Gracie Abrams has done something her friend Taylor Swift did quite a few albums — and one relationship — ago: She’s written a song with her famous actor boyfriend.
On the New York Times‘ Popcast, Gracie was asked about the fact that on her new album Daughter From Hell, one song, “Imaginary Friend,” was co-written with her love, Oscar-nominated actor Paul Mescal. And unlike when Taylor co-wrote songs with her ex, Paul is credited under his real name.
“I don’t like the feeling of hiding,” Gracie explained. “I also love privacy where it feels like the right thing. But that was so fun to write together. That wasn’t some groundbreaking event for us. We have a very creative home with friends who are, like, so good at what they do and everyone feels happy to share that with one another.”
Acknowledging that writing a song with Paul might open her up to online hate, Gracie argued, “I … think … if you know how happy your experience was making something, or how much you learned about yourself or your partner or whatever the thing is, it’s like, no, amount of hate or trolling or whatever could take that away.”
“And I think that is a part of my life that brings me so much peace and joy,” she added. “And I’m not gonna pretend like that’s not true.”
As for the song itself, Gracie said it was “just us f****** around,” in an attempt to write a “strummer” — an acoustic guitar-based song, as she did on The Secret of Us.
“I kind of wanted the show to have one or two more moments where it could be super small in that way,” she explained.
Meanwhile, Gracie has released another song and video from Daughter From Hell: “Look at My Life.”
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