{"id":1526,"date":"2019-03-19T13:58:44","date_gmt":"2019-03-19T17:58:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/?p=1526"},"modified":"2019-03-22T11:17:46","modified_gmt":"2019-03-22T15:17:46","slug":"review-ariana-grandes-thank-u-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/review-ariana-grandes-thank-u-next\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: Ariana Grande’s thank u, next"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Ariana Grande released her newest album, thank u, next<\/em>, only five months after her last album, Sweetener<\/em> (check out Theogony<\/em>\u2019s review on it online under \u201cSummer Music in Review\u201d). Thank u, next <\/em>follows Grande after her heart is broken, which was taken as inspiration from Grande\u2019s real love life after breaking up with former fiance Pete Davidson. It is the counterbalance we need to the blindly-in-love Sweetener<\/em>, by bringing the songs back to a more melancholic reality on relationships.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tIn retrospect, Sweetener<\/em> was required, a necessary post-tragedy reminder of life and liberty. In contrast, thank u, next <\/em>feels like the reality following Sweetener\u2019s<\/em> catharsis. There are no out of place guest features (there are none) or ingenuine, if technically perfect, ballads, as on past albums; she no longer needs those distractions. But as usual, it\u2019s Grande\u2019s voice\u2014gently whistling here, totally killing it there, always undeniable\u2014that carries the album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe production of all songs are great starting points, with only some taking off. The album consists of empty trap beats, giving off a dark ambience to the songs. Most songs also start with some form of sample\/recorded conversation, similar to SZA\u2019s Ctrl. Songs like \u201c7 rings\u201d and \u201cghostin\u201d soar with only a drum beat and synthesizers, while others like \u201cbloodline\u201d and \u201cbad idea\u201d sound like demos from the album. It needs someone to come in and make each song on the album fluid and connecting, without sounding repetitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThe best songs on the album are \u201cneedy,\u201d \u201cbreak up with your girlfriend, i\u2019m bored,\u201d and the title song. All show very different sides of Grande on her journey with love and relationships. \u201cneedy\u201d shows her insecure side in a relationship, with the production quiet and accented by choral hums. \u201cbreak up with your girlfriend. i\u2019m bored\u201d is a very self explanatory song, with echoing kickdrums rushing through the background like a rapid. And the titular \u201cthank u, next\u201d is now in pop culture canon, with the name dropping of past exes, and is really catchy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tGrande explained in a recent Billboard<\/em> interview that her motivation is \u201cto release music like rappers do\u201d\u2014without the burden or unwieldiness of the major label machine, but certainly with much of its power. This makes perfect sense for the spontaneity of thank u, next<\/em> and maybe the lack of overall quality. It\u2019s more like a mixtape that a indie artist makes, capturing a fleeting moment with some missteps. The lack of polishing makes the album\u2019s idea more poignant, as it sounds more real and less like a perfect pop song.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tThank u, next <\/em>may be rushed with some flat lyrics and empty production; but that is what makes it so good. It is a true reflection of Grande\u2019s personal life and ideology, with all of the half baked ideas and unpolished moments. It gives off a certain feeling and sound foreign to Grande, but it also shows her growth and confidence in the music industry to experiment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\tAll in all, nothing on thank u, next<\/em> compares to Grande\u2019s rework of Imogen Heap\u2019s \u201cGoodnight and Go\u201d on Sweetener<\/em>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ariana Grande released her newest album, thank u, next, only five months after her last album, Sweetener (check out Theogony\u2019s review on it online under \u201cSummer Music in Review\u201d). Thank u, next follows Grande after her heart is broken, which was taken as inspiration from Grande\u2019s real love life after breaking up with former fiance Pete Davidson. It is the counterbalance we need to the blindly-in-love Sweetener, by bringing the songs back to a more melancholic reality on relationships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1527,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-style"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1526"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1528,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1526\/revisions\/1528"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.acpsk12.org\/theogony\/2018-2019\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}