Gracie Abrams’ album “The Secret of Us” catapulted the singer-songwriter to fame, with the album hitting No. 1 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart. Four months later on Oct. 18, Abrams released “The Secret of Us (Deluxe),” featuring four previously unreleased songs and live versions of three fan-favorite songs from the original album, including “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and “Free Now.”
“The Secret of Us,” which is recognizable by its yellow bubbly font and straightforward picture of Abrams, gets a makeover on the deluxe album, both in design and theme. While the original LP is characterized by memories of summer, the feeling of being a heartbreaker and devastating lyrics paired with upbeat sounds, the deluxe version fits its redone, blue title. It’s sadder with simpler sounds.
The first deluxe track on “The Secret of Us (Deluxe)” is “Cool,” which lives up to its name with an edgy synth sound in the intro. The song sets a new tone for the rest of the album, one of honesty and specificity. On the deluxe album, Abrams's voice feels clearer and better enunciated than in the original album’s tracks, where her voice sounds similar in each song, making the tracks difficult to differentiate. “Cool,” with its rhyming and name-dropping, does not blend in with the rest of the album.
“That’s So True,” a song that explores the feelings of jealousy that come with a breakup, is the easiest listen on the album. The song plays on what Abrams does best: combining an upbeat sound with sad lyrics. “Smiling through it all, yeah, that’s my life,” Abrams sings. The line encapsulates the tone of the song perfectly. The sound of this song feels intentionally detailed, like how the instrumental stops during the line “I had to warn ya” before returning for the rest of the song. The bridge encapsulates everything excellent about Abrams's newer music: It is fast-paced, passionate and makes the words she sings come to life.
Not every song on “The Secret of Us (Deluxe)” shines, however. Abrams’s sad songs tend to be repetitive and one-dimensional, and “I Told You Things” is no exception. The song reverts to the mopier tone of voice she has in most of the original version of “The Secret of Us” and wasn’t as powerful as her other songs, such as “Risk” or “Let it Happen.”
Abrams falls into a similar trap on “Packing It Up,” an acoustic song with a simpler tune than any other track on the album. While the song is filled with vulnerable, personal details, referencing “good peppermint tea” or “a cool wind on the drive home / with no traffic for miles,” the track quickly fades into more basic lyrics that aren’t as moving.
Standout track “I Love You, I’m Sorry - Live From Vevo” references her 2020 song, “I miss you, I’m sorry,” but recognizes both parties' faults in a breakup, unlike in the latter song. Compared to the studio version of the song, however, the live version starts lower and feels a bit flat. In the original, the line “That’s just the way life goes” feels light, but in the live, it feels heavy. As the song progresses, though, the emotion comes back. In the bridge, the rawness and roughness of Abrams’ voice and breaths are evident, and the violin accompaniment helps elevate the song to a more mature level. The note change in the line “to prove that it haunts me” makes the ending more satisfying, with Abrams’ voice fading into instrumentals. Though the live track’s beginning is imperfect, by the end, “I Love You, I’m Sorry - Live From Vevo” has even more life than the original.
“The Secret of Us (Deluxe)” builds on the loose, summer vibe of Abrams’ “Risk” and “Close to You” with tracks like “Cool” and “That’s So True,” yet fails on the sadder songs, leaving the listener wanting more.
