After months of bad news it seemed as though 2020 was in the toilet, until Ariana Grande blessed the world with some much-needed good news. On October 14th she tweeted that she will be releasing her sixth album before the end of the month.
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The album will be a follow-up to “Thank You, Next”, her post-breakup album that was released in February 2019. This album is a tough act to follow as it featured the No. 1 singles “7 Rings” and “Thank U, Next” and was nominated for Album of the Year at this year’s Grammy Awards. In addition to that, this year Grande has collaborated with Justin Bieber to create “Stuck With You” and Lady Gaga for “Rain on Me”. The coronavirus lockdown–which she has spent at home in Los Angeles–surely gave her a lot of time to create new music.
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It is speculated that the album may feature artists such as The Weeknd, who retweeted her album announcement tweet, and Doja Cat. In an Apple Music interview she said that she and Doja “did a song together toward the end of the year.” Grande’s friend, producer Tommy Brown, has confirmed that he was working on the album. Brown has been involved in her albums before, most notably her “Thank U, Next” album. Singer-songwriters Victoria Monét and Tayla Parx have confirmed that they wrote songs for it. A track called “My Hair,” created by Grande, Brown, Monét and Parx, was registered on the website for the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers in June.
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Lockdown has given creators a lot of time to…well, create. Ari’s album drop could signal the beginning of a lot of great new music.