By Chris Willman
Senior Music Writer and Chief Music Critic
Taylor Swift has had a number of prominent features on her recent albums, but it hasn’t often gone the other way. But she’s gracing one of her favorite tourmates with a guest appearance on an upcoming album. Gracie Abrams revealed the track list Monday morning for her “The Secret of Us” album, and in what may almost count as a title track, the fifth song on the record is “us.” (lower-case U, with a period), with Swift listed as the featured artist.
“June 21. Screaming so loud,” Abrams wrote on Instagram in announcing the track list via an image of the back cover.
Previously, Abrams had touted the album on social media and revealed the front cover, while writing that she made it with “some of my favorite people (!!!!!!!!).” The “favorite people” presumably referred at the very least to Aaron Dessner of the National, who is one of Swift’s two primary producers as well as Abrams’ collaborator. But now fans know a reason for some of those extra exclamation points.
A post shared by Gracie Abrams (@gracieabrams)
The album’s first single, “Risk,” came out May 1.
Popular on Variety
“us.” is track 5 on Abrams’ album, which will inevitably lead to conjecture about whether Abrams places as much value on the heightened heartbreak value of a track 5 as much as Swift notoriously does.
Other titles listed for the release include “Felt Good About You,” “Blowing Smoke,” “I Love You, I’m Sorry,” “Let It Happen,” “Tough Love,” “I Knew It, I Know You,” “Normal Thing,” “Good Luck Charlie,” “Free Now” and “Close to You,” the last of which is listed as a “P.S.” track following track 12 — maybe because it’s a true postscript or maybe because Abrams doesn’t want to get unlucky by following in Swift’s footsteps with a true 13-track album.
This will mark Abrams’ second official full-length album release, following 2023’s “Good Riddance.” Although 2021’s “This Is What It Feels Like,” which was billed as an EP or “project,” ran to album length at 12 tracks, and was preceded by another EP, 2020’s “Minor,” Abrams said she considered “Good Riddance,” which was her first effort to have Dessner working with her on its entirety, to be her true album debut.
Abrams opened for much of Swift’s Eras Tour in 2023 and will be rejoining the epic two-year trek as it closes out this fall. She will be opening for Swift when the tour finally returns from overseas to North America for 18 shows over nearly two months, starting Oct. 18 in Miami and running through Dec. 8 in Vancouver.
Abrams was on “The Today Show” last week to talk about the new single and spoke about her time opening on the Eras Tour in 2023. “I watched every single one of her shows that I was lucky enough to open — I think I did 31 and I watched from every place possible in every stadium, just trying to pick up on how she’s able to do what she does. And she’s such a one-of-a-kind person, friend, artist, all the things.”
At the Cincinnati stop of last year’s tour, weather prevented Abrams from being able to do her customary opening set, so Swift invited Abrams to perform “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” as a duet in the middle of her headlining set, after running through it one time in a dressing room beforehand.
Swift’s features on other artists’ recordings have been rare, but not unheard of. She showed her continuing affinity for Dessner and his team by featuring on a recent album by the National (as well as participating in their collaborative Big Red Machine project). Other features include Haim’s “Gasoline” remix, “Highway Don’t Care” by Tim McGraw and “The Joker and the Queen” by Ed Sheeran.
A Variety and iHeartRadio Podcast
The Business of Entertainment
