Man, these rankings are all such a mess. They feel more and more cumbersome all the time. I’ve got a draft of a post in which I’m just complaining to myself about all the reasons my current set-up does not work, listing out the issues and possible solutions. Changing it would be so much work, and nothing I do is ever going to actually be, like, good, so it’s hard to really gear myself up to make such a substantial change. I think I ought to, though. I feel such a sense of dissatisfaction and frustration when I have to rank people sometimes. Abrams wasn’t even that bad in that respect, but still. There’s this long moment as I crawl through my list and try to pick a spot that doesn’t feel terrible, as I have to look back through and see all the artists I’ve slotted into clean lines that obviously can’t fit. Blegh
Whatever, anyway. I’m gonna give Abrams a solid B. I like her songs, she’s enjoyable, but I don’t feel any real emotional connection to her or her music and there are a couple of specific problems I have, so. I think that should fit okay.
My main commentary on it, other than “this is pretty enjoyable pop”, is that it consistently feels too soft. Not slow, not mellow—part of it is that it feels too quiet, but it’s a fairly specific kind of quiet. Nothing punches through, it’s too soft. To be fair, I don’t need it to be punchy; that’s clearly not what it’s going for, and that’s great. But right now, I feel like every single element is soft, it all kinda fades into itself and blurs away.
I think that this is two separate (though closely related) issues. Thing one is, I do feel like it (particularly the first two albums) is mixed too quietly. I find myself feeling like I have to turn up the volume to twice what I’d normally listen at just to be able to hear it properly. Thing two is, there is an aesthetic quality of softness that I think I would be inclined to like if I didn’t think it went too far. When it works, I think it really works well. Unfortunately, that’s the less common outcome for me, I think. More often, it doesn’t quite work and I feel like everything blurs together, the songs lose a little focus. That is more common (for my experience), again particularly with the first two albums.
A lot of it, I think, is mixing. A lot of it is composition and arrangement. There’s gotta be something, at least some one thing, most all of the time for me to be able to hold onto, it can’t all be all the way soft. Y’know? I dunno. I’ve also been told by others who listen to Abrams that this is not something they experience, so maybe it’s just me. What can ya do.
Anyway. Mostly I liked her music. There were definitely parts I enjoyed lots, particularly the parts that were even just a little bit poppier and higher energy. The Secret of Us in particular is a very enjoyable album. This is an aside, but especially in that album, Abrams felt very of a kind with Conan Gray. Mostly, “Blowing Smoke” and “People Watching” are just the same song. Abrams sounds just like him, there are bits where the melody is identical, they are twin songs. But anyway, the point of that is that I enjoyed that album a good bit, good album.
So yeah. Pretty good. Liked it, not yet quite sure if I’m gonna grow to like her. B, even though all my Bs (and As, and all of it) feel icky right now. Whatever, it’s fine
Gracie Abrams complete, now listening to: Steely Dan
tunafruitsandwitch 