In the hours of night between this past Saturday and Sunday, Ariana Grande dropped her latest single, “thank u, next”, in response to her recent break from fiancé Pete Davidson. What many have seen as a petty diss-track to Grande’s list of exes is really the songstress’ way of dealing with the adversity she has faced in the past year. And boy, what a year it has been.
On May 22, 2017, a suicide bomber killed 22 people at Manchester Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom following a concert on Grande’s “Dangerous Woman” Tour. Grande, left reeling from the devastating terrorist attack, responded in the only way she knew — with music. A month after the attack she hosted a benefit concert in Manchester. “One Love Manchester” raised over £10 million for the We Love Manchester Emergency Fund and the victims of the bombing. Grande’s live closing performance of “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” was also released as a single to benefit those affected. The following year Grande remained quiet, recovering from the emotional traumas inflicted from the tragic events at her concert in Manchester.
Grande returned to the spotlight with the first single off her latest studio album. “no tears left to cry” dropped in April, combining a UK garage beat and the soulful vocal runs to which fans of Grande had grown accustomed. Grande whispered in her lullaby-sweet voice over the disco-inspired track that she “ain’t got no tears in my body/ I ran out but boy I like it.” She was done crying.
The single’s cover, with Grande in a sleek ponytail, has a rainbow splashed across her face, like light passing through a prism. Grande’s previous studio album covers had all been in black and white, and now she was finally able to let the light in. The album that would follow was a testament to this. In the weeks leading up to “Sweetener”, her fourth studio album, Grande’s name would be splashed across headlines all over the Internet. She had entered a highly publicized, whirlwind romance with SNL comedian Pete Davidson.
Whispers of their relationship have been heard since they both broke up with their significant others in the month of May. Grande confirmed her split from longtime lover, rapper Mac Miller, with whom she had shared a very private two year relationship. Grande and Davidson had met when the singer performed on SNL back in March of 2016. After their respective breakups the two exchanged flirty Instagram comments and had been seen together in public. They confirmed their relationship on May 30 on Instagram, fitting for their very millennial partnership. Davidson quickly solidified their relationship by getting two tattoos on his body, an “AG” on his thumb and the singer’s bunny ears, featured heavily during her “Dangerous Woman” era, behind his ear. Grande would even name one of the sweeter songs on her album “pete davidson”. Less than a month after their relationship was announced, reports of their engagement began to surface. It was confirmed by the couple in early June (yes, on Instagram), and they moved in together later that month.
“Sweetener” would be Grande’s most mature, fully realized compilation to date; it was preceded by singles “the light is coming”, featuring rap diva and longtime Grande collaborator, Nicki Minaj, a track about the light taking back “everything the darkness stole,” and “god is a woman”, an uber confident, uber sexual track about Grande owning her feminine wiles. “Sweetener” solidified Grande’s point of view as an artist. Released in the throws of her relationship and engagement to Pete Davidson, the album explores the ins and outs of a relationship — “R.E.M.” and the dreamlike state of being in love, “everytime” and the inability to stay away from a toxic partnership, “borderline” and what it means to compromise, and finally “better off”, about letting go of something that won’t work. Songs like “get well soon” and “breathin” delve into Grande’s struggles with anxiety, a side fans have yet to see from her.
Most of the album was produced by Pharrell Williams: those songs that were stand out like sore thumbs, though they are in the majority. The beats are clunky, an intersection between techno and R&B, and a first listen could put a listener off — a closer look and you know that Williams and Grande knew exactly what they were doing. “blazed”, “successful”, and “the light is coming” are all perfect examples of the sound this duo has created, with Williams’ 90s funk/R&B-inspired beats and Grande’s sultry, honey-smooth voice.
With “Sweetener” Grande wanted to do exactly that: take the bitter and make it sweet. As “sweetener”, the title track says in its chorus, “When life deals us cards/ Make everything taste like it is salt/ Then you come through like the sweetener you are/ To bring the bitter taste to a halt.” What resulted was a cohesive collection of music: playful but sincere, innovative but classic, and hopeful, all at once. Grande had taken the hell of a year she’d had — with the Manchester bombings and the recent split from Mac Miller — and turned it into something quite remarkable: an album best listened to from start to finish with songs that all stand out on their own.
Unfortunately, Grande’s tough year was not over. Malcolm James McCormick, known by his stage name Mac Miller, died from a drug overdose on Sept. 7. After this tragic loss in the scape of modern music, questions swirled about the connection between his death and Grande’s new, greatly publicized, breakneck fast romance. Then stories surfaced saying Davidson had sent illicit pictures of Grande to Mac Miller before his death, obviously fodder for tabloid newspapers. Grande was understandably affected by this (and expressed such in, yes, an Instagram caption) in light of their breakup and her newfound romance; though her relationship with Davidson persisted — or so it seemed.
Oct. 14, it was reported that Ariana Grande and Pete Davidson had called off their engagement with claims that the death of Mac Miller was their “breaking point,” unsurprisingly. Davidson reacted in the way that he knew — telling self-deprecating jokes — and Grande would respond with “thank u, next”. The sparkly, pink lullaby lists Grande’s exes by name: rapper Big Sean, Ricky Alvarez, Davidson, and Mac Miller, whom she calls “an angel.” She doesn’t use their names to cast blame, but to thank. She credits them for teaching her love, patience, and pain, saying she’s so grateful for her ex. Though the song holds no contempt towards Davidson, regardless of his comments on their breakup on SNL, she couldn’t help dropping the single 30 minutes before the live sketch comedy show aired on Nov. 3.
The biggest takeaway from “thank u next” is not what Ariana says about her exes, but her relationship with herself. “Plus, I met someone else / We havin’ better discussions / I know they say I move on too fast / But this one gon’ last/ ‘Cause her name is Ari / And I’m so good with that.” She goes on to sing that she also taught herself love, patience, and admires how she handles pain.
This past year cemented Ariana Grande’s status as a pop superstar and let people know that she was a force to be reckoned with. If we learn anything from her year, it’s how to take a painful situation and grow from it, to be grateful for the bad because it taught you something good. It’s how to bring the light to the dark; to make things sweeter.