STACK #233 March 2024

FEATURE MUSIC

Instagram. ”It’s really romantic, and it definitely ties together the old music and the new music, but Dangerous Woman is a lot stronger. To me, a dangerous woman is someone who’s not afraid to take a stand, be herself and to be honest.” The album was a mega success, reaching number one in Oz and the UK, propelled by singles Side to Side, Into You , and its title track. However, tragedy struck in 2017, during the UK leg of Grande’s Dangerous Woman tour. On May 22, Grande concluded her Manchester Arena performance at 10:00pm. One minute later, as concertgoers left the stadium, an Islamic terrorist detonated a bomb in the venue’s foyer which ultimately killed 23 people, injuring hundreds more. Following the event, Grande released a heartfelt statement which read in part: ”My heart, prayers and deepest condolences are with the victims of the Manchester Attack and their loved ones. We will not quit or operate in fear. We won’t let this divide us. We won’t let hate win. [The victims] will be on my mind and in my heart everyday and I will think of them with everything I do for the rest of my life.” The Recording Academy at attention As she geared up for her fourth album, Ariana took a detour to contribute a recording of the theme song to 2017’s live action film Beauty and the Beast (starring Emma Watson), duetting with singer-songwriter-producer John Legend. In 2018, primed for the biggest drop of her career yet, Grande released the critically celebrated Sweetener. The album incorporated hip-hop and soul into its pop stylings, and explored themes of romantic relationships (the good, bad and ugly), anxiety, womanhood, and sexual intimacy. It seemed the Recording Academy was finally ready to acknowledge – and reward – Grande’s obvious musical maturity and excellence and the artist bagged her first Grammy when Sweetener won the 'Best Pop Vocal' album category. The ( Thank U ) Next chapter Arianators got ponytail whiplash in November

The debut art dispute Before its official release, Yours Truly experienced a weird little hurdle involving its cover art. Grande published the intended cover image ahead of time, and it was received less-than-warmly by her fans. Last year Grande revealed of the incident: "You guys got very angry when you saw it. I was very sad about that, and I changed it. You were right, but you’re not always right.” The OG cover featured a bashful-looking Grande in white stockings kneeling on a bed of pink roses. The eventual artwork was far more sophisticated, depicting Grande in black and white under a spotlight.

Above left: The official cover artwork for Grande’s debut album, Yours Truly (2013). Below left: The originally intended artwork for the same album.

2018, when Grande surprise dropped a formidable new jam: it was the title track from her fifth album, Thank U, Next . The video was a millennial teen movie fan’s dream, directly referencing noughties blockbusters Bring It On (2000), Legally Blonde (2001), Mean Girls (2004), and 13 Going on 30 (2004), and featured cameos from several of the film’s stars. Thematically, the album contained Grande’s most personal material yet; she had, after all, written most of its tracks in the aftermath of her ex-boyfriend Mac Miller’s untimely death, and the dissolution of her engagement to comic Pete Davidson. Lyrically, it reflected on grief, denial, personal flaws, personal emancipation and self-empowerment. It hit number one in 17 countries, breaking a slew of streaming records on its way. Pole position 2020 saw Grande release her sixth album The Positions , a body of work which expanded on the trap-pop sound of its predecessors, and featured an enviable guestlist in Doja Cat, The Weeknd, and Megan Thee Stallion on the deluxe edition. Earning herself a Grammy nomination for 'Best Pop Vocal Album' with the hit record, Grande followed it up with a smooth-as-velvet transition back into acting,

appearing in 2021’s satirical comedy Don’t Look Up (starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence). The Eternal Sunshine rolls in We had to wait a full two years to hear what Ari was doing next, only to discover we were still a long way off from new music. In May 2022, Grande revealed she wouldn’t be recording a new album until she’d finished the filming of Wicked (a big screen adaptation of the Broadway musical, in which Grande plays Glinda). ’Fine, that’s fine,’ we soothed ourselves, and were eventually rewarded with concrete info in December last year that Eternal Sunshine would arrive this very month. Stay tuned to STACK for our first impressions of the album as a whole, and remember: say it with your chest, and be your own best friend.

Activist Ari

Ariana has been a staunch lover and supporter of her LGBTQ+ family throughout her career. In 2014, she remarked that being called a ”gay icon” was her ”favourite thing anyone’s ever said to me in my entire life.” The following year she got the chance to back it up, receiving wall-to-wall acclaim for her 2015 performance at the annual NYC Pride event. In June 2018, during the US’s Pride Month – and just days after homophobic protesters were filmed harassing Grande’s fans outside one of the artist’s arena shows – Grande wrote a love letter to the LGBTQ+ community thanking them for their enduring support: ”There’s no award I could win or accolade I could receive that would fulfil me more than seeing a six-foot queen with a four-foot ponytail walk into my meet-and-greet and say ’Hey girl’, or meeting a young queer person at Starbucks and them letting me know that my music has helped them become who they are,” she wrote. ”Love is like music. It knows no boundaries and isn’t exclusive to any one gender, sexuality, race, religion, age or creed. It’s a freedom, and a delicious luxury that all people should be able to sink into and enjoy every moment of.” In 2022, Grande pledged to match up to US$1.5 million in donations to LGBTQ+ advocacy groups, in an effort to counter the hundreds of anti-trans bills circulating through state legislatures at the time (and today).

Eternal Sunshine by Ariana Grande is out March 8 via Universal, including on JB AU-exclusive red vinyl with alternate artwork (pictured).

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