Gracie Abrams was one of the buzziest names on the figurative list of contenders for best new artist at the 2024 Grammys — releasing an acclaimed debut album and touring with Taylor Swift will do that to you.
Still, the 24-year-old singer-songwriter insists that she truly wasn’t anticipating seeing her name pop up as a nominee on the Recording Academy’s annual broadcast, something she’s watched every year since they started livestreaming it. “I was very alone, in my bedroom with my heating pad on, expecting absolutely nothing at all except just to support my friends who might be in the running,” she tells Billboard, still in her PJs. “My name was the first that they listed, and it was like I couldn’t feel my body.”
In between freaking out with her family and going out for celebratory french toast and mimosas with her best friend, Abrams says that one of the first people she heard from was one of her fellow nominees. “Noah [Kahan] FaceTimed me immediately, and he’s just the f–king best ever,” she gushes of the “Stick Season” artist, who rounds out the new artist category with Ice Spice, Fred Again, Jelly Roll, CoCo Jones, Victoria Monét and The War and Treaty. “We kind of were just screaming at each other on the phone like, ‘Let’s pregame and sit with our moms at the awards!’”
For the “I Miss You, I’m Sorry” singer, the nod is the “cherry on top” of her biggest year yet, which was set into motion in February with the release of Good Riddance. In addition to becoming a mainstay on Swift’s Eras Tour, Abrams embarked on her own sold-out trek through North America and topped Billboard‘s Emerging Artists chart in June. In September, she and Dessner played a string of intimate acoustic shows across the country, and on Tuesday (Nov. 14), she’ll perform on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Many of her heroes — some of whom are also her friends and tourmates — are nominated for Grammys in 2024 as well, with Swift up for song, album and record of the year, and Phoebe Bridgers tying for the second-most nominations with seven nods total.
“I talked to Taylor and we were just screaming at each other over text like, lots of all-caps: Holy f–king s–t,” Abrams says of Swift. “And obviously she just deserves all of it, all of it, all of it. In moments of career celebration or any personal crisis, I text her, so to be able to celebrate this one mutually felt so wild.”
The rising pop star’s nomination doubles as a punctuation mark on her breathtaking debut as well as an introduction into her next era, which is already underway. Without sharing details, Abrams says she’s back in the studio working on her next project with Dessner, who she says is “the only reason” she was in the running for a Grammy this year.
“This stage of my career is, I so deeply hope, just the very beginning. My head recently has been so deeply in the next album and finishing up songs,” she says, noting that she’s “never felt so connected to anything” she’s made previously. “The honor of being nominated at this stage is such a wild thing, and I just think I really do not believe it.”
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