Review: Ariana Grande - Sweetener

ARIANA GRANDE
SWEETENER

Ariana Grande, an artist that continues to develop and evolve, releases her most diverse and experimental pop album to date. Full of positive anthems that mostly hit the sweet spot.

★★★★

Grande is no stranger to switching her style, Each record has seen her sound grow alongside her, from early beginnings and teeny-bopper pop on ‘Yours Truly’ to the R&B influenced teen years on the impressive ‘My Everything’ before finally, the sultry confidence of a female fully in control on third album ‘Dangerous Woman’. However, as she began to create her fourth record late last year the question that lingered was, How would Grande sound and recover after the horrific events of last May? an evening in which 22 people were killed in a bombing at her Manchester Concert.

‘Sweetener’ gives that answer with its very title. Grande has created an album which brings “light to the darkness”, embracing her fans with joy-filled experimental R&B songs placed alongside reflective power ballads that provide genuinely touching moments. Despite one very solid message and theme, the album is definitely one of two halves. This is down to its mixed collection of producers, a mix of old and new styles with the experienced Pharrell taking charge on seven tracks and the new millennial hitmaker Max Martin helming the majority of the others. This, unfortunately, leads to a range in quality, with both producers having their highs and lows, however, Ariana’s remarkable vocal techniques and delivery give ‘Sweetener’ a welcome consistency.

Sweetener starts with ‘Raindrop’ which is a very brief cover of ‘An Angel Cried’ by The Four Seasons. After waking up one morning and finding herself singing the refrain constantly, Grande decided to record it. The result is a beautiful acapella snippet that truly showcases Grande’s vocal potential. 

Those beautiful vocals, however, are, unfortunately, swiftly hidden by Pharrell’s over encumbering production on the bland ‘blazed’ and the erratic ‘the light Is coming’. the latter which pales in comparison to the stellar ‘Bed’, the other Nicki/Ariana collaboration released this month which would have been much more suited to Grande’s album than Minaj's.

Pharrell Williams is an acclaimed producer for a reason though, he and Ariana really strike gold on a string of mid-album tracks. ‘R.E.M’ has been long championed by Grande as her favourite track from the record and it’s easy to see why. Its progressive tempo, experimental production and literal dreamlike melody create a wonderful track which unlike most modern pop songs can actually call itself unique, It even subtly breaks down the fourth wall when Grande mutters a clever little “does this end?” towards the track's conclusion.

‘Sweetener’ the title track is delightful with its Bop-it breakdown and fluttering vocals, the interpolation of different message tones is a neat little trick, much less appreciated though is the frequent grunts and exclamations of ‘Sheez’ by Williams who can’t help but make his presence irritatingly known.

’Successful’ is 2018’s feminist anthem, a celebration of bodacious accomplishments designed to empower her female fans. Featuring some enjoyable call-and-responses and uplifting lyrics such as “And, girl, you too, you are so young, And beautiful and so successful”. It’s also Williams most interesting and understated piece of production on the record.

Max Martin also has his stellar moments, as seen from the fantastic two pre-release singles, the triumphant ‘No Tears Left To Cry’, a mixture of reflection and overcoming trauma which is one of the best pop songs of the past decade, period. As well as the glorious, gospel-inspired ‘god is a woman’ with it’s epic Grande filled crescendo which sees the singer creating a choir of Ariana’s from hundreds of vocal layers, it’s a spine-tingling effect that works well due to Grande’s incredible vocal range.