Gracie Abrams' most personal, revealing lyrics on her new album

Gracie Abrams seems pretty happy for a girl so brokenhearted in her third studio album, "Daughter from Hell."

Contrary to her friend Olivia Rodrigo – who also released her third album, "you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love," June 12 – Abrams is seemingly in a loving relationship with Paul Mescal, her actor boyfriend and "Imaginary Friend" cowriter who, as she sings, "made me brave once again." But, there's more to the story, and underneath the surface are turbulent waters rocked by "a pattern of breakdowns."

In "Daughter from Hell," out now, the 26-year-old middle child of filmmaker J.J. Abrams and film executive Katie McGrath is jaded by current events, socially hyper-aware, yearning to be better, biting toward those who've wronged her and regretful toward those she's hurt.

The largely private and often restrained Grammy-nominated singer's relatability is her superpower, and this track list of 16 songs, almost all cowritten with the National's Aaron Dessner, sees her get vulnerable, hilariously self-effacing and delicate.

Here are the standout tracks whose lyrics provide some unprecedented insight into Abrams' anxieties, relationships and resentments.

'Afflictions' is a rare love song for Gracie Abrams

In a recent sit-down with Rodrigo for Spotify, Abrams admitted track 13, "Afflictions," is the sole love song on the album "because I can't write about it much." She added, "When I've tried to write about it before, it kind of diminishes what it actually feels like."

Without getting specific about the subject of her affections like her mentor and "Us" cowriter Taylor Swift is apt to do, Abrams muses about her love's best attributes (or, as she calls them, her favorite afflictions): "You hold my hand through turbulence, you sugar coat the oxygen" and "Your family feels like family, you see what I can’t seem to see / I don’t know where to put it all, I put you in a song."

As Rodrigo put it: "That song really captures what it feels like to be in love in a way that's kind of gut-wrenching, and I just adore it."

As she embraces 'nepo baby' accusations, Abrams is grateful for her family

As she expressed on The New York Times' "Popcast," Abrams has a lot of atonement to do for "being so brutal growing up," though she doesn't go into much detail in this album beyond fleeting references to drugs. She also has much to be grateful for, and this song is "a love letter and a thank-you note" to her role model mom.

"With both of your hands, you held up our house / Down to my bones, I hope that I make you proud," Abrams sings. At the end, she promises, "Daughter from hell, but I came around / Try to become you now."

'Look at My Life' and 'Cold Goodbyes' reveal Abrams' anxieties about fame

Close-reading "Look at My Life" and "Cold Goodbyes," Abrams is both tired of scrutiny and terrified of losing relevance.

In "Look at My Life," Abrams evokes Swift's "Nothing New" ("Lord, what will become of me once I've lost my novelty?"), as she sings: "How long have I got in the hot light till the shine rusts?" Then comes her resistance to the pressures of fame: "There's no medicine I'd spit out if it promises slowing down voices, don't want to hear a sound."

She also steps back from complete earnestness in this radio-friendly single by poking fun at herself: "A new spiral every night / Bawling my eyes out / No, but I'm so fine." But as the upbeat drums fade in the chorus, Abrams admits, "Got what I wanted, it doesn't sit right."

In "Cold Goodbyes," the album's closer, Abrams comes across exhausted and isolated as she asks, "Look at all these people, do I have to play tonight? Used to know what landed well for me, but now it’s hard to find / In the hay I am the needle / There’s a hundred blinking eyes, proving cities are for lonely deer in headlights."

Abrams has felt used, betrayed in relationships

In her "Popcast" interview, Abrams confessed she no longer wants to be "careless" in her lyrics, now understanding that "being on the receiving end of a song ... can suck." In this album she mostly holds back from saying anything she might later regret – except in "Men Like You," in which she sings: "If I can tell the truth, well all you are is shallow / Girl, I know men like you."

"If all you wanted was a golden ticket, you should’ve just said it / Would’ve saved me time," Abrams tells an unidentified antagonist. Then she closes the track with this zinger: "If you walk in my way I’ll ask you to turn around."

She seems to have had more time and distance from the person who wronged her in "The Knife," in which she opts to take the knife plunged into her side and "keep it for a lifetime." But she levels this accusation: "You just ruined my life, knowing that I’ll be further from fine / I’m all bark, never a bite."

Gracie Abrams 'Daughter from Hell' track list

1. "Hit the Wall"
2. "Death Wish"
3. "The Knife"
4. "Daughter from Hell"
5. "Look at My Life"
6. "Good Reason"
7. "Men Like You"
8. "Sober"
9. "Broke My Heart"
10. "Mews"
11. "Minibar"
12. "Imaginary Friend"
13. "Afflictions"
14. "Humming"
15. "What If It’s Right?"
16. "Cold Goodbyes"