Ariana Grande has gone through some drastic and unfortunate events lately, but her latest album, “thank u, next,” is the worst of it all. Grande’s newest album dropped February 8, 2019 and many music reviewers praise her for making such a strong comeback after a series of events plagued her mental health in 2018.
Grande’s ex-boyfriend, Mac Miller, tragically passed away September 7, 2018. Although the loss was heartbreaking enough, Grande went through hell when Miller’s fans blamed her for his death. Throughout this commotion, she broke off her engagement with Saturday Night Live’s Pete Davidson.
After these misfortunes, Grande went into the studio to record new music, even though she previously stated she was taking a break from music. She used these upsetting events as the inspiration for “thank u next.”
Well, no thanks. Hard pass.
Lyrically this album is a disappointment. Although Grande has passion behind the message, each song is like listening to a broken record.
The opening song of an album can tell the listener what the album is going to sound like. This album is equivalent to watching paint dry. The first song off of the album is “imagine.” This song has no climax and it’s a plateau of listening to Grande complain about how she wants her life to be. Although that’s great that she wants to change her life around, but listening to her whine the words “can you imagine?” 22 times in a row is one bad way to start off the record.
Each song has a different message and those messages are riddled with contradictions. Take “needy,” for example. The song opens up with her singing about if her significant other won’t answer in time, she won’t know how to react. This is followed by, “but all I can say is at least I’ll wait for you.” If Grande knows she’s going to wait for this guy, then she knows how she is going to react. Later in the same song, she says, “passionate, but I don’t give no f**ks.” Well if Grande is passionate about something, that means she cares about it making her give at least a few.
“NASA” is a lyrical train wreck. Every sentence in verse one ends with the word “tonight.” The last time I’ve seen the same word over and over again was in elementary school when I was learning how to spell. I didn’t realize this album was a pre-school exercise.
The last single to release before the album dropped was a song titled “7 rings.” This song is as bad as the artist’s newest tattoo. Grande states that she doesn’t want to brag, yet the entire song is about her waving her paycheck around. She sings “I don’t mean to brag, but I be like, ‘put it in the bag.’” This is example A of her “not bragging,” yet the rest of the song she says, “if I want it, I got it.”
Grande is known for having a dynamically ranged voice, but unfortunately in this album, her notes lack substance. She rarely hits a high note, and when she does it is in the background of the track. This lack of motion in range turns the audience away from the album. Fans are left wondering where the “daring” Ariana went.
The album is a well-rounded mess. The lyrics are simple, the tracks that she whines over are anticlimactic, and the artist fails to keep the audience entertained. No thank u, next is what I will be saying if any of these tracks end up playing on my Spotify.
