Ariana Grande - "thank u, next" Album Review
Growing up watching the Nickelodeon classic “Victorious” over my little sister’s shoulder on a nearly daily basis, I thought the whole thing was vapid and cheesy. The worst part about it had to be the comic relief character. Her jokes all fell flat for me, and her voice couldn’t have been more annoying at the time. Never would I have been able to foresee that that voice would go on to become one of the most popular and talented voices in modern pop music today.
That voice belongs to the incomparable Ariana Grande. From the start, Grande’s career has been a very public one, from her donut licking scandal to her more recent hand tattoo mishap, she’s had a lot of eyes on her from the very start, and a meteoric rise since her debut album released in 2013. One aspect of her life that has been especially public and gossiped about is her lovelife. In 2018 alone, she ended her longtime relationship with rapper Mac Miller, had a whirlwind engagement to SNL star Pete Davidson, grieved over the sudden passing of her ex Miller, and broke off her marriage to Davidson, all while she rode the success of her album “Sweetener”.
All of the pressure, heartbreak, and sorrow seems to have put Ariana in a pensive and reflective mood. That was made all too clear when she released the triumphant title track to her then-upcoming album “Thank U, Next”. The song is essentially a reverse-break-up song: she thanks (instead of vilifies) her exes, treats her past relationships as learning experiences and time capsules, and embraces her readiness for whatever the romantic world throws at her in the future. As someone who never really listened to Grande’s music outside of playing it at DJ gigs for tweens, the unique concept, catchy hook, and bouncy production of this track got my attention, and served as somewhat of a hint to what this album is all about.
Coming off the ambitious yet polarizing “Sweetener”, some of Grande’s fans were worried about how her sound was evolving. Riding the waves of chart-topping modern rap and R&B, certain tracks on the album are very different others, and this, along with production from atypical producers like Pharrell Williams, upset her fans upon the release of the album. Rest assured, “Thank U, Next” has a consistent yet varied set of tracks, while still sounding comfortably trendy.
The opening track “Imagine” gives old school fans that classic Ariana feel— it’s a illustrious, fantastical track, reminiscent of tracks like “Dangerous Woman”, with lusty lyrics and a ¾ time instrumental. Where her past reggae-pop hit "Side to Side" felt a little contrived, “Bloodline” gets the mix right, and throws a bit of hip hop and Max Martin wizardry in there to kick things up a notch. Ariana goes deep on this record and explores a wide range of emotional concepts, from enjoying a relationship fight solely to resolve the conflict at the end (“Make Up”), how a love-struck idealistic version of someone can cloud your reality (“In My Head”), and the dangers of repressing your true feelings under a carefree attitude (“Fake Smile”).
There are a couple low points on this record when it comes to songwriting. The endless supply of space puns and Instagram caption-worthy lines on “NASA” made me cringe a couple times. The lazy flows and boring, gimmicky spin on the Sound of Music classic, “My Favorite Things,” in “7 Rings” made the song’s concept of retail therapy fall flat for me. I wished that the song was more about what all of these material items mean to Ariana, and if that’s changed after all of the stuff that eventually turned her into a “savage”. Instead, the song is just three minutes of her flexing and using a very generic rap delivery that’s been done countless times before (see “Mine” by Princess Nokia).
The highlights of this album are, without a doubt, the deeply emotional drum-less grooves, “Needy” and “Ghostin”, which surprised me initially, being a fan of more danceable music. On these two tracks she bravely exposes her insecurities and is not afraid to be vulnerable. As a self-proclaimed “girl with a whole lot of baggage”, it would be weirder if she didn’t address everything she had been through last year, but regardless it still surprised me that these deep, thoughtful tracks about wanting to be loved and compromising her lover’s interests for her own came from the same person who wrote airhead pop tunes like “Break Free”.
But, at the end of the day, Ariana is only human. The tracks “Bad Idea” and “Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I’m Bored” make it clear that she’s still looking for love in all the wrong places. Both of these songs are complemented by spacious and agressive trap beats with slurred synths and guitar lines. Perhaps Ariana can’t help but to give in to her inner desires, and that’s something she gets down on herself for and could be trying to change. Or, maybe that even when she’s extremely careful about her commitments, she can’t help but want another guy (or even someone else’s guy).
“Thank U, Next” as a whole feels like a revelation for this young and evolving artist. It reveals what the pressure of being one of the biggest pop stars on the planet can do to a young woman’s mind, and how Ariana wishes we were more real with each other. Ariana wants to be done with being needy, noncommittal, fake, and sad on this album, and there’s plenty we could learn from her on that front. This album serves as a reminder that nobody’s perfect, and we can turn our mistakes and regrets into astute futures (or record-breaking singles, in her case). While this album might be a break from her usual sound that took her to a dark place, I hope that, even if she’s on a path to healing, it’s merely the beginning of her journey as a more introspective artist.
