Ariana Grande: Dancin’ On Her Own

The pop star is back with a record that analyzes the end of a love story between pop/R&B and a feature with her grandmother.

Ariana Grande has a friend who has introduced her to the Japanese art of kintsugi, a technique that involves mending cracks in objects with gold, allowing them to become whole and radiant once more. While some consider it a simple restoration method, others view it as a form of therapy. For all, it has become a topic of conversation that had already grown tiresome by 2010.

For Ariana Grande’s new album, eternal sunshine, the image of repairing and shining anew is fitting, as the album was not initially planned. Grande had previously stated that her new music would arrive after the release of the film Wicked, yet here we are. The impetus for the album stems from her divorce from Dalton Gomez and her desire to share her experiences.

Ariana Grande, who epitomized the Covid-era bride when she married at home and announced it on Instagram in 2021, finds herself two years later with a love that has ended and an album titled eternal sunshine. The question “What is love?” is posed at the beginning, and it is a query that Ariana herself seeks to answer.

The album’s title is an unambiguous homage to Michel Gondry’s film, with some scenes featured in the video for the launch single (the second, to be precise), “we can’t be friends.” Perhaps the album’s manifesto track, this all-choirs pop song features a backing track reminiscent of Robyn’s “Dancin’ On My Own,” with lyrics that declare, “We can’t be friends, but I’d like to just pretend/You cling to your papers and think, wait until you like me again.”

While Grande’s previous album, positions, released in bursts after the first one, and tracks like “thank u, next” showcased a decidedly sexier attitude, eternal sunshine finds Ariana tempering her hormones and posing numerous questions to herself. On the track “Bye,” the second on the album, she sings about leaving home:

“I’m getting my things, Courtney just pulled up in the driveway

It’s time, bye-bye!” and does so in the most joyful manner possible.

From there, the questions commence, signaling Ariana’s welcome to adulthood.

Max Martin continues to produce, and the pact between the two this time seems evident: to pay homage to the R&B of the past, particularly that of the late 90s and early 2000s, infusing it with the dreamy atmosphere in which Ariana appears to be immersed lately (her fairy role in the Oz prequel undoubtedly plays a part). The album features a song titled “the boy is mine,” inspired by the eponymous track (though a different song), which sparked speculation on Twitter about whether the song was about Ethan Slater. Additionally, Mariah Carey appears on the remix of “yes, and?,” further paying tribute to the 90s. “She is my biggest inspiration,” Ariana declares.

The album’s title track also includes a tribute (now referred to as an interpolation) to Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River.” However, the only declared feat. is with Ariana’s 98-year-old grandmother. In the song that concludes the album, conclusions are drawn: “If you don’t feel comfortable kissing your partner goodnight, even after a big fight, then you’re in the wrong place. Get out.” Nobody possesses wisdom quite like grandmothers.

If you anticipate an album brimming with bops, this one may not be for you. However, suppose you desire to listen to a record with a specific mood, in which you can lose yourself among the vocal harmonies and delude yourself into believing you are at the dawn of the millennium. In that case, you have found the right place. Grandma concurs.