coming up.
Abrams: It’s the best. Any opportunity to watch that show and be in her orbit is [like a] masterclass in how to do this. I look up to her so much as a human being and as an artist. To be in close proximity to the way that she does her job, loves the people in her life, is there for her friends, and is an epic business person, it’s just a really wild opportunity.
I’m so grateful to her forever. It’s my favorite show I’ve ever seen by miles, you know. I take every single opportunity I have to watch it. I watched it every single night that I got to play on that tour. I’m very excited to get back to that routine.
AS: You worked with Aaron Dessner on this album. How do you go about picking collaborators?
Abrams: Aaron and I shared a mutual person in our lives who connected us. When we first spoke–it was during COVID–I was feeling extremely introverted at the time and kind of anti-socialization of any form. So, the idea of meeting new people freaked me out and I hardcore shied away from it. But, we got on a call, and I remember feeling such a sense of ease immediately. I was speaking the same language as this person. That feeling has seeped into every song we’ve ever made together.
It set the bar so high. As someone who has written alone my whole life, [I feel] very protective of that environment. Writing is so sacred. So in terms of picking a collaborator, I think I’ve been blessed to know what it feels like to find someone who is on the exact same channel as you are while also wanting to be challenged. Aaron’s instincts and skills are completely different from mine, but I love them all so much and I think we’re able to build something cool as a result of our differences.
AS: Is there anything you’ve learned from a collaborator that you now use in your process?
Abrams: I feel like a sponge. Explicitly to my experiences with Aaron, because he’s the person I’ve worked with the most, we’ve spent so many months working together at this point that I feel like I do have certain tendencies that I can identify came from an instinct of his. I can clock when I’m like, “Oh, that’s some Aaron sparkle.”
AS: What inspires your songwriting? Are you someone who journals frequently? Or is it always a different source?
Abrams: I definitely carry my journals with me everywhere. I write in it so frequently that it is the easiest tool to reference, but I feel like my experience songwriting right now–especially around all the stuff I’m making for the next record–feels like it’s being pulled out of the air a little bit. I’ve never felt more in my body writing than I do right now with this next album. I’m having the most fun I’ve ever had.
Mostly, I’m just so fascinated by the way people interact with each other. So I write about different kinds of relationships often. Being in your 20s, you’re learning so much constantly and so capturing that as quickly as I can has been a very useful way to work through those strange emotions.
AS: What do you love most about songwriting? What does it give you as a person?
Abrams: It’s a specific kind of fulfillment that I have never experienced anywhere else. It just feels like the obvious thing to do. When I successfully capture a feeling or when I experience closure through writing, I can’t imagine living without that feeling. It gives me a sense of stability and it gives me comfort.
AS: Do you remember how you first got started in songwriting?
Abrams: I had a third-grade teacher who had us all keep these journals and she would check the dates at the top to make sure we were writing consistently. That’s how I started writing period. I was lucky enough to grow up with a couple of instruments in the house. I had this tiny drum set in our garage and I just started writing one day on the drums. It felt like a natural progression for some reason. I never stopped after that.
AS: What’s the best songwriting advice you’ve ever been given?
Abrams: I was always a huge fan of Taylor [Swift] my entire childhood. She used to talk about how frequently she would journal and it felt obvious to me that was a massive tool. I think I was lucky enough to fall in love with journaling. As soon as I started songwriting, I understood the significance of having just books and books of your feelings with details you would ultimately otherwise forget. I would say that journaling feels like the best songwriting advice. It’s been true for me, lyrically speaking.
AS: Finally, what’s something you’ve learned in your own career that you think is important for musicians just starting out to know?
Abrams: There were a couple of years where I felt like I tried to make myself sound a certain way. I tried to write to fit into a lane and I remember in my bones feeling like it wasn’t me. I think [my advice would be] being patient with yourself as you start doing this thing, especially as a young person, and understanding that your sound will come the more that put time into the practice. I’m definitely too young for any real wisdom, but…
Photo Credit: Danielle Neu / U Music
