Gracie Abrams debuts brand-new song with best friend Audrey Hobert in concert

USA Today

4 days ago

INGLEWOOD, California — Gracie Abrams might be wrapping up The Secret of Us Deluxe Tour, but she's far from done with treating her fans.
After spending the first few songs getting acclimated to the "fever dream" that was performing a hometown show at the Kia Forum, the 25-year-old ushered out Audrey Hobert, her "best friend, also soul mate and also my favorite artist in the world" as a surprise guest during the first of Abrams' two Los Angeles shows Aug. 6.
Once 26-year-old Hobert overcame any timidness and awe at the exuberant crowd — "I just need to stare at you" to focus, she told Abrams — the former roommates bantered and built up tension for what they'd perform together. (Spoiler: It was a "totally brand new" song they'd recorded around the time they wrote the fan-favorite "That's So True" on Abrams' sophomore album, "The Secret of Us (Deluxe).")
Before they were musical collaborators, with Hobert cowriting seven of the 17 tracks on the aforementioned record and set to release her debut album Aug. 15, they were schoolkids who bonded over footwear.
They'd met through a mutual friend, Clementine, while in the bathroom at Abrams' fifth-grade graduation. Hobert, then a sixth grader, had clocked Abrams' white high-top Converse, which Hobert pointed out was exactly what she'd worn to her fifth grade graduation.
"And in that moment we knew that 10, 15, years later we'd be at the Forum," Abrams joked.
Gracie Abrams creates a night of magic: Singer acknowledges 'two-way street' in intimate performance
Gracie Abrams and Audrey Hobert debut new song 'Minibar'
And with that, they were ready to let the world in on their unreleased song, "Minibar."
"This is our song together and it's kinda fun playing it like this because there isn't really a version of it yet that exists yet," Abrams explained as she strummed her acoustic guitar.
Hobert took the first verse, then the duo harmonized on the chorus and bridge, singing about feeling out of place at a party.
It wasn't the only track of the night that Abrams hasn't recorded in a studio. During her time on the childhood bedroom-themed B-stage, she seemingly spontaneously — and to the tune of thousands of delighted shrieks — launched into a deep cut, her Soundcloud release from around a decade ago titled "In Between."
After debuting "Minibar," the friends performed their song that took on a life of its own on social media last year, "That's So True." And as she did in her first The Secret of Us tour lap in LA last year, she closed her set in jubilant fashion with "Close To You."
Abrams' team brands this as a "victory lap" tour for the singer, who wrapped The Secret of Us tour in July and launched into this Deluxe tour more than a week later in Boston.
As the tour winds down, Abrams has treated her fans to appearances from special guests in recent weeks. "Everywhere, Everything" collaborator Noah Kahan popped on stage for her two Boston shows, and Robyn joined for a duet of "Dancing on My Own" during Abrams' Lollapalooza set.
She invited up another contemporary, Lizzy McAlpine, for a performance of McAlpine song "Ceilings" at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
The Secret of Us Deluxe Tour setlist – Los Angeles Night 1