Pop star Ariana Grande gained a massive following from growing up as a theatrical prodigy in the early 2000s. She appeared on Broadway in the musical “13” in 2008 at the mere age of 15, played a prominent performance as Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon show “Victorious” and released her first album “Yours Truly” in 2013.
There is no doubt that Grande has become one of the most prominent vocalists of our generation, as she’s had a chain of successful breakthrough albums, such as 2018’s “Sweetener” and 2020’s “Positions.” Grande is known for her powerful vocals, catchy pop melodies and often introspective lyrics. Yet, in her latest album, “Eternal Sunshine,” she exudes a raw experimentation and playfulness she has not revealed in past albums by toying with feelings of inconsistency and incoherence within her own psyche.
“Eternal Sunshine” emits femininity just by its title, but in its essence, it is so much more. Released on Friday, March 8, 2024, “Eternal Sunshine” brings an emotionally vulnerable enigma that encapsulates all the stages that perpetuate love and loss. Though it is shorter than her previous albums, clocking in at just 35 minutes with 10 tracks, Grande still seems to leave her listeners intertwined in her heavenly vocal ascent.
Densely layered harmonies run their course throughout every piece of work in this album, making “Eternal Sunshine” sonically imaginative in its entirety.
The album was inspired by her immediate controversy over her recent divorce and a new affair that is mainstream in the American media. Grande got married discreetly and got divorced publicly. She began production on the movie adaptation of the musical “Wicked” and sparked a new romance with her co-star, Ethan Slater. An overall narrative of these events unfolds in “Eternal Sunshine.”
Grande sings about the residual feelings and tortured thoughts that linger long after a breakup. Over an understated guitar strum and faux-romantic strings on “intro (end of the world),” she expresses doubts about a relationship and pops a burning question in the glowing lower depths of her register. The song’s triumphant kiss-off almost immediately doubles back on itself with dislodged memories, delayed anguish and brutal retaliations on the following tracks.
Moving onto the second song, “bye,” a somewhat lighthearted take on her divorce, is synergistic in its entirety. “don’t wanna break up again” is a little more uncertain as she paints a portrait of a negligent partner she knows she needs to leave but doesn’t want to give up on yet.
Another song, “Saturn Returns Interlude,” creates a shift that somewhat resolves the grief after her divorce. It shows the ugliness of the fallout and the aftermath of that going wrong, but it also shows her finding hope and some happiness with the next stage of her life. My personal favorite track on this album is “eternal sunshine,” which I believe is strongest because it leans the most into R&B, a genre Grande impressively embraced on this track. She sings, “Now/ now he’s in your bed/ laying on your chest/ Now I’m in my head,” which holds some potent melancholy that suffuses the album. She toggles between moments of resilience, acceptance and hope for the future, no matter how uncertain it may be.
The lead single of the album, “yes and?,” exudes groovy pop in all of its cracks and crevices. This song is as perfect as a big pop anthem can get, with its idiosyncratic chords and melodies that are just too bubbly not to dance to. “the boy is mine” also has a similar synthetic groove. The lyrics are derived from the critiques and concerns Grande received about her new relationship and how she is perceived as a homewrecker in the media based on circumstantial evidence. The singer bears her soul through deeply personal lyricism and flawless production through upbeat melodies and synthetic grooves.
“We can’t be friends (wait for your love)” is the second single from the album. It goes over finding a resolution for a relationship. The music video depicts Grande undergoing a medical procedure to erase all her memories with a past partner. These sentiments spill into the following track, “i wish i hated you,” as well, in which she sings “I wish you were worse to me / yeah, I wish I hated you.” Grande’s voice is beautifully nourished by her ability to harmonize. Her voice smooths out the almost painstakingly efficient, of-the-moment pop sensibilities displayed here, tipping the scales closer to R&B.
Grande chooses to end her album with the brilliantly cunning song “ordinary things,” with the lyrics, “If you don’t want to kiss your partner goodnight each evening, you’re in the wrong place? Get out.” Bringing the album to a close, she emphasizes her internal inconsistencies with the termination of her marriage, ending with an answer to all of the questions and uncertainty about her relationship that Grande established in the first track.
Through “Eternal Sunshine,” Grande documents heartbreak and ridiculous moments right next to each other until they start to blur, becoming real enough for us all to feel. It isn’t nearly as cohesive as her previous albums, but that’s exactly what Grande wants to allude to. After her recent divorce and a supposed affair, she isn’t expecting herself to be cohesive. “Eternal Sunshine” is here to move units and let the air out of ballooning narratives.
Grande proves that she is a gifted and nimble enough singer to support herself through music. “Eternal Sunshine” takes us on a gorgeously exposed journey to the end of her world, though it is truly just a new beginning.
Overall Rating: 3.5/5