Album review: Daughter from Hell

ALBUM – Daughter from Hell

ARTIST – Gracie Abrams 

LABEL – Interscope Records 

GRADE – D

The third album from Grammy nominee Gracie Abrams, Daughter from Hell rings in at just under an hour. With 16 songs on the tracklist, including a titular track and a few breakout singles, I’m sad to report that, unfortunately, ‘Album from Hell’ would’ve been a more accurate name to describe this emotionally stunted hodgepodge of indie bedroom pop. 

At best, I found some joy and familiarity in Abrams’ signature confessional songwriting style and her straightforward delivery. At worst, the tracks here made me feel angry, annoyed that I was wasting my time with an album that severely needed an edit or three.

Let me start with what worked, because there isn’t a lot here. Across the board, the lyricism is fine, the instrumentals lacklustre, and the production ultimately boring. While Abrams lyrics and tracks feature creative metaphors and interesting visual language, you can’t carry anything substantial on flowery language alone. 

The standout tracks to me were “Mews,” “Humming,’ and “Men like You.” Here, I think Abrams is able to play to her strengths and explore some of the more interesting aspects of her somewhat formulaic style. For example, there’s a scream included in the background production of “Men like You” that genuinely caught me off guard on my first listen.

This brings me to a bigger gripe I had, which is that this album seems lazily put together. I’m not seeing strong artistic throughlines or much care being put into each track. Sure, I can feel the authenticity in what Abrams is sharing with us, but without any interesting delivery, why should I care?

This also ties into another big issue I’ve had with a few different albums lately: inconsistency in theming. Where does the hell motif come up? Abrams has spoken about how this album discusses the real emotional turmoil that comes with fame. I would’ve liked to feel that viscera at any point during my listen through, but oh well. 

So what is the takeaway when you listen to Daughter from Hell? To me, you can come away with the knowledge that you’ve experienced the full breadth of a push-pull cycle in a toxic relationship with a nepo baby. It doesn’t get better, and you’re better off looking elsewhere, babe.

-Acacia Carol