I can confidently say that while I’m not a serious Ariana Grande stan, her album ‘thank you, next’ released this past Friday, February 8, 2019, has started to grow on me.While listening to the album since it’s release and replaying some of my favorite tracks (that will be listed below), I think this album represents a positive statement of moving up and on from the tragedies of life; leaving an impact on me as it serves a purpose to learn and grow for your own betterment. Grande has seen and been through, what I can assume, are some of the worst things anyone can experience in life: from falling out of love and losing someone you deeply care about, being able to convert that pain into something of value and perseverance definitely shows how strong you can be mentally which I think the album reflects positively with.
NASA
This track I definitely played way too many times. Opening with a pre-recorded statement “One small step for woman, one giant leap for womankind,” (a play on Neil Armstrong’s famous moon landing quote July 20, 1969), the song is pretty fast-tempoed in the chorus but definitely gives a “spacy” tone with random synth tones. The song gives a lot of astronomical references but mainly focuses on the importance of self- healing, taking time by yourself to yourself to discover your greatness. Grande highlights the importance of space in relationships, being beneficial to your significant other shouldn’t be a 24/7 job, it sometimes takes time away from one another to create a healthy environment for each other. Besides, too much of something can lead to destruction and damage to your own health and you could lose sight of who you are:
“You don’t wanna leave me, but I’m tryna self-discover
Keep me in your orbit and you know you’ll drag me under,”
needy
Appreciation and love is so importance when it comes to sharing your time and space with someone else and it can make someone’s trust waver between how much of it is reciprocated. I’ve definitely been too overboard with my care and love for the ones I keep close, but if I feel that it starts to be too overwhelming I always try to take that step back. While being one of the shortest tracks from the album Grande slows it down a bit, with light snaps in the background and her vocals outlining the song’s message: the insecurity of craving attention from others but also the anxieties of giving too much love for those who may take it for granted.
fake smile
Showcasing and ‘old-school’ vibe with an infamous opening sample from Wendy Rene’s song “After Laughter (Comes Tears), this track opens up about Grande’s resisting the portrayal of straight-edge emotions, being honest about how you’re feeling because it can be exhausting putting on that “fake smile” for everyone else. I don’t like to say how I’m really feeling only to avoid the questions of “What’s wrong?” and “Do you want to talk about it?”. Truth is, I don’t like talking about it because I always feel as if it just makes that feeling of anger or sadness more intense. However, talking about how you’re feeling out of understanding rather than resentment could make it easier to open up in the future.