Eternal Sunshine Review

Eternal Sunshine is the seventh album by Nickelodeon star turned pop icon, Ariana Grande. She reunites with one of her long-time producers, Max Martin, for her new album, and it marks a departure from her previous album, as it has more of a pop and R&B centered sound. Ariana’s music isn’t really what I listen to, but I’m going to try and be as objective as possible and give this album a chance. I haven’t listened to a full Ariana Grande album, but I’ve heard enough of her hit singles to know that a lot of her songs have the same themes of love and heartbreak, so instead of focusing on the themes of the album I’m going to focus more on the overall sound.

     “How can I tell if I’m in the right relationship?” Ariana asks in the very first line of the album, on the intro. I love how warm the track sounds, the backing chorus harmonizing perfectly with Ariana’s vocals, and the soft guitar chords providing a relaxing backdrop to her voice as well. The next track, “bye,” features a electric synth backdrop with a very California sounding vibe. It sounds like a total beach party track. It’s a song that is a motivational anthem for girls who are dealing with a breakup, as she sings, “You know? I’m stronger than I think. Usually, I’d join you on the floor but this dance ain’t for me.” I like the analogy of comparing the failed relationship to a dance. All and all, “bye,” is a catchy breakup anthem, but it’s not super deep or layered.

    After that, we get “don’t wanna break up again,” which has a glowing sound. Ariana’s voice floats on the track. I like the production on the track too with the soothing synth piano and funky drum pattern. It’s another breakup song and I feel like she could be covering more topics than solely breakup tracks. I know a lot of girls find her music empowering, and I’m not trying to hate on that, but when her songs are only about love and heartbreak, it’s not the most engaging listen. “eternal sunshine,” has a cool hip hop beat with what sounds like a synth harp as the instrumental. One of my favorite tracks, as the chorus is super memorable.

   “Supernatural,” is a decent cut off the record, with that beautiful harmonizing over the synths near the end. Ariana’s voice and the production are far from the problem on this album, it’s the lack of variety in the subject matter. I really like the instrumentation on “the boy is mine,” with that glistening synth melody, and Ariana’s vocal cadence over the 808s and snares are very well orchestrated by producer Max Martin. Another favorite track of mine. “Yes, and?,” has a very cool vocal sample at the beginning, and the instrumental sounds like it’s Chicago house influenced. 

   The album isn’t bad by any means, and has production that’s very mellow and pleasant on the ears, but the last three tracks cover the same themes as the other tracks, and it gets kinda old after a while. Good production and beautiful singing can’t change the fact that this album’s subject matter becomes incredibly dull after hearing the same subject matter for 13 tracks. There’s nothing wrong with a good love song or breakup track, but when that’s all that Grande sings about, it gets boring fast. Overall, I would only recommend a few tracks on this album, but her fans will enjoy it the most. It’s just not for me.

Overall Score: 6/10

Favorite Tracks: “bye,” “the boy is mine,” “yes, and?,” “don’t wanna break up again,”

Least Favorite Tracks: “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” “I wish I hated you”

Listen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlaiDnJyabE

Genres: Pop/R&B