Ariana Grande, Eternal Sunshine overview: Clues and confessions bubble up from the slow-fizz pop

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Ariana Grande’s seventh album is stuffed with questions. From the sweetly bewildered “How can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?” to the defiant “Yes, and?” of its lead single, Eternal Sunshine steadily finds the 30-year-old in a palms-up temper as she tries to drift like a harp-backed butterfly over the tabloid storm raging round her private life.

In a latest interview with Zach Sang, Grande admitted she hadn’t deliberate to launch one other album till 2027. But then her 2021–2023 marriage to luxurious realtor Dalton Gomez fell aside and inside two months of submitting for divorce she’d hooked up with Ethan Slater – her co-star in the forthcoming movie Wicked (Grande performs Glinda, the Good Witch). Slater’s spouse, Lilly Jay, who had given beginning to their first youngster in 2022, got here out swinging at Grande, claiming that the singer is “not a girl’s girl” and that her household was “collateral damage” in her quest for grand romance. All of which makes Grande’s resolution to launch this document on International Women’s Day seem like an tried retort, arguing that she does, in reality, see herself as a part of the sisterhood.

That’s plenty of gossip for an album overview. But – like Taylor Swift’s Swifties – Grande’s Arianators will probably be combing via each final be aware of Eternal Sunshine for the inside observe, and the singer who famously name-checked her exes on “Thank U, Next” is aware of that’s a part of the lure. Consequently, she throws out confessions and clues like chiffon scarves. They waft – prettily and fairly flimsily – round her in mid-tempo, heat thermals of delicate, supple synths, strings, and muted guitar.

Although there’s a gently retro disco-funk sound to “Bye”, its acutely aware uncoupling vibe can’t fairly take the track into pose-striking “I Will Survive” territory. There’s no massive hook approaching the tangy squelch of “Yes, And?” And whereas there’s a moreish high quality to the off-key guitar of “Imperfect for You” and an unexpectedly golden flush of brass on “Ordinary Things”, Grande’s delicately conversational tone is usually left having to compensate for her lack of sturdy melodic snags.

“I Wish I Hated You” finds her boxing up the footwear of a departing lover, rearranging her recollections alongside along with her closet over a shimmering synth line that stays flat and shiny as a wardrobe rail. “Don’t Wanna Break Up Again” is a little bit fiercer: the trappy beats snap round lyrics during which Grande notes that her “situationship” has to finish as a result of “I spent so much on therapy, but you didn’t even try”.

The strong R&B bounce of “True Story” sees her apparently addressing Jay’s model of occasions: “I’ll play the villain if you want me to… I’ll play the bad girl if it makes you feel better.” But its candyfloss refrain, which makes breezy use of Grande’s easy whistle register, finds her hitting again and sighing that’s not what she desires. “The Boy is Mine” (apparently he’s “div-i-i-ine”) stakes a bolder declare to her new lover’s coronary heart. But as Grande confides on the slooshy “Intro”, if persons are supposed to have the ability to inform lasting love from fleeting dalliances of their bones, she herself can’t discover that certainty.

Grande typically says her massive indulgence is baths. “I like to be submerged for as long and as often as possible,” she instructed Allure journal final 12 months. And there’s the same feeling to this album: it’s an area to soak in the questions fairly than anticipating solutions, Grande’s rose petal vocals swirling round in a shower bomb of slow-fizz pop.