Gracie Abrams Turns the Camera on Herself in “Look at My Life”

Since she first arrived on the scene back in 2019, Gracie Abrams has established herself as one of the most vital singer-songwriters of her generation. For those who have been following her since she wrote her first song at eight years old, it’s been a fascinating evolution—from the quiet, bedroom-pop introspection of her early EPs, minor and This Is What It Feels Like, to selling out theaters across North America and proving she’s a powerhouse in her own right.

But with her new single, “Look at My Life” Gracie is doing something a little different. She’s shifting the lens away from heartbreak and toward the weird, disorienting experience of being a public figure.

Pulling Back the Curtain

Released as the second taste of her upcoming album, Daughter From Hell (due July 17), “Look at My Life” is a collaboration with Aaron Dessner that manages to sound both polished and raw.

It’s easy to look at a pop star’s life from the outside and see the sold-out crowds and the aesthetic photos. Gracie is essentially calling bluff on that surface-level narrative. The song is a sharp, honest look at the gap between how things look online and how they actually feel in real-time. That line—“Bet you can’t tell but it’s kind of a bad time”—really hits home because it captures that specific feeling of needing to perform “okayness” when you’re actually dealing with the weight of it all.

The Beauty in the “Mess”

What I love about this track is the contrast. The production is driving and catchy, but the lyrics are biting. It feels like she’s tired of the “perfect” pop star archetype, and she’s leaning into the mess instead. It’s vulnerable without being melodramatic, and it feels like the kind of song she needed to write to keep her own head on straight.

The music video, directed by Mitch Ryan, leans into that same surreal energy. It’s got that slightly off-kilter, dream-like quality that reminds you that even the most successful artists are just navigating their twenties like everyone else—albeit in front of a lot more people.

What Comes Next

With Daughter From Hell just around the corner and her massive tour kicking off in December, Gracie is clearly hitting a new stride. She’s moving into larger arenas, but “Look at My Life” proves she’s still laser-focused on the details that make her music feel so personal.