On March 8th, 2024, pop princess, Ariana Grande released her 7th studio album Eternal Sunshine, including 12 songs and an interlude. This album contains 90’s inspired pop beats while pulling on people’s heartstrings with emotional lyrics about heartbreak.
Then on March, 11th, 2024, Grande released a slightly deluxe version of her album with 4 new versions of songs on the album. This included “Supernatural featuring Troye Sivan”, “True Story (a cappella)”, “Imperfect for You (acoustic)”, and “Yes, and? (Remix)”.
Since her last album was released in the midst of her relationship with Dalton Gomez, her recent ex-husband, this album has a completely new feel to it because it was written post-divorce.
What is this album about?
This album covers her heartbreak, her healing, and her journey with all that life is throwing at her. Grande said “I wrote some of [the songs] when I was very emotional. And then there are bops that are more fun. Actually, even some of the bops I cried writing.” Grande has also used this album as an opportunity to clap back to the hate she has received about her new relationship with her Wicked co-star Ethan Slater.
In the music video for “We Can’t Be Friends (wait for Your Love)” Grande referenced her favorite movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”(which her album is loosely based on) by getting her memories of her past relationships erased. While most fans think that she is talking about Dalton Gomez, some are speculating that she is referring to her late ex-boyfriend Mac Miller.
This album is supposed to convey the message that trying to erase the memories you have with someone can’t be done because the memories they hold in your heart are too important to who you are as a person. I believe that if you have ever been in a heartbreaking relationship that has changed you as a person, you would like this album.
Feedback from her fans.
I think that the slightly deluxe version of the album was unnecessary because it watered down the quality of the songs. For example, one of the main components that makes the song “True Story” so good is the instrumental, so the acappella version seriously downgrades the song. Also yes, and? (Remix) took a fun song and turned it into a belt-off between Grande and Mariah Carey. Since Carey’s voice isn’t suited for this song, a lot of fans were left very disappointed.
Because “Yes, and?” was the first song released off the album, it has the most streams, and while this is a fun, upbeat song, I feel like it is the weakest on the album and will soon be surpassed in streams by better, stronger songs on the album.
On Spotify, Grande is currently taking 8 of the top 10 most streamed songs, with “Bye”, “we can’t be friends(wait for your love)”, “The Boy Is Mine”, “Eternal Sunshine”, and “Yes? and”. Billboard states “In its first day of release, Eternal Sunshine set a record as the most-streamed album in a single day in 2024 so far.”
Grande’s fans have been particularly loving “The Boy is Mine” and “True Story” because they are similar to one of Grande’s unreleased songs that were leaked back in June of 2023 called “Fantasize”. Grande herself has come out and stated that she tried to create songs with the same vibes as the leaked song because she knew how much her fans enjoyed it.
When asked if the album was worth the wait, Senior Shyla Hall said “I 100% do think it was worth the wait. The album is so much more different than the album that came before (positions) and you can hear how much she’s grown as an artist.” But she also said,” I honestly wish there was a ballad on this album.” … “I think a song similar to “ghostin” where she just spills her guts would’ve been a nice touch to the album.”
One of the things I love the most about this album is how cohesive the songs are. My personal favorites from this album are “Imperfect for You”, “I Wish I hated you”, and “We Can’t be friends wait for your love)”.
Overall, I think that this was an amazing album. Not only were the lyrics great, but her vocals were phenomenal as always. You can tell how carefully thought out this album was and how much effort Grande put into these songs.
