A Deep Dive Into Ariana Grande's "Eternal Sunshine"

Rating: 8.6/10

Standout Tracks: ordinary things ★, we can’t be friends (wait for your love), eternal sunshine

(disclaimer: i’m only reviewing her standard release, not her extended versions of it)

With her distinct voice, Ariana Grande is easily one of the most recognizable pop stars of this generation. Previously only being an actor, she debuted her music career in 2013 with her studio album Yours Truly. Grande’s career only went up from there with making big hits like “7 rings”, “Into You”, “God is a Woman”, and “Love me Harder” featuring The Weeknd. Currently, Grande released seven studio albums, all of them receiving immense love from fans. Her career is still thriving in the pop industry.

Eternal Sunshine is the seventh studio album that was released on March 8, 2024. This album contains 13 tracks including an interlude. This album was quickly loved by fans with the song “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)" racking over a billion streams and a dance trend on the app Tiktok featuring the song “the boy is mine”. This album is generally pop and R&B, utilizing mid-tempo synths and distinguishable beats in some of the tracks.

In this album, Grande explores the topic of relationships, focusing on her personal experiences. She shares the vulnerable aspects of one such as the difficulties, hatred, and the feeling of betrayal. In the intro, “intro (end of the world)”, she opens with the question asking how she can tell if she’s in the right relationship, setting the mood for the album. This question is then answered in the last track titled “ordinary things” where Grande’s grandmother is featured and responds with, “Never go to bed without kissing goodnight… And if you can’t, and if you don’t feel comfortable doing it, you’re in the wrong place, get out”. Symbolizing that even the little things in a relationship, like kissing each other goodnight, can even be the most precious thing about it and that you should never overlook it.

Grande also shares her hardships that she has had in relationships. Her second track on the album titled “bye” talks about the end of a relationship. One of the lyrics in the song is “I can’t believe I’m finally movin’ through my fears, at least I know how hard we both tried, both you and me, didn't we?” It reveals how she overcame her fear of breaking off the relationship despite the efforts to stay together on both sides. While not only focusing on the hard side of a relationship, she also talks about how happiness can also bring chaos in her twelfth track titled, “imperfect for you”. When listening to the song, it’s interesting for her choice of words to contrast each other. A line from her pre-chorus is “How could we know that this was a happy disaster?”. By contrasting these words, it shows how the happy side of a relationship can also clash with the imperfectness that comes with it.

In my opinion I really enjoyed listening to this album. While I can’t analyze lyrics that well, there was so much symbolism that I took after listening to this. It’s a really vulnerable album, and I liked how she covered the dark side to relationships, proving that every relationship has their ups and downs. I wish I could’ve rated this higher, but pop music is just not my go to. Nevertheless, Ariana Grande is an outstanding artist and her lyrics in these songs are super meaningful and bold of her to express this vulnerability.