World
Gracie Abrams storms charts after Taylor Swift duet at Wembley
By Riyah Collins, BBC Newsbeat
A singer who performed with Taylor Swift on her final night at Wembley could knock the megastar off the top of the UK album chart.
Gracie Abrams and Taylor belted out their duet, Us, live for the first time on Sunday.
Playing for the Wembley crowd two days after the song’s release was a “crazy” experience, the 24-year-old told Radio 1’s New Music Show with Jack Saunders.
“It’s a bizarre scene because the energy is so high… it’s pretty magical,” she said.
Gracie’s new album, The Secret of Us, is her second.
According to the UK Official Charts Company, it’s outselling Taylor’s The Tortured Poets Department, the current number 1.
She’s previously appeared on the Eras tour and she said her friendship with Taylor inspired them to write Us.
“The night that we wrote the song was kind of this feverish catch-up about our lives,” she said.
“And I think our friendship fostered an environment for a very dramatic song to come about, which is fun.”
Gracie, the daughter of Star Wars director JJ Abrams, was born in California and her debut album, Good Riddance, reached number 3 in the album charts last year, but none of the singles hit the top 40.
When writing the song, Gracie said, she and Taylor accidentally started a small fire in Taylor’s New York apartment.
“It was a candle – one of those massive three wick candles,” Gracie told Radio 1.
“It had been burning for so many hours and it was so hot the glass shattered and burst.”
Gracie filmed the whole thing and joked that “you don’t want me around” in an emergency.
But she said she was “very impressed” by Taylor’s reaction, “bee-lining” for a fire extinguisher under the sink.
“She’s ready for everything.”
Gracie wasn’t the only surprise guest during Sunday’s show – Taylor’s boyfriend, Kansas City Chiefs star Travis Kelce, joined her on stage for I Can Do It With a Broken Heart as a dancer.
The Eras tour resumes on Friday night with a sold-out show in Dublin and she’s set to return to London in August for five more shows.