Album Review | Ariana Grande ‘eternal sunshine’
“I think I’m the most nervous person on the earth. I am, because I always care so much and I wear my heart outside of my body and I love what I do so much, but I think also I am better at being a human than being an artist… I also think if I’m not doing something that makes me nervous or scared or feel that anticipatory excitement, in a positive way, then maybe it’s not elevating my art.” — Ariana Grande, on the Zach Sang Show
Yes,— I listened to Ariana Grande’s new album eternal sunshine after I boycotted her music for months after allegations of her being a homewrecker/cheater/overall bad person — and?
Grande’s albums always present meaningful and personal lyrics, yet eternal sunshine feels more mature and pensive. Grande describes eternal sunshine as a concept album, meaning the album collectively has a larger theme, message, or narrative. Think of The Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band or To Pimp a Butterfly by Kendrick Lamar.
For Grande, the themes come from the movie for which the album is named: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, one of her favorite movies starring one of her favorite actors, Jim Carey. The movie focuses on a couple, Joel and Clementine, who break up, and each undergoes a medical procedure to have the other removed from their memory. Grande points out that the phrase eternal sunshine is a bit ironic because it sounds pleasant and beautiful, but the movie and her album focus on pain and loss.
Furthermore, astrology plays a huge role in the order of the music. “Saturn Returns (Interlude)” is narrated by Diana Garland, an astrologist who Grande discovered through another producer. According to astrology, from birth to right before your 30th birthday, a Saturn cycle occurs every 29 and a half years. So Saturn returns to its rightful place in your life and things should fall into place. In an interview with podcaster Zach Sang, Grande tells him that with Saturn being back in place, people are “Forced to kind of clean house… you can’t kind of stomach anything inauthentic anymore, and you have to say gracefully and respectfully, ‘We need to make some changes.’”
Garland brings this point home on the interlude, telling listeners, “Wake up/ it’s time for you to get real about life and sort out who you really are.”
The album does not feel vengeful or petty but addresses the end of her marriage to ex-husband Dalton Gomez as part of life.
Grande emphasizes with Sang, that she did not want any songs on the album, or the album itself, to sound like she was saying “fuck you” to anyone. She wanted to acknowledge that she has experienced pain and sadness but also a lot of love, kindness, and honesty. The end of any relationship can be devastating, but it can also be liberating. As Grande sings in “bye,” “At least, I know how hard we tried, both you and me/Didn’t we?”
I’ve often felt that Grande presents such versatility in her music, but she excels at expressing vulnerability, like on my favorite Grande song, “needy.” Some of the songs on the album, like “we can’t be friends,” “i wish i hated you,” and “imperfect for you,” which is Grande’s favorite song on the album, show the complexities of relationships. They are not always pleasant and wonderful but can reap emotional turmoil and sadness.
In particular, “i wish i hated you,” is a song I’ve been waiting to hear my whole life. Grande told Sang that oftentimes people want to villainize someone at the end of a relationship, but that is not necessary; sometimes you can be grateful for the experiences, and no one has to be the villain or monster to feel peace or to move on. It reminds me of a Tupac quote in which he says, “Just because you lost me as a friend, doesn’t mean you gained me as an enemy. I’m bigger than that; I still wanna see you eat, just not at my table.”
“Grieving would be so much easier if we hated a person… but capturing the complexity of like ‘what happens if I don’t?’ is imperative I think. ” — Ariana Grande, on the Zach Sang Show
Another major theme on the album is to exist without worrying about others, as presented by the album’s lead single “yes, and?” Grande said that this song is meant to address rumors surrounding her body, face, and voice. However, it could be applied to the rumors that she began dating Wicked co-star Ethan Slater while she was still married. Though relationship timelines show that Grande split with Dalton in January 2023 and did not start dating Slater until the summer of 2023, Grande still has not been explicit about the timeline of her relationship with Slater. In fact, just listening to “yes, and?” without the context of the whole album does paint her as not the best person. After the single's release, outlets like BuzzFeed News, Huffington Post, and Yahoo News reported that Grande lost over 350,000 followers on Instagram.
Songs like “true story” and “the boy is mine,” which interpolates the song of the same name by Brandy and Monica, really bring the concept album Ari persona to light. The songs work with each other, with Grande addressing that if people refuse to see her as anything but a villain, she will play the part and sing really catchy songs about it. Her advice: “bless and release and shimmy.”
I almost didn’t listen to this album because of the rumors surrounding Grande’s personal life. Grande is almost always caught up in unfair and cruel rumors, like when people blamed her for Mac Miller’s untimely death or for the Manchester Arena attack in 2017. Listening to this album helped me understand that she has been going through her own pain and struggles and her ex-husband was not a great person either. As she sings in “imperfect for you,” all we can hope for is someone who acknowledges our mistakes and faults and still loves us for them.
