The Secret of Us in Bloomington, MN

After scoring a hit and a Grammy nomination with her wispy, breakup-consumed debut album,
Good Riddance
(Billboard 200 number 52, U.K. Top Three),
Gracie Abrams
rehired the record's co-writer and producer,
Aaron Dessner
of
the National
, for the follow-up. While
The Secret of Us
finds her still vulnerable and singing with an audible frown, her delivery is stronger, arrangements are more sweeping and robust, and at least some of the songs are trying to look forward. One of the headlines here is a collaboration with
Taylor Swift
, the yearning "us." (written by
Abrams
,
Swift
, and
Dessner
and produced by all three with
Jack Antonoff
). Although
is not all that conspicuous in her feature spot, it became
' first U.S. Top 40 hit, while the album itself catapulted her into the U.S. Top Three;
hit number one in Australia and the U.K. ~ Marcy Donelson