Ariana Grande — Sweetener (2018) | Album Review

Ariana Grande’s fourth studio album is her strongest effort yet, offering confident, cohesive set of songs that is orthodox but unexpected at the same time.

Remember when I reviewed Dangerous Woman and commented that Ariana Grande needed the right help to realize her potential? On Sweetener, it is revealed that the person she needs is Pharrell Williams. Grande’s fourth album has her smallest team of contributing songwriters and producers so far, as well as the most input from Grande herself, and her albums have never been stronger than this. While her two previous albums all had strong cuts, they were all scattershot, and not the Björk’s Post scattershot. My Everything was filled with trendy guests who added little creativity but pulled the album out of focus. Dangerous Woman fared off better, but terrible collaborations with Lil Wayne and Future tepid lyricism still weighed the album down.

Sweetener is comparatively free of guest features, which means Grande has more room for herself to shine. “R.E.M” is a highlight, with a cool doo-wop vibe, somewhat retro crooning and harmonizing that goes surprisingly well with the sing-talk. On top of that, she doesn’t rely on her vocal to impress the audience, which is always welcomed. “sweetener” may shares the same core with her usual ballads, but it’s definitely not as pale, with a fuller production with more hip hop inspirations similar to other tracks on this album. The grandeur “get well soon” that closes the album with a texture quite similar to “R.E.M” while having the same ballad structure is another highlight. The few tracks with features are also highlights, which include the funky Williams-backed “blazed” and “the light is coming” with long time collaborator Nicki Minaj. The latter track feels decidedly left-field for Ariana Grande and is ostensibly a sibling to the N.E.R.D and Rihanna’s track “Lemon”, which was also co-written and produced by Williams, sampling from, albeit a different segment of, the same source.

The Williams-Grande pair is not foolproof, however. “borderline” is definitely a weak spot, sounding like it’s trying to lead us somewhere but ends up nowhere, and the Missy Elliot’s verse is uninspired. Even at barely three minutes, it sounds too long-winded and probably would have been better off as a one-minute interlude. There’s also “successful”, while funky and interesting musically, has the worst lyrics of the whole album. Can someone give Grande a better line to sing as the hook than “I’m so successful”, please?

The non-Williams tracks instantly feel derivative compared to the Williams-produced ones, but they still fit well on the album and add some musical variety. One track I feel ambivalent about is “God is a woman”, whose theme of female sexual liberation I appreciate but whose lyrical execution I find lacking. Musically, the epic outro and the guitar-driven hook are enjoyable but the trap-inspired production in the verse is hackneyed. Similarly, “everytime”, “breathin”, and “no tears left to cry” are flawed but still enjoyable to some degree. “everytime” is probably the least original track on the album, with the same trap beat, a tepid melody, and a clichéd theme whose execution doesn’t add anything to the wheel. “breathin” does the “repeat-the-title-of-the-song-until-it-becomes-catchy”, which have been overdone to varying success, and it’s middle-of-the-road at best when it comes to that (check out Mitski’s “Nobody” to see how it’s properly done). “no tears left to cry” is pretty much written to become a Top 40 hit single, with a bright and danceable beat but somewhat routine and formulaic, with some positive but borderline cringeworthy lyrics.

All in all, while Sweetener is still decidedly Top 40, Ariana Grande’s starting to form her own sound, with some experiments branching off what she’s done before. She still has a lot of room to grow, but she shows that she’s getting there.

Rating: B+

Essential tracks: “blazed”, “the light is coming”

For detailed grading scale, see here.