Ariana Grande - thank u, next

Ariana Grande
thank u, next
2019
Spotify

Peak Ariana Grande may be finally here. The icky romance with Pete Davidson, the celebration of monogamy only to breakup weeks later, and the constant barrage of Ariana as the prototypical millennial woman coming into her own all lead to a public often tired of hearing about her exploits. Tweeting a storm, then deleting her account, posting a bunch of lovely instagrams with Pete and then deleting those too all put this idea that maybe she isn't as rational and stable as she lead us to believe. But then there is the music. The music is always supremely of this very moment with her signature soaring vocals. Her last album sweetener amped up the trap drums like many pop songstresses have tried to do lately, but never crossed fully into the "I'm rapping now" zone. That sort of attempt usually results in some of the most cringe shit that you could possibly hear, see Katy Perry, Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus as prime examples. Those ladies wanted you to know that they are in control and they can do whatever they want, they just forgot that it actually has to be good for anyone to give a shit. Ariana on the other hand comes across as someone who learns from their mistakes, or at least recognizes them as possible weak points. "fake smile" finds that great little balance between a somewhat hip hop delivery while still letting her vocal do most of the talking. Even with the breakups and heartbreaks Grande has faced in her life she still manages to find a place of forgiveness and acceptance of her circumstance rather than cynicism and bitterness.

It would be easy and likely celebrated for her to go on an all out offensive on Pete Davidson, but much to her credit Grande takes the high road. There are some times on thank u, next where Grande finds herself sliding a little to close to appropriation like on "make up" where her dialect feels a little too casually ethnic. It's a shame because she doesn't need to do this. The songs that are the best are the ones where it is her full voice on display, not what is popular in the zeitgeist or an attempt to distance one's self from a former Nickelodeon career. There are ways to do this that don't feel quite as icky like "in my head". Ariana has a hip hop-esque delivery that does work when she isn't trying to hard to make it work. The bass heavy beat also give Ariana's voice this perfect little springboard to take flight. "7 rings" however feels a bit like the opposite, a trip to far down a trap hole that doesn't ever really come together and feels more clunky than anything else on the record. Not closing with the title track feels off, a track that sums up her whole year that we all have been privy to not tying the whole record together feels like a miss and "break up with you're girlfriend, i'm bored" feels like a big narcissistic miss. Ariana is moving forward and so is her music, she's making the right moves and saying the right things, let's see if people are ready to listen again.

8.0 out of 10