Resurrected from her four-year hiatus from music, Ariana Grande returned to the music industry on March 8th with her highly anticipated 7th studio album, “eternal sunshine”.
Completely occupied with her role as Glinda in the film “Wicked”, Grande showed no signs of releasing music anytime soon. On the Zach Sang Show, a podcast hosted by Zach Sang, Grande revealed that “Wicked” was put on pause because of the writer’s strike, and she spent the time in the studio, resulting in the production of this album.
She began this new era by teasing and releasing its lead single “yes, and?”, a house-pop song that was a new sound for her and skyrocketed to the number 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
This is her shortest album, with 13 songs and a 35-minute run overall. Even while being relatively short, its content feels like hours of bliss, internal healing, and dare I say, eternal sunshine.
In this album, Grande teamed up with producer Max Martin and brought back her r&b/pop production, similar to what she did with her previous album “Positions” while still sounding refreshing and new. We get a lot of melodic tracks along with her iconic mixture of strings and pop. Max Martin continues to prove his talent as his production intertwines perfectly with Grande’s soft, and harmonious vocals.
Along with vocality, Grande shows a lot more involvement and artistry with this album compared to her previous pieces, being credited as the main songwriter for all of the tracks, excluding “Saturn Returns Interlude”. While I adore every song on this album, here are my top 6 that stood out to me.
bye
This track is the only one on this album with a similar production to the lead single, “yes, and?” This song is very different from the rest of the tracks because it gives the idea of breaking up with a significant other a more enthusiastic feel with the full-on pop production. The introduction of the song is inspired by a sort of 70’s, disco-pop sound that suits Grande perfectly. She repeats the phrase “boy, bye” throughout the entirety of the chorus, showing a little relief at getting away from this possibly toxic relationship. The classic-pop vibe of the song is a reminder that exiting a relationship doesn’t always have to be a bad thing.
supernatural
In this track, Grande takes her interest in spirituality and applies it to her love life. This ballad describes a new love interest who she wants to be with and whom she lusts over. Grande says, “It’s taking over me, don’t wanna fight the fall, It’s like supernatural,” furthering the way she is allowing herself to fall into this relationship. She illustrates that her love is so powerful that it has possessed her and is taking the reins. The vocal layering in the bridge and the last chorus is ethereal perfection, showing a mixture of her very high notes along with her lower register. This song is a fun representation of having a crush and how one’s feelings for someone can be so intense, almost supernatural.
imperfect for you
A very slow-tempo song, “imperfect for you” starts acoustically with a guitar, which is interesting because most of the strings that she includes in her music are more orchestral. This track is about a very deep relationship where both people seem to have been through a lot, and that essentially strengthens or defines their love. In the lyric,” I’m f_____d up, anxious, too much, but I’ll love you like you need me to,” Grande acknowledges her imperfections but states that they won’t affect the way she loves this person. She takes a small turn in the last pre-chorus by recognizing both of their imperfections and how they’ll both be there for each other. I can go out on a limb and say that this beautiful song is the best one on this album and is one of her best pieces.
i wish i hated you
Shockingly, “i wish i hated you” challenges Grande’s track “ghostin” off her 2019 album “Thank U, Next” as her most personal and heartsick piece. With a soft glimmery instrumental, she gives the spotlight to her lyrics in this song. Written almost entirely by her, Grande goes deep into her feelings and reveals how she wishes there was something that could make it easier for her to forget about this person who has left such a dent in her heart. “I wish I hated you, I wish that weren’t true, Wish there was worse to you” is by far one of the most heartbreaking lyrics in this song, and even more so when I heard her voice shaking in the last chorus. This song shows her feelings of wanting to forget someone so dear to her life but not having the mental strength to.
the boy is mine
In 2023, “Fantasize”, an unreleased song by Grande, was leaked on the internet and attracted massive attention from fans. Grande has said that “the boy is mine” is essentially her version of “Fantasize”. Right off the bat, this song is heavily inspired by Brandy and Monica’s record which shares the same title. Ariana’s voice fits perfectly with this 90’s girl group type of production and it is clear that she is in her element. We get to see Grande’s naughty and lustful side with lyrics like “I can’t wait to try him, let’s get intertwined.” Fans have been begging for a new “bad girl anthem” since her 2019 hit “break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored” and what we got was far from a disappointment.
we can’t be friends (wait for your love)
In another one of her more personal tracks, Grande writes about her experiences with her past relationship and about the scrutiny toward her in the media. Anyone with access to social media probably has heard the “homewrecking” accusations held against the singer. She refers to it by saying, “I don’t wanna tiptoe, but I don’t wanna hide, but I don’t wanna feed this monstrous fire”. Grande shows how she’s walking on eggshells with the media constantly watching and criticizing her every move. She connects this with her difficult love life and feelings of loneliness on the bridge when she says,” So for now, it’s only me, and maybe that’s all I need”. This song reveals that everything the media says about her truly does affect her life and how she perceives herself. To feed the fire of sadness revolving around this song, a trend on TikTok has surfaced where people post pictures with their ex-significant other and then post the same picture with the person erased from the picture. This song ends with a beautiful orchestral symphony that makes you feel like you’re literally ascending into the sky.
I would describe “eternal sunshine” as an introspective record, where Grande reflects on her past as she enters her 30s. I can confidently say that this is a 10/10 album with zero skips that will definitely be on replay year-round.
