Sweetener
It’s no coincidence that the cover photo for Ariana Grande’s fourth album is her first not in black and white. She told Beats 1 host Ebro Darden that *Sweetener* is different because, “It’s the first time I feel more present than ever, and I see colors more.” Her new outlook comes just over a year since the devastating attack at her 2017 Manchester concert that killed 22 people and injured over 500, leaving Grande “permanently affected.” She responded with *Sweetener*, a gorgeous, pastel album about love, happiness, strength, and womanhood. She’s deeply in love, evidenced on the tropical “blazed,” and “R.E.M,” with harmonies described as “rainbow clouds” by Pharrell, who produced over half the album. She exits a toxic relationship in “better off”; “God is a woman” is a feminine, sex-positive anthem that she told Darden is her “favourite thing I’ll probably ever do”. The album closer “get well soon” is a self-care message she wrote immediately following a panic attack. “It\'s about being there for each other and helping each other through scary times and anxiety,” she told Darden. “I wanted to give people a hug, musically.” Sonically, *Sweetener* brings some surprises—sparse rhythms and what she calls “dreamier” harmonies replace many of the huge beats and choruses she’s famous for. She said the album is “more like me as a person. And what I’ve been craving to do.”
After years of searching, Ariana Grande has found her true voice. Sweetener is an exemplary pop album, radiating with low-key joy and newfound love.
Ariana Grande illustrates once again that she is an unparalleled pop chameleon on Sweetener, while KIN splits the difference between late-period Mogwai and the band’s previous film work, and Midori Takada & Lafawndah pair up for the tightly conceived and elegantly performed Le Renard Bleu. Plus Interpol, The Lemon…
Sweetener is a sensitive, compassionate album that brims with gorgeous pop songcraft
Arriving midway through the album, ‘Sweetener’ sees Grande sing effervescently about “letting the sweetener in our hearts” to “bring that bitterness to a halt”, before she ushers in a trap breakdown thats sounds like Metro Boomin messing with The Little Mermaid soundtrack.
Often unexpected, sometimes in a good way, but representing an artist trying to move forward while reluctant to relinquish old ideas
Discover Sweetener by Ariana Grande released in 2018. Find album reviews, track lists, credits, awards and more at AllMusic.
It's hard to separate today's pop releases from the media rollout that precedes them. A prime example, Ariana Grande's new album Sweetener i...
Sweetener is a reflection of Grande’s growing awareness of herself as an artist and her place in the world.
Her collaborations with Pharrell really push the boundaries. But they make the rest of this album seem formulaic
Ariana Grande - Sweetener review: Wrong Heads Ariana Grande Wrong Bodies Max Martin Pharrell Williams TBHits | Cartoon Animation Cool Fun 47 Minutes
The US pop singer Ariana Grande was managing the difficult transition from TV teeny-bopper to grown-up star with considerable aplomb even before news events compelled the world to look at her in a different light.
Kicking the traditional pop bangers to the side, Grande lets her soaring voice meander
The 24-year-old adds much-needed humanity to the lower-case sound of current pop. CD New Music review by Joe Muggs