Girlfriend (Grace Ives album)
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| Girlfriend | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | March 20, 2026 | |||
| Recorded | 2023–2025 | |||
| Genre | Pop[1] | |||
| Length | 36:36 | |||
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| Producer |
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| Grace Ives chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Girlfriend | ||||
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Girlfriend is the third studio album by the American singer-songwriter Grace Ives. It was released on March 20, 2026, through True Panther Sounds and Capitol Records. The album received universal acclaim from music critics.
Ives wrote the album herself, with co-production from Ariel Rechtshaid and John DeBold. After releasing her second studio album Janky Star (2022), she began work on Girlfriend shortly after touring in support of the record, writing and recording much of the material independently. It was recorded over a two-year period in Los Angeles.[2] The album emerged from a period in which she had reached what she described as "true rock bottom", during which she had been "drinking, lying, and hiding". After becoming sober, Ives challenged herself to pursue new experiences without alcohol.[3] While working on the album, she shifted from "escaping to exploring", explaining that a sense of personal freedom allowed her "to take up space" and gave her the opportunity "to fail, to experiment, and to become more honest".[4]
The album was announced on February 20, 2026, alongside the release of the single "Stupid Bitches". The earlier singles "Avalanche", "Dance With Me", and "My Mans" had been released in November 2025.[5]
Critical reception
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 86/100[6] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Clash | 8/10[1] |
| The Guardian |   [7] |
| The Independent | [8] |
| Pitchfork | 8.4/10[9] |
According to the review aggregator Metacritic, Girlfriend received "universal acclaim" based on a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 from five critic scores.[6]
Hattie Lindert of Pitchfork awarded the album the accolade Best New Music, saying that she released "a razor-sharp, refreshingly self-serious album" and arguing that every track could become a single but together "they add up to a sum greater than its parts". To Lindert, the album "feels perpetually airborne" as it "synthesizes the sensation of abandon with remarkable clarity".[9]
Writing for The Guardian, Laura Snapes compared the record to Lorde's Melodrama (2017) and Sky Ferreira's Night Time, My Time (2013), noting a shared sense of "conspiratorial sweetness and broken-mirror glitter". She also observed that Grace's songs "bubble with detail" while never smothering "her off-the-cuff vocals".[7] Robin Murray of Clash described the album as a "fun pop record" and a "stellar return".[1] Helen Brown at The Independent found it "a hard record to get a grip on", noting that Ives "sounds braver than ever" on it.[8]