By Kai McMillian
“Eternal Sunshine,” released on March 8th, 2024, is the seventh studio album by Ariana Grande, and might I say, the best album she has released since Sweetener. This album was said by Ariana to be heavily influenced by the 2004 film “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” which is made evident by the album name as well as the music video for the song “We Cant Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)”, which is also our song of the month. The main topics of this record are heavy on love, heartbreak, pain, sadness, moving on, finding the one that’s right for you, and self improvement.
Some songs on this album have tinges of 2000’s-2010’s inspiration like in the song “True Story,” which reminds many listeners of “Bills Bills Bills” by Destiny’s Child based on the instrumental during the chorus and her verses and the song. “The Boy Is Mine” has made many listeners claim it sounds like a hip hop/pop song that would be released in the early 2010’s. Each song flows so perfectly into each other, the layering of the vocals mixed with the instrumental and melody, the ad libs, and Ariana’s strong storytelling with her impeccable lyricism and emotions just makes this album exactly what we have been expecting from her for four years. But let’s be real, we never expected anything but the best from the Ariana Grande.
The first single from this album, “Yes, And?” was teased on Instagram on January 7th, 2024 and was released on January 12th. This song is a mix of ballroom and pop genres. It speaks about how she doesn’t regret her decisions and how she’s just living her life and how people who are hating on her should too. Come January 17th, she announced on instagram the first teaser of this album and the release date being March 3rd, 2024. As of right now, Brittany Spanos of Rolling Stone claimed that “Eternal Sunshine” as “some of the most honest and inventive music of her career” and said that the album is an “instant classic,” and she is not wrong about this. This record has 13 tracks with all songs being solo with no features (excluding “Ordinary Things” as Ariana’s grandmother, aka “Nonna” has a brief monologue at the end of the song) which really gives Ariana a chance to really showcase and use her talents to the best of her abilities. As I said already, this album is better than Sweetener in my opinion, and possibly the best album she has made.
Onto our next topic, songs of the month! For the song of the month, I could not choose between these two songs, which are also on “Eternal Sunshine”, the songs I chose are “We Cant Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” and “Imperfect for you”. “We Can’t Be Friends (Wait For Your Love)” is the tenth track of the album. This song is a very melancholic, smooth, and nostalgic sounding song with a captivating melody and emotional lyrics. Not to mention, the heart wrenching music video. It’s about the wide variety of feelings you get when you’re longing and missing someone you love. It’s also about wanting a deeper connection with someone that you love and how it seems unattainable and how you eventually come to the realization that you just have to wait for love. It is definitely the best song on the album in my opinion as the song evokes such a strong emotional reaction, alongside the music video that just absolutely breaks your heart with the storytelling and the realistic acting.
The second song, “Imperfect for you”, is the twelfth track on this album. This song talks about how the flaws and differences between two people have the ability to strengthen the relationship as they can share their flaws and learn how to accept it and love each other more for it. It has a very calming, semi-country inspired, type of melody with a bass-y chorus and second verse and it’s very nice to listen to on top of Ariana’s butter smooth vocals. It’s the type of song you would want to listen to while stargazing. My favorite aspect of this song is how parts of the song change like the bass-y inclusion in the choruses and the second verse and how during the bridge, the instrumental suddenly goes away but only leaves a muffled acoustic guitar in the background. My other favorite part is how when Ariana says “Imperfect for you”, that lyric goes off key but still watches perfectly with the original melody and smoothly transitions, aka, a passing note. This song I would say is the second best song on this album as it feels almost hypnotic how good it is and how relaxed it makes you feel.
2024 is only in its’ third month, yet in my opinion, we have one of the best albums released this year from a major artist. All of the songs on this record are so beautiful and well crafted and it’s extremely obvious that Ariana put her all into this album and made it clear that this album is something that’s so near and dear to her heart and that these four years of no new music, were worth it. Definitely give this album a listen and no doubt you will love at least one song on this record.
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