Gracie Abrams describes her 2026 studio album, Daughter From Hell, as a balance of contemporary, pop-driven textures and a “more mountainy, folk-sounding” aesthetic.

‘What If It's Right?’, featuring Mumford & Sons frontman Marcus Mumford, epitomises the latter. Over the course of the beautifully pared-down track, which feels like a continuation of the ambience they captured on ‘Badlands’ earlier in the year, Abrams and Mumford softly sing about the confusion of an impending break-up.

In March 2026, Abrams shared a photo of her ‘What If It's Right?’ demo and excitedly gushed, “I won't play any of this now but it is my favorite song we've ever made I THINK”.

Much like ‘Badlands’, which featured on Mumford & Sons’ brilliant February 2026 album, Prizefighter, ‘What If It's Right?’ pivots around bare-bones, pared-down accompaniment. Where Mumford's vocals were front-and-centre on ‘Badlands’ with Abrams providing harmonies throughout the entire song, they switch roles on ‘What If It's Right?’, with Abrams sleek, intricate delivery coming into the foreground. Mumford provides the subtle yet captivating harmonies, making this feel more like a dialogue between two lovers who are reluctantly breaking up.

The track opens with a noodling, folky acoustic guitar, with Abrams and Mumford's vocals then entering the fray and mirroring the instrumental melody note-for-note in the opening verses. Then, they dial up the emotionality in the heartfelt, yearning hook, which finds Abrams’ sinuous vocals gliding enchantingly across the stripped-back accompaniment. It's a wonderfully low-key yet infectious chorus.

Abrams undoubtedly showcases her talent for an earworm hook across her more pop-leaning tracks, but after hearing ‘What If It's Right?’ and ‘Badlands’, you can't help but long for a full-blown folk project from the ‘That's So True’ singer-songwriter.

‘What If It's Right?’ follows a protagonist who has had enough of struggling and arguing her way through a relationship, and has decided that it's finally time to call it quits.

The decision seems mutual, but as they put one foot out the door, a flurry of questions and doubts come flooding in, as they wonder whether they are making a horrible mistake.

Abrams laces ‘What If It's Right?’ with evocative, poetic imagery conveying how conflicted she feels. She describes herself as someone who has morphed into “a dark figure” that has forgotten how to be kind, before describing her words as like a “knife cut to the bone”. But despite her less-than-glowing portrayal of how she's been acting in the relationship, it's clear that the fault lies on both sides. Rather than being any one particular thing, it just seems like the natural end.

Throughout the song, our narrator seems to suggest that she is dragging them down, showing how she feels a crushing weight and as though she's lost her sense of levity (“By the cold river, it bends / But I won't, like a stone / And I'll sink when I'm alone”).

As the song progresses and they both wonder if they're doing the wrong thing by leaving, our protagonist describes scenes where she feels as though she's trying with all her might to get a point across, yet doesn't feel heard by her partner.

She goes on to imply she's built walls around her that she won't let him break through, extending the metaphor by stating that she's taken the key (“Look in my eyes when I speak / When I scream, how do you not / Even hear anything? / Built a fort, swallowed the key / And I've bled through my knees / Hard to beg or to believe”).

Despite fretting about whether they're doing the wrong thing for much of the song, they both end up realising that, while it could well be a mistake, it could also be the decision that sets them free: “This could be the wrong thing / But what if it's right?”

“High, cleaner air
In your shirt
I'm a dark figure who left
Kinder words by the door
By the cold river, it bends
But I won't, like a stone
And I'll sink when I'm alone
-
Hit where it hurts, where you know
You can reach me like a dog
On your floor, we both swore
To go easy, but we won't
It's a sick undertone
I'm a knife cut to the bone
-
This could be the wrong thing
But what if it's right?
So why are we leaving?
But is it the wrong thing?
But what if it's right?
What if it's right?
-
Look in my eyes when I speak
When I scream, how do you not
Even hear anything?
Built a fort, swallowed the key
And I've bled through my knees
Hard to beg or to believe
-
(Hmm) In time, funny time, funny boy, funny
I felt like a joke half my life through the noise
Silent cries, evidence shows
Cunning ploy
Humming I think I want more
-
This could be the wrong thing
But what if it's right?
What are we even doing?
But is it the wrong thing?
But what if it's right?
What if it's right?
-
Soft on my skin, where you land at the end
End of our days
I might break you, but you broke me back
All the same
Slow decay, slow decay
Ain't it sad sharing this stage?
-
Soft on your skin, where I land at the end
End of our days
I know you better than anything
You know me the same
Heaven's gate, heaven's gate
Will you please make it okay?
-
This could be the wrong thing
But what if it's right?
Then why are we leaving?
But is it the wrong thing?
But what if it's right?
What if it's right?
-
This could be the wrong thing
What if it's right?
Don't wanna be leaving
But is it the wrong thing?
But what if it's right?
What if it's right?
What if it's right?”

Mumford & Sons

Group

Gracie Abrams

Artist