Gracie Abrams: 5 Things to Know About the AMAs Winner

Gracie Abrams is only 25 years old and already won New Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards in 2025. Not only that, but she was also previously nominated for a Grammy Award in 2024 for Best New Artist after releasing her album, Good Riddance, in 2023.

The recording artist has gone on tour with two of the biggest superstars in music. Gracie was an opening act on Olivia Rodrigo‘s 2022 Sour Tour that ran from April 2022 to July 2022. Then, in 2023, Gracie opened for over a dozen shows on the first U.S. leg of Taylor Swift‘s Eras Tour.

Hollywood Life has all the updates on Gracie Abrams below. Keep reading to learn all about the talented singer, including who her famous father is.

Gracie Is a Singer-Songwriter

Gracie Madigan Abrams, born September 7, 1999, is an American singer-songwriter. She released her debut single, “Mean It,” in 2019 and followed it up with “Stay.” In 2020, she released her debut ep, Minor, which included songs, “Long Sleeves,” “Friend,” “I Miss You, I’m Sorry’ and more. She promoted the release with appearances on late-night shows and continued to work on her career during the pandemic months. She teamed up with Benny Blanco for his Friends Keep Secrets 2 album, joining him on the single, “Unlearn.” In 2021, she also released Mess It Up,” “Feels Like,” and “Rockland,” a song she wrote with Aaron Dresser (the member of The National who co-wrote and produced Taylor Swift’s folklore and evermore.). In 2023, Gracie released her album Good Riddance, which earned her a Grammy nomination at the 2024 awards show.

Gracie’s Dad Is Filmmaker J.J. Abrams

Gracie is the daughter of J.J. Abrams and Katie McGrath. J.J. is best known for directing movies like Cloverfield, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the 2009 Star Trek reboot, and more. He also has created Alias, Lost, and Fringe and had his hand in several other projects. Katie is also a producer, as she’s worked with her and JJ’s Bad Robots Productions company, as well as the Katie McGrath & JJ Abrams Family Foundation.

“Even the slight knowledge that I had of it growing up as a kid made me want to have nothing to do with it at all,” Gracie said of her parents’ business in an interview with Riff Magazine. “When I started falling in love with music independent of all other factors in my life, it was kind of a happy surprise, just because I actively tried to avoid anything that they were involved in. I—with love—wanted nothing to do with them.”

Gracie Is a Multi-talented Musician

At age 8, Gracie signed up for drumming classes. She then learned piano, then guitar, finding them more conducive to her songwriting. Her protective parents only allowed her to post the music to her SoundCloud and required that she keep her Instagram private. When she made the account public, her career took off – and it led to some amazing connections. Lorde even DM’d Gracie, asking for a download of one of her songs.

“She definitely is an artist in my life that I will forever feel like I owe everything to,” Gracie told Riff when talking about Lorde. “Sonically and thematically, [Pure Heroine] changed my life. I remember being with my family in the living room, and I refresh my Instagram and see that she followed me. I had a crazy physical reaction, like, sweating immediately.”

Olivia Rodrigo Is A Huge Fan Of Gracie

“One of my favorite artists and one of the coolest people ever is Gracie Abrams, who just came out with her debut EP a couple of months ago,” Olivia told Apple Music’s Zane Lowe in January 2021 (per ET Canada). “It’s called Minor, and she’s absolutely amazing, love that entire record. She’s signed to my same record label, so they’re like, ‘Oh, we’ll have you meet.’ And I’m like, ‘I literally don’t think I can meet her. I think I would just evaporate. I’m her biggest fan.’ I’ve heard the best things, and I’ve been DMing her on Instagram, and I told her that ‘Driver’s License’ was so inspired by her, and she’s like, ‘Oh, that’s amazing.'”

“This is my bedroom songwriting oasis,” Olivia said in a May 2021 interview with Elle. Olivia “created a little shrine” to all the “singer-songwriters she admires.” Among that makeshift ‘Hall of Fame’ were Taylor Swift, Gwen Stefani, Alanis Morissette, and, of course, Gracie Abrams.” Simon Riback, the head of A&R at Interscope – part of the company that includes Geffen Records, which is Olivia’s label – said he was impressed by Olivia and how she named Gracie as one of her favorite artists. “Gracie’s in her infancy! She started referencing Fiona Apple, the Smashing Pumpkins. She liked the Taylor Swifts and all that, but you could tell there was a left-of-center view to the way she was approaching pop music.”

Grace Is Politically Active

During the 2020 election, Gracie worked as a poll worker in her area, something she told NME was inspired by her friends. “Unfortunately, for a really long time, younger people had assumed we would be OK in the hand of the older generation, but clearly we can’t rely on them to shape the future that we want to see,” she told the publication in 2021. “Being involved really mattered to me.”