Get the latest gossip
Ariana Grande Returns, Older and Wiser, With the Sparkling, Sarcastically Titled ‘Eternal Sunshine’: Album Review
After a three-and-a-half year album hiatus, Ariana Grande comes of age with the pristine, bittersweet pop of 'Eternal Sunshine.'
She’d been almost ubiquitous, catapulting into her musical career at a superhuman velocity in 2013 and releasing six albums in just over seven years — a fierce clip for anyone whose name doesn’t include the words Swift or Prince — while touring constantly, launching multimillion-dollar brands, racking up 14 songs with a billion-plus streams on Spotify alone, and establishing herself as one of the most formidable presences on social media. Since then, she’s made just a handful of guest appearances on other artists’ songs (although her two duets with the Weeknd were both global smashes) and, with her starring role in Universal’s big-screen adaptation of the hit Broadway musical “Wicked” due later this year, she’s also wisely shunning the spotlight to avoid oversaturation before that film’s inevitable promotional juggernaut. The first half of the album is low-key, leaning on mid-tempo R&B and easier grooves, starting off with “Bye,” which channels early ‘70s Gamble & Huff/ Philadelphia Soul, complete with a swooning strings (played by a battery of Swedes, of course) and open hi-hat rhythm — and a nod to Beyonce on the chorus.
Or read this on Variety
