Our Gracie Abrams Inspired 13 Card Oracle Deck Is Spilling The Secret of Us

If you’re one of the dozen whose graduation tassel (color scheme in yellow, obviously, since we’re matching the palette of The Secret of Us) swept over to the left a few days ago, then hi! Or should we still recite 000? Because who’s kidding here? Even after the extinguishing fire demonstration from a slang-spewing millennial, just Taylor and not the Swift that usually ties on to the stadium-captivating superstar, we still probably wouldn’t know what to do when our kitchen island goes up in flames. Neither would Gracie Abrams, entranced by the fumes smell. But, hey? Maybe while their handbags have traces of ash, the fire-spitting emoji also circulated back to its rightful spot, reminding us of how hot their lyricism game is! 

The twinkling spiral of guitar chords shuffles into a mystical melody about longing on ‘us.’ wondering if fate eclipsed them both. What could spark some debate is the word usage of “false prophets,” which then aligns with ‘The Prophecy.’ It’s a track that Gracie could’ve presumably listened to on The Tortured Poets Department just before their quill pens merged to create the ultimate one that we all were definitely weary of, even before having our hearts chewed while finally listening to the collaboration.

‘The Prophecy’ of ‘us.’ 

‘The Prophecy’ correlates to visualizing ending up alone, and we know that certainly wasn’t the case for Taylor. Her rugged boyfriend, Travis Kelce, dressed like a stylish iteration of the Monopoly man for a recent Eras Tour date. So, the “false” strengthens the comparison. But the witchy jargon doesn’t stop there! At some point, both talk about divination, just in different forms. ‘The Prophecy’ goes the direct route, “Cards on the table / Mine play out likе fools in a fable,” ala tarot cards, while Gracie’s ‘us.’ talks about oracle cards! And if your mind lives more in the realm of the logical, one has quotes or affirmations, and the other, well, doesn’t. 

The occult references even draw into the album title, The Secret of Us! A celestial pop quiz: how often have you turned to either your tarot, oracle, or combination of both to grasp a thought that’s gelling around in someone’s mind but has yet to travel out of their mouth? It’s not just our intuition helping us with that, but also our trusty cards. So, to have some fun, we want you to drift over here for a few seconds, but not too long, and get a number between one and 13. Then scroll down to the appropriate Gracie Abrams-inspired oracle card, and you’ll be a little wiser about your situation.

1. ‘Felt Good About You’

Cobblestone twiddlings from a folklore-ESQ intro, the lyric “Crossed lines, past lives, clear vision” almost feels like an instruction manual. As much as red strings spiral around two individuals while running on parallel paths, so do scissors exist if they ever merge. They prompt us to cut those toxic cords! Maybe the other person didn’t live up to our expectations, just like the muse didn’t live up to Gracie’s.

2. ‘Risk’

With its frivolous melody, your skittish energy matches Grace’s as she describes how infatuated with her crush she is already! And, get this, she hasn’t even met him. ‘Risk’ is one of the few rare tracks on this record that falls into the chance of reciprocal love. So therefore, not for us to quote one of those various psychics on your endless scrolling TikTok FYP, but actually, we’re going to reiterate what they say! Someone special could very well be circling back. Or if your love story runs in tune with Gracie’s, something new is brewing!

3. ‘Blowing Smoke’

The “Secret” portion of Gracie’s album title chimes in on this haunting number, perfectly matching the imagery of billowing smoke unfurling in the air! Of course, ‘Blowing Smoke’ outside the singular quotation marks means to tip off someone, a layer of deception. Having the inside goss on what’s going down means we can see the other person for how they truly are and not the facade that’s been built up.

4. ‘I Love You, I’m Sorry’

Slip in the word “love” for an otherwise ‘I miss you, I’m sorry,’ and we obviously have the follow-up for a track Gracie released four years ago! …C’mon, no awkward silences now. Some of us have had the same crush for years. It just means we’re in the have-never-gotten-over-anything-in-our-life club. 

5. ‘us.’ (feat. Taylor Swift)

Congratulations, your subconscious mind is throwing speckled confetti around because its taste in music is just that great! Although take a forlorn path to the romantic corner in your mind, and perhaps there’s just someone you’re hoping misses you the same way. 

6. ‘Let It Happen’

Its ambient opening production causes one to believe they might be ushering into the early 2000s coming of age. It presents all those pent-up feelings just before a confession of love leaves one’s lips—wondering if you’re enough? Risking if you’re not just hoping they might return your feelings.

And it’s one of the things I appreciated so much about working with her because she hadn’t written music before we started doing these songs. People have asked me what it’s like, and she’s so good. She’s so good. But it’s like, because there’s a kind of pure approach to just trying to express the thing we both know is there? And also, why not? I think that’s what kept it fun.

