Gracie Abrams is raising hell on her third studio album, which takes fans along with her as she crashes out, breaks down, contemplates the past and wrestles with the dreary state of the world, while also — despite everything else — finding a bit of domestic stability along the way.
Daughter From Hell dropped on Friday (July 17), two years after sophomore album The Secret of Us made her a breakout superstar by reaching No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with hits such as Billboard Hot 100 top 10 entry “That’s So True” and the Grammy-nominated Taylor Swift duet, “Us.” In many ways, the new record harkens back to the themes and musical sensibilities of both her 2024 LP and her debut album, 2023’s Good Riddance, with guitar and piano intermittently anchoring the songs as she touches on blame, complex breakups and unrequited love.
But there’s also an entirely new dimension to Abrams that she displays on her third effort, even if it doesn’t smack you in the face most of the time. She’s more interested than ever in playing with song structure and mixing new synth colors into her usual blend of instruments, while the title track even finds her uncharacteristically singing over punchy, distorted electric guitar. Her vocals sound stronger and more intentional than ever before, with the sonic highlights of many of the songs being her own ethereal harmonies stacked powerfully on top of each other.
And while there are a few catchy moments here and there, Daughter From Hell is arguably less pop than The Secret of Us, which might come as a bit of a surprise. With Abrams building her audience so impressively during her last album era, she in theory would have been perfectly poised to start reaching for more chart dominance with an album of splashier, statement-making pop anthems instead. Knowing that, it’s clear that Abrams is far more interested writing songs for herself and her fans, and that this was the album she truly wanted to make this time around.
In honor of the long-awaited release of Daughter From Hell, keep reading to see Billboard‘s ranking of all 16 songs on the album below.
After spending last summer playing arenas and amphitheaters, Gracie Abrams is ready for her close-up. The 26-year-old singer dropped her third full-length studio album on Friday (July 17), the 16-track Daughter From Hell. Prefaced by the introspective first single, “Hit the Wall” — which peaked at No. 42 on the Billboard Hot 100 — the new collection has been referred to by Abrams as her “favorite music” she’s made to date.
The follow-up to Abrams’ 2024 Billboard 200 No. 2 LP The Secret of Us once again finds her teaming up with The National guitarist/composer Aaron Dessner, who, along with his twin brother and bandmate Bryce Dessner, helped write and produce “Hit the Wall.” Aaron Dessner is listed as a cowriter on 14 of the album’s 16 tracks, while frequent Olivia Rodrigo producer-songwriter Dan Nigro has a coproduction credit on the fretful, am-I-doing-it-all-wrong song second single, “Look At My Life.”
Elsewhere, Mumford & Sons singer Marcus Mumford pops in for a guest vocal on the tune Abrams has said is her favorite on the LP, “What If It’s Right?,” and Abrams’ boyfriend, actor Paul Mescal, has a cowriting credit on “Imaginary Friend.” Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon is listed as the coproducer of “Hit the Wall” and has a cowriting and coproduction credit on “Broke My Heart,” one of several songs on which he also contributes additional vocals.
“It’s definitely my favorite music I’ve ever made, and I feel very closely connected to it,” Abrams told The Hollywood Reporter in January. “I appreciate so much that these albums are time capsules of where I’m at in my life at any given point, but right now it does feel very like me. I hope that whoever finds it, connects with it and that they make it theirs when it’s out one day. But not yet.”
In a recent Spotify conversation about songwriting, friend Olivia Rodrigo said the Daughter From Hell song “Afflictions” is her favorite so far, calling it “pure, but also very mature. It feels like the love is very deep and not superficial.” Abrams agreed, admitting that she has a hard time writing about love and tends to avoid it if she can. “When I’ve tried to write about it before, it kind of diminishes what it actually feels like. But that [song] is super real for me,” Abrams said.
The pair also talked about the more negative relationships explored on Daughter From Hell, with Abrams saying she approached them differently than she has in the past. “I was careful about writing about conflict and pain from less of a place of pointing fingers and more so of having been on both sides, like, of both the protagonist and the antagonist of each song,” Abrams said. “There’s songs about tough friendships or a kind of a breakup … I was careless in the past writing music about how it might impact the subject, and I don’t like that. I wish I could go back and fix it. And I feel like moving forward, with this album.”
Abrams’ The Look at My Life tour will begin playing North American arenas beginning on Dec. 2 in Denver.
Listen to Daughter From Hell below.
Sienna Spiro scores her first entry on any Billboard album chart, as her debut full-length studio set, Visitor, launches in the top 10 on three rankings (dated July 18). It bows in the top 10 on the Billboard 200 (No. 9), Vinyl Albums (No. 3) and Top Album Sales (No. 4). Visitor follows Spiro’s 2025 EP Sink Now, Swim Later.
Visitor was preceded by a trio of Billboard Hot 100-charting hits from the English singer-songwriter’s album: “The Visitor” (No. 43 peak in March), “You Stole the Show” (No. 55 in February) and “Die on This Hill” (No. 19 in February). The lattermost track is Spiro’s current promoted radio single, which has become a top 10 hit on the Pop Airplay and Adult Pop Airplay charts.
Concurrently with Visitor’s album chart arrival, its new single “Great Expectation,” debuts at No. 91 on the Hot 100.
On the Top Album Sales chart, Visitor is one of four debuts in the top 10, where Madonna’s CONFESSIONS II starts atop the tally. Plus, THE 8 and Vernon’s V8 debuts at No. 7 while Deep Purple’s SPLAT! enters at No. 10. ATEEZ’s GOLDEN HOUR : PART.5 falls to No. 2 after debuting in the top slot a week ago, Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love slips 2-4 and Michael Jackson’s Thriller (up 6-5) rounds out the top five.
As for the rest of the holdovers in the top 10, CORTIS’ chart-topping GREENGREEN is up one spot to No. 6, BTS’ former leader ARIRANG is a non-mover at No. 8, Jackson’s Number Ones steps 11-9.
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