STACK #243 January 2025

MUSIC FEATURE

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AMAZING GRACIE After a big 2024, Gracie Abrams has got more secrets to tell.

The Secret of Us (Deluxe) by Gracie Abrams is out Jan 17 via Universal

G racie Abrams’ second album, The Secret of Us , was big. At the start of July 2024, it replaced Billie Eilish’s Hit Me Hard and Soft to take top spot on the Aussie albums chart. And the record just got bigger, with Abrams adding four new tracks – Cool, That’s So True, I Told You Things, and Packing It Up . To celebrate the Secret new version, here are seven things you might not know about Gracie Abrams: 1: Her dad is the famous moviemaker Jeffrey Jacob Abrams, who is known as J.J. Abrams. He wrote and directed Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and Mission: Impossible III, and co-created the TV series Lost . 2: She has a Joni Mitchell tattoo on her forearm – in Joni’s handwriting, it says

Gracie Abrams

“ River ”, after her favourite song. She says the legendary artist “made me want to create music myself”. 3: Her first chart hit was as a featured artist on the remix of Noah Kahan’s Everywhere, Everything . 4: She was nominated for ‘Best New Artist’ at the 2024 Grammy Awards. The trophy went to Victoria Monét. 5: Her first album, 2023’s Good Riddance , was not a big hit, peaking at number 30 in Australia and 52 in the US. 6: She backed Kamala Harris in the 2024

presidential race, playing at a rally in Wisconsin the week before the election. “She is the right leader at a very tricky time,” Abrams said. “We know that a better, greener, more fair, equitable and just future is possible. We know that basic decency matters, that dignity matters, that democracy matters.” 7: That’s So True , the first single from the Deluxe edition of The Secret of Us , became Gracie’s first chart-topping single in Australia, knocking off Rosé and Bruno Mars’ Apt . to spend two weeks at number one in November of 2024. Jeff Jenkins

BLINK, DON’T MISS IT! Hit me, baby, One MoreTime … Blink-182’s ninth studio album just got bigger.

One More Time… Part-2 by Blink 182 is out Jan 24 via Sony

B link-182’s 2023 album One More Time… will always be a special album for fans. It was the first to feature the three key members – Mark Hoppus, Tom DeLonge and Travis Barker – since 2011’s Neighborhoods . The band had made two albums without guitarist and singer DeLonge, who was replaced by Matt Skiba from Chicago punk rockers Alkaline Trio. But in 2022, rumours started circulating that DeLonge was back in the band. He reconciled with Hoppus when he discovered that the bass player/vocalist had been diagnosed with lymphoma. The good news is Hoppus is now cancer-free, and One More Time… has received the deluxe treatment, with the addition of eight new songs. Jeff Jenkins

CHART FACT

One More Time… was Blink-182’s third chart-topper in the US, following 2001’s Take Off Your Pants and Jacket and 2016’s California . In Australia, it peaked at number two – beaten to the top spot by The Rolling Stones’ Hackney Diamonds .

Travis Barker,Tom DeLonge, and Mark Hoppus

One More Time… was the first Blink-182 album to be produced entirely by drummer Travis Barker. He says he was inspired by the band’s first big producer Jerry Finn, who sadly died in 2008, aged 39, after suffering a stroke followed by a massive heart attack. IN THE STUDIO

SHARK ATTACK Blink-182 are big fans of Australia’s Amy Shark, who has had a trilogy of Blink duets. Shark’s debut, Love Monster , featured Mark Hoppus on Psycho ; 2021’s Cry Forever featured the Travis Barker collab, C’mon ; while Tom DeLonge joined Shark on the Sunday Sadness song My Only Friend .

34 JANUARY 2025

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