The 25 year-old pop star Ariana Grande’s fourth album and the eagerly anticipated ‘Sweetener’ has finally arrived. She’s released three songs from it already: the omnipresent “No Tears Left To Cry,” plus “God Is A Woman” and the Nicki Minaj-featuring “The Light Is Coming.”
The album’s has 15 tracks in total and it’s got everything: lowercase titles, that Pete Davidson song, Missy Elliot who appears on the song “Borderline,” Pharrell, and Nicki Minaj. Grande did decide to add Davison’s last name to the title of the song about him.
Many of the headlines surrounding its release were taken up by Grande’s, whirlwind breakup with Mac Miller and subsequent engagement to Saturday Night Live star Pete Davidson.
In her latest Fader cover story, Grande described the album as such: “Here is my bleeding heart, and here is a trap beat behind it.” It’s her first album since last year’s terrorist attack at Grande’s concert in Manchester, which left 22 dead and 500 injured. She worked on the album with Pharrell and Max Martin, who each produced a significant songs, and there are additional production credits from Tommy Brown, Savan Kotecha, and Ilya.
You can listen to the album on all platforms:
“Thankfully, Ariana’s such as star that she can turn some of the album’s most left-field cuts into effortlessly charming pop gold. A year down the line, we’ll perhaps look back at this record and appreciate its quirks and nuances a little more. Until then, Ariana’s core fanbase are bound to find an instant, sugar-rush of pleasure in this fascinating side-step from an artist who – until now – has made her name by stomping down the traditional pop path.” – NME.com
“Grande can really sing, which is a treat in this Auto-Tuned era. Her four-octave range has been compared favourably to Mariah Carey’s, but her style is far more delicate and understated. She rarely unleashes full power blasts but her delight in singing is transparent and her producers take full advantage, layering her all over the tracks.” – Telegraph.co.uk