On Monday, May 11, singer-songwriter Gracie Abrams took to Instagram to announce the release of her third studio album, Daughter from Hell. According to the post, the album is set to be released two months from now on July 17th.
Following Abrams’s announcement, musical producer and songwriter, Aaron Dessner reposted the image of Abrams’s album cover in a separate post accompanied by a lengthy Instagram caption. In the post, Dessner revealed that the two had been collaborating on Abrams’s upcoming album for the past two years, noting “[w]e started on the same day that we recorded That’s So True and I Told You Things.” Dessner continued to tease what fans could expect of the new album, remarking, “[y]ou’ll hear us expanding our musical vocabulary and pushing into uncharted waters sonically, and most of all the sharpening and deepening of Gracie’s lyricism and expression.” In response to Dessner’s post, Abrams wrote in the comments section, “Ouch. Love you.”Â
Based on cryptic photos and videos posted to Instagram, Abrams had been teasing a third album since the start of this year.Â
On January 23rd, Abrams posted a video of her singing an unnamed song as she played the piano. Two months later, on March 9th, Abrams posted a series of photos that were taken at Long Pond Studios, which belongs to Aaron Dessner, who has both produced and co-written songs with Abrams in the past. Then, on March 22nd, Abrams posted an image of her sitting down on a couch with Dessner. She captioned the image “I wanna say,” leaving fans in anticipation. On April 13th, Abrams posted an image of what appeared to be a booklet with the number three on it, alluding to a third album. Her next post was a small snippet of what can now be recognized as her most recent song, Hit the Wall, which she later announced with an additional post on May 1st. Soon after, Abram’s website featured a countdown. Once it ended, the countdown revealed Abrams’s upcoming album.
Last Thursday, Abrams dropped the first single off of her upcoming album, commemorating the start of a new musical era. The song, titled, Hit the Wall, was released at 5 p.m. (PST) on May 14th alongside a music video. In the song, Abrams touches on the pain and anguish that comes with being in a relationship while struggling with mental health issues and an avoidant attachment personality type.
The day after the release of her album’s lead single, Abrams sat down for an interview with Elvis Duran and the Morning Show to talk about her upcoming album. In the interview, Abrams described what it was like crafting the album, stating, “[t]his album. . .feels like this in between place where we don’t know what the next ten years might look like, but we’ve been lucky to live more and have a bit broader of an imagination.” In comparison to her other albums, Abrams described “[t]his album” as “feel[ing] a bit more existential.” In the interview, Abrams also spent some time reflecting on what creating and releasing the album means to her, stating, “I think I want to, like really cherish this chapter of getting this album out into the world. And I loved making it so much. The process meant so much to me and my collaborators.”
The album is set to release in its entirety on July 17th. The lead single, Hit the Wall, is currently available on all streaming platforms, including Spotify, Youtube, and Apple Music.