Gracie Abrams’ song “Us” featuring Taylor Swift explores secrets

Christopher Polk/Variety

“I don’t wanna have no secrets just to keep you,” Taylor Swift sang in “Cruel Summer.” Now the theme of the cost of a secret relationship returns in a new duet between Gracie Abrams and Swift, “Us” (styled “us”), which premiered at midnight Friday morning.

The song is the fifth track on Abrams’ official second album, titled The Secret of Us, which practically makes “Us” the title track, give or take a few words. Swift fans know that a track 5 on one of her own albums holds a special place; does the same hold true for Abrams, fans may wonder?

The track was produced by their mutual producer Aaron Dessner, of The National fame. The fingerpicking intro typical of one of his productions gives way to a more lush ballad sound, with the two singers’ voices often so intertwined that it’s not always easy to distinguish them in the mix, although Abrams takes the lion’s share of the lead vocals and Swift later takes a few solo lines.

The theme of breakup should not be foreign to fans of both artists’ work, as it contains pithy lines that could seemingly have been written by either songwriter. The first verse ends: “And when the story is clear, someone always ends up in ruins / And what seemed like fate becomes what the hell did I do.”

Later, a few details come into the picture of the lyrics that will likely make fans of both singers curious. “You’re 29 years old / So how can you be cold when I open my house? / And when history is clear, the flames always end in ashes / And what seemed like fate, give it 10 months and you’ll be over it.”

The singers poke fun at poetry books given to her by an ex: “Robert Bly on my nightstand / Gifts from you, how ironic / The curse or a miracle / Hearse or an oracle / You’re incomparable / Damn, that was chemistry.”

It all boils down to the question, “I wonder if you regret keeping us a secret?”… although it remains to be seen whether it’s the “us” you regret most, or the fact that the relationship was kept secret.

Is it fiction or memoir? That part will probably remain… secret.