Ariana Grande Makes History With New Album

Just after six months after releasing her fourth studio album Sweetener, Ariana Grande released her fifth studio album. Titled thank u, next, this album is her artistic response to several traumatic events that recently happened to the singer.

The album covers such things as Grande’s past breakups and Mac Miller’s death. It also features themes of healing and coping.

Before the actual album release, Grande released the singles “thank u, next,” “imagine,” “7 Rings,” and “break up with your girlfriend, i’m bored.” The last single gave her a new record of holding the top 3 spots on the Billboard Hot 100s.

The first song on the album is “imagine” which is a song about an unattainable love which is “now and forever.” Many fans assume this song is talking about Ariana’s ex, the deceased rapper Mac Miller.

“I like ‘imagine’ because it’s a beautiful song,” says junior Arely Guzman. “The bridge is very poetic in a way with her whistle notes.”

“Needy” is the next song on the album. On it, Grande expresses her need for emotional comfort and support, showing her vulnerable and insecure side. “NASA,” a song whose title references the space agency, is about needing “space” from a man. “Bloodline” is a song about having a casual relationship with a man. “Fake smile” is about Grande always having to hide her true emotions in the public, and “Bad Idea” is about Grande trying to have fun with a lover in order to forget about her past boyfriends.

The album takes a sad turn with the song “Ghostin.” Grande seems to be grieving about Mac Miller’s death and working through feelings of girls with the help of her (at the time) fiancee Pete Davidson. These haunting lyrics include the phrase, “We’ll get through this, we’ll get past this, I’m a girl with a whole lot of baggage.”

“It’s one of those songs where you don’t want to let it get to your head,” says Eastside senior Janessa Gonzales. “At the same time you enjoy it because it feels good to reminisce but it’s a painful feeling.”

The last three songs are the singles that broke the record for holding three spots on the Billboard Hot 100s. ‘thank u next’ is the song that the album is titled off of and it is about her moving on from her exes. ‘7 rings’ is about her buying expensive things as retail therapy. The album’s closes with ‘break up with your girlfriend, I’m bored.’ Although the lyrics might imply that Ariana is stealing someone else’s boyfriend, the music video shows the reality: that Ariana is herself the girlfriend. The song is a metaphor about loving oneself.

“ ‘breakup with your girlfriend’ is a very empowering song,” EHS senior Sheila Murillo says. “It’s Ariana trying to find herself first and trying to love herself.”

In its first week, Ariana’ newest album sold a total of 360,000 copies. 228,000 of those were streaming copies, meaning that Grande now holds the record for most streamed female pop album on the first week.