Imagine for a moment that someone writes out all the thoughts you’ve ever had in your head — negative, positive, neutral — and publishes it into one beautifully cohesive album: that would be Daughter From Hell by Gracie Abrams.
Her longest standard project, and third album, Daughter From Hell has been an idea fans were aware of since The Secret of Us Tour, when Abrams would tease songs during her surprise song section of the setlist. “Death Wish,” was one of the more popular of these then-unreleased tracks, with Abrams even dropping the live version of the song months before its official studio release.
Daughter From Hell was announced on Instagram on May 11, along with the news of first single “Hit the Wall,” which would come a few days later. The second single, “Look at My Life,” released on June 25, creating the perfect hype for the album just three weeks later.
On July 19, two days after the album’s release, Abrams surprise announced two bonus tracks — “Love Letter” and “Out of Nowhere” — would drop that evening at 6 p.m. PT on iTunes.
While both singles are musically different, an idea of the overall landscape of the album could start to be understood. “Hit the Wall” explores internal and mental struggles, embracing them when there is nowhere else to go. The track faces all of the times you spend avoiding the crash before it inevitably happens. “Face to face with every girl / That I tried to play” is a weight-bearing line for this track, the mirror into yourself, all the fake versions looking back at the real. “Hit the Wall” is the opening track of Daughter From Hell, and sets the introspective tone that falls heavily across the album.
“Look at My Life” is a cheeky track that sounds happily upbeat for the disappointing feeling it portrays. Achieving everything you’ve ever wanted, fame and glory, but seeing the picture fully, with every brushstroke, and realizing that there is so much more struggle than what it initially seemed.
For such a personal album, Daughter From Hell touches on so many topics that listeners can reach out and relate to on a surface and a much deeper level. Abrams is a talent at balancing the internal experiences and the external worldwide feelings anyone who hears the album can understand. Tracks such as the Paul Mescal co-written “Imaginary Friend” (a breakup that leaves you feeling like you had an imaginary friend, thinking back as if they were never real), “Good Reason” (ending a relationship and understanding you hurt the other person without knowing why you did it) and “Sober” (experiencing friendship while not sober with someone you used to be involved with, but now aren’t) are all ones that exemplify feelings that relate to breakups or ends of relationships in some capacity, a topic Abrams is a scholar at writing and singing.
Daughter From Hell encompasses her ability to portray her own experiences and tie them to listeners; she isn’t afraid to write herself as the problem, which makes her stand out among her songwriting peers. “Daughter From Hell,” the title track of the album, is one of the songs that best showcases this. While talking to Olivia Rodrigo in a Spotify interview, Abrams said “Daughter From Hell” is actually a love letter and apology to her mother for not being the greatest daughter.
“[It’s] like an apology, and also the big reveal that I don’t know if I will ever live up to the woman that she is.”
The complexities of a parent-child relationship is something many people can understand and relate to; having a parent be your hero and the baseline for all your goals, while simultaneously being unsure of how to live up to the person that they are, or if you even can. Each chorus of the song ends with “And I wanna say / How much I owe you / I’ve loved your shoulder.” The last line emotionally refers to having a shoulder to cry on, and Abrams puts heavy emphasis on how much her mother has been there for her throughout the intricate lyrics.
Following this deeply-woven track is “Men Like You,” which hits hard when you’re not expecting it. The whole song is calling out the subject for being just like other men: two-faced and shallow, but then reveals Abrams is singing about another girl, who chose selfishness over their friendship, echoing the behavior of men she’s experienced. This is a track that will get listeners fired up thinking of past friendships that have ended poorly due to selfish actions.
On a more light hearted note, one of the most fun songs on the album is “Minibar.” Written and originally performed with longtime friend and fellow artist Audrey Hobert, the song covers feeling awkward and out of place at a party. The whole song, while the shortest on the album, is catchy, especially the chorus,
“Oh, and they’re loud, I’m mellow / And I’m gone but hello / Pedal to the metal / Think I’m high and everybody knows / But I’m always subtle when I’m causing trouble / Hate to burst your bubble / I feel weird, I think I’m gonna go.”
The lonely feeling that comes with certain social situations, where you feel like you’re doing everything wrong and everyone’s looking at you, is laid out so perfectly throughout “Minibar.”
If it’s not already clear, Abrams’ songwriting has hit its (arguably) all-time best throughout this record, which is perfectly exemplified in tracks like “The Knife” and “Humming.” The former has Abrams in a repetitive state of remembering her ex, although her friends beg her to let him go, something she has painted as a knife in her side.
“And they’re daring me to pull it out / I’ll probably keep it for a lifetime / I’ll probably name it, then care for and claim it / That’s how it works.”
“The Knife” is also about cycles. Abrams paints a picture that illustrates her having been through this before, falling into the pain of not being able to let go, and believing this will be the last time. “Should be the last time,” Abrams sings on repeat, a visual representation of the cycle.
Then we look at “Humming,” a four-minute softly-sung song about what it’s like to grow up in a country full of turmoil and pain everywhere you look, something that she’s unfortunately lived her whole life experiencing.
“Let me wake up from this horrible dream / Where what feels true is nothing / And there’s no one at the top to believe / What a way to feel in your twenties”
Abrams doesn’t have many features, but when she does have someone join her song, it’s done perfectly. “What If It’s Right?” showcases Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons, and their collaboration is a beautiful folk-pop blend that draws the two genres together in a way that feels refreshing for either side. Mumford’s soulful rasp and Abrams’ soft lilt compliment each other perfectly, as if they were one unit.
As much as Abrams focussed on songwriting, the instrumentals are just as powerful. With help from longtime collaborator Aaron Dessner, they create sounds that make listeners feel something upon first listen, as perfectly shown in tracks “Broke My Heart,” “Mews” and “Afflictions.” It’s hard to create a soundtrack to pain that seamlessly nails the emotion, but Abrams and Dessner have found their sweet spot.
Daughter From Hell also seems to lean into the vocal side of things, allowing the instrumentals to cushion the vocals to let them shine. The meaning of each song is so much stronger when you can hear Abrams’ clear voice, and then become aware of how the instrumentals wrap around each syllable to strike more profoundly.
“Cold Goodbyes” is, fittingly, the album’s closer, and is one of the saddest tracks on the album. The “cold goodbyes” in question could relate to the ending of a life, and Abrams sings “I know better than cold goodbyes / I still believe in them sometimes.” Here, she’s falling back on the idea that a cold goodbye is always an option, while knowing she shouldn’t. The overthinking spiral she finds herself in keeps leading her there anyways. An emotional end to the album, but fits to the theming Abrams weaves in Daughter From Hell.
Daughter From Hell is a delicately woven album that outlines Abrams’ skill at getting across desperation, pain, understanding, self-reflection and any emotional wheelhouse she can conjure up in her writing.
Gracie Abrams is taking Daughter From Hell on tour starting in December and into the new year, and you can learn more about the openers here.
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