Highlights
- Gracie Abrams drops third album Daughter From Hell to a split critical reception.
- Rolling Stone calls it her best work; other reviews knock the songwriting.
- Reviews praise her vocals but debate producer Aaron Dessner’s influence.
Gracie Abrams is back with her most divisive record yet, and critics can’t stop arguing about it.
The singer-songwriter dropped her third studio album, Daughter From Hell, on Friday via Interscope, and the reviews are all over the map — ranging from career-best praise to accusations that the 26-year-old has painted herself into a corner.
Rolling Stone came out swinging in Abrams’ corner, declaring the LP her best album yet, with songs that sparkle with angst, beauty, and all the baggage that comes with adulthood. The outlet zeroed in on the record’s recurring imagery, noting Abrams sings about knives repeatedly across the tracklist, including on the piano ballad “The Knife,” at one point admitting “they’re daring me to pull it out. I’ll probably keep it for a lifetime.”
Metacritic‘s roundup credited Abrams with breaking free of the sonic sameness that dogged her earlier work, writing that she obliterates that notion in Daughter From Hell, which she co-produced with Aaron Dessner, digging deep and experimenting more than ever before. Still, the outlet wasn’t entirely sold, cautioning that the album contains some of the best songs of Abrams’s career, but it also reveals the limitations of her affiliation with Dessner.
Not everyone was as generous. Consequence of Sound delivered a mixed verdict, praising Abrams’ voice while questioning her songwriting choices. The review argued Gracie Abrams wields quite the instrument and that she sounds better than ever, but added a pointed jab: “If only her songwriting had the same range!” The outlet went on to suggest Abrams has a hard time getting out of her own way, pinning some of the blame on producer Dessner’s muted, weightless indie folk presentation.
Showbiz by PS was the harshest of the bunch, calling several tracks forgettable and writing that Abrams practically lulls the listener to sleep, functioning more like a sedative than a songwriter. The review noted that even a guest turn from Marcus Mumford couldn’t rescue the project, since their duet feels like the kind of filler track that could have appeared on either artist’s album — and nobody would have noticed if it had been left off the tracklist entirely. The verdict wasn’t a total dismissal, though — the outlet conceded the songs on Daughter from Hell are not necessarily bad. Most of them are simply dull.
Billboard praises Gracie Abrams’ third album Daughter From Hell as her “favorite music” to date, highlighting its confessional tone. They specifically celebrate the title track as a vulnerable “love letter” to her mother, featuring one of her strongest vocal performances.
They named the song “Daughter From Hell” one of the album’s highlights, calling it an overdue apology and tribute to her mother, Katie McGrath. The magazine notes the song’s enveloping, distorted guitar sounds and her moving closing vow: “I’ll try to become you now.” While saying the the album—produced in collaboration with Dessner—is marked by a darker, confessional, and more self-reflective tone than her previous work.
Album of the Year’s user forums were similarly split, with one reviewer calling it flatly “a good album” while another argued Abrams remains underrated, insisting fans would praise her lyrics if they came from a different pop star entirely.
Daughter From Hell arrives with 16 tracks and features from Aaron Dessner, Marcus Mumford, Dan Nigro and Justin Vernon, and lands as Abrams gears up for The Look at My Life Tour later this year.
