On Wednesday, as a room full of fans inside the Hard Rock Hotel New York got an early listen to the new Gracie Abrams album, Daughter from Hell, Gracie surprised the group to talk about the project, and the stories behind a few of our favorite songs.
LISTEN NOW: Gracie Abrams Listening Party at Hard Rock Hotel New York
Now available everywhere, Daughter from Hell is the third studio album from Abrams, reuniting with Aaron Dessner, for another collection filled with vulnerable, raw songwriting seeping straight from the soul of Gracie.
Inside the room filled with fans, Gracie shared her appreciation for everyone who took time out of their lives to be there, and rewarded them with some insight into the making of Daughter from Hell.
“So what did your mother do when she found out the title of the album?” asked Mike Adam, who led a talk with Gracie after her surprise reveal. “Well she heard the song and she did cry, which was great because that made me feel like I won,” smiles Abrams.
“I do feel that's how I was. I was brutal I think growing up but, she forgave me by some miracle,” she adds. “I made that song in London and then I played it for her like on the phone through FaceTime, through computers, and the guitar as you've now heard is super distorted and kind of like, heavy, so imagine through two devices, and to your mom who's like, ‘I can't hear it, turn it off.’”
Gracie went on to send the song directly to her mom, and “and she did cry so that was good,” she says.
Abrams continued to talk about the impact of her mother, and the way her perspective has shifted as she has grown. “When I think about our friction growing up, I'm now very grateful for it because I learned how to deal with conflict because of my mom. She was not avoidant, she's the least avoidant, she's very like ‘the only way out is through’ and would have really difficult, endless conversations with me and my brothers in order to get to the other side of something. I feel like in my adulthood, my new adulthood, I feel like I'm trying to emulate that because it's, I don't know, clarity is kindness and I think it's really a useful skill to be able to deal with something head-on.”
Gracie also shared her musical influences through those turbulent teenage years, specifically citing The National as a band that captivated her by how they made specific, personal stories feel universal. It was of course a "full circle" moment working with Aaron Dessner, a founding member of the group.
“I was like 12, 13, 14, like I couldn't have possibly lived through what Matt Berninger is speaking about, but the quality, it was melancholy and blue and gorgeous,” she says. “I used to listen at school in headphones on my iPod under my hood.”
“It's crazy because Aaron Dessner, that's his band and it's just a funny full circle like gorgeous cosmic thing.”
For much more from Gracie Abrams on the making of Daughter from Hell. Check out the full conversation above.
The new album, ‘Daughter from Hell,’ is now available everywhere
The new album, ‘Daughter from Hell,’ is now available everywhere