Gracie Abrams on writing with her best friend and roommate Audrey Hobert to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1

7. ‘Tough Love’

The techno, splintering beat synchronizes with the heartbreak twisted into this glorious track. Plus, coupled with the lyric that’s currently turned into a TikTok montage snapped up of all of the moments we chose ourselves over potential suitors—“No chance I waste my twenties on random men / Not one of them is cooler than all my friends”—and it’s okay to admit. Maybe you’re just currently in your heartbreaker phase!

8. ‘I Knew It, I Know You’

We’re frolicking in the realm of lyrical reference to ‘Where do we go now?’ a track on Good Riddance, where she clearly said those words to an ex-something! What started as “And I’d be losin’ my mind / If you lived in your writin’,” taking note of her reflective diary pages dotted in poetry, to “So aren’t you sad about the fact that you can’t write me?” It provides a double-context. One: she’s almost glad she can have a one-sided conversation through her songs to get all her feelings out without having them bounced back to her in lyrical format. And two: just like you, presumably, she’s slammed the door shut on this relationship and won’t apologize!

9. ‘Gave You I Gave You I’

It’d be this if there were a golden plaque for the best opening couplet. “You were my worst time, you were the shoreline / You were the crash, and now I break,” describes the push and pull of a non-committed relationship, willingly holding on when they’ve fallen back into the hot rush because it feels all goey. But just as they’ve crept in, they’re also about to sneak back out. That’s just how the crashing of waves against one’s shoreline works. Maybe you’ve fallen into people-pleasing patterns lately! Are you thinking that if you keep giving, they’re more likely to stay? Rather than knowing you don’t have to do anything for them to stay, that’s just the baseline requirement. 

10. ‘Normal Thing’

Gracie hooks onto the term “movie stars” in this glimmering, slow-balling disco lull to depict how their romantic arc felt more like a script she outlined.  Of course, there’s a beginning (she’s on the couch, unsure if stoned) and then a middle with the realization that she wouldn’t recommend this show to anyone. Finally, throw in an end with a closing credits line. “And you changed my life, but I guess I’ll see ya,” she croons. Even though she understands it was baited with anxiety and that she never felt like herself throughout it, performing her own role, the other person still monumentally shaped her.

11. ‘Good Luck Charlie’

No, we’re not flashbacking to the early 2010s when we tuned into the Disney channel! Although Gracie could very well have binged on the show throughout the writing process. Oh, wait. Incoming quote: “I wasn’t a Disney kid growing up … I feel like I missed out,” she quipped to Billboard. So, we guess there are no childhood tapes for us to roll.  The song, ‘Good Luck Charlie,’ could be taken in either a platonic or romantic context, in that you’ll always be the one who got away for someone else. 

12. ‘Free Now’

We’re never going to be ‘Free Now’ from the gut-wrenching allure of this song, especially the lyric “It’s a shame that I memorized your outline.” It’s one of the best lyrics on this record, even if it’s puzzled with anguish! She slots it into the script that she wrote during ‘Normal Thing,’ about the both of them playing parts, their chosen roles being of smitten lovers. When in reality, what was masked underneath it was cheating.

So it was kind of just like we’d try a ton of different synth sounds before agreeing on the right one, but the fact that he was like, yes, play everything, touch everything, do it all, get in there, change all the levels, and in a way that I don’t think everyone is wildly encouraging of because it’s also like it’s his space, but we know each other so well. We’re like family this point. So it was really, I think this album and exploring and pushing it further and into a new kind of lane, I guess for both of us, it felt natural and also is a real gift.

Gracie Abrams on working with Aaron Dessner to Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1

13. ‘Close To You’

The random number generator bringing you here has given you the ultimate fist pump by acknowledging that you’re a day one gracelander! From being scribbled down seven years ago to a 20-second tease that kept us in prolonged suspense, it feels like we’ve lived several lifetimes just to get to this moment. But we don’t care! Because of our obsessive love for its carefree dance trap with vocals that can only ever have us imagine Gracie belting it out while standing up in a convertible, the brisk air falling onto every speckled point of her skin as her head pops out of its sunroof, mystified by a new city! 

Gracie, Pick A Card!

Did your select The Secret of Us oracle card give you the pearl of wisdom you need? Or are you like us, deep in the Gracie Abrams is our comfort person arc and therefore continuously hit shuffle on the number picker until the entire collection was in our hands? There are never enough lyrics to brush through when it comes to self-reflection. Oh, and here’s an even better idea (once you’re done tweeting us your card at @thehoneypop, of course): why not see which one Gracie herself draws? In collaboration with independent record stores scattered across the UK, Gracie is hosting the ultimate dance-cry parties next month! We’re casting our jealous vibes onto Kingston, Bristol, and Southhampton! If you weren’t one of the lucky ones to snag a ticket, there’s still time to throw your name into the witch’s cauldron!

Our love spells extend to Zane Lowe over here, too, with a whole assortment of articles covering his interviews, such as this one on Billie Eilish’s HIT ME HARD AND SOFT! The capital letters are appropriate because we’re forever hitting the exclamation mark on every point that comes out of these chats, and you can scream along with us by following our Facebook and Instagram pages.

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