The first official collaboration between Gracie Abrams and Taylor Swift is finally in our ears.
Abrams, 24, released her sophomore album, The Secret of Us, on Friday, June 21, which included her duet with Swift, 34, called “Us.”
Although Swift’s voice can only be heard scattered throughout, her signature style is all over the track which serves as a retrospective of a failed relationship that burned out bright and quickly.
“Do you miss us?” Abrams and Swift both ask in the chorus. “I felt it / You held it / Do you miss us? / Wonder if you regret the secret of us.”
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The second verse feels reminiscent of songs off Swift’s 11th studio album, The Tortured Poets Department, which she released in April. “It felt like something old / It felt like something holy, like souls bleeding / So it felt like what I’ve known,” the duo sing. “You’re 29 years old / So how can you be so cold when I open my home?”
The pre chorus that follows is where Swift’s vocals become more prominent. “And if history’s clear, the flames always end up in ashes / And what seemed like fate, give it 10 months and you’ll be past it / Babylon lovers hanging, missed calls on the line / I gave you mine,” the lyrics read.
The track ends with Abrams posing one last flurry of questions. “I felt it, you held it, do you miss us?” she asks. “The pain of, the reign of, the flame of us? / The outline, well, sometimes, do you miss us? / The best kind, well, sometimes, do you miss us?”
The song is cowritten by Abrams, Swift and frequent Swift collaborator Aaron Dessner, cofounder of The National. The trio also produced the track with Swift’s other longtime collaborator, Jack Antonoff.
Abrams recently explained how “Us” came together quite serendipitously.
“Something caught our ear at the same time very hard and fast,” Abrams told Billboard about working with Dessner, 48. “So we ran to the piano and started writing this song.”
Abrams added, “I used to fantasize about that kind of a thing as a kid.”
Dessner — who produced 12 of the 13 songs on The Secret of Us — gushed about the experience of seeing Abrams and Swift come together artistically.
“It was just really fun to watch the chemistry of Gracie and Taylor bouncing off each other,” Dessner told Billboard. “Gracie in total wonder and awe watching how Taylor records and produces her vocal performances and builds the world.”
Dessner coproduced and cowrote Swift’s 2020 albums, Folklore and Evermore, in addition to having a major hand in her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department.
Abrams and Swift have developed a friendship since Abrams opened for Swift on the first North American leg of her Eras Tour — but the whole thing almost went up in flames.
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At a recent dinner party hosted at Swift’s Tribeca apartment, Abrams said a candle tipped over around 6 a.m. after a night of partying and drinking. Swift, thinking fast on her feet, picked up a fire extinguisher to remedy the potentially dangerous situation.
“She was such a legend,” Abrams told Billboard. “I don’t know how at this hour or in our state she knew what to do.”
Though Abrams added, “We both had an insane cough from the fire extinguisher fumes for weeks.”
Abrams will return to the road with Swift later this year to open for her on the final North American dates of the Eras Tour. The Secret of Us is available now.
