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9 min read<\/p>\n9 min read<\/p>\n
It turns out Ariana Grande, the woman behind Eternal Sunshine, has a dark side. She makes that clear on her eighth album Petal<\/a>, which uses minor chords and disarmingly blunt lyrics to capture the highs and lows of being a woman in the spotlight. It\u2019s an interesting time for the pop star to release a new body of work\u2014in the midst of an international tour, on the heels of two Wicked movies, ahead of her West End debut, and at the start of a new (rekindled) romance<\/a>\u2014but it\u2019s also the perfect time. As someone who\u2019s been in headlines nearly nonstop for the aforementioned reasons and then some, Grande is in prime position to reflect on her relationship with fame: being both an artist and a commodity, an idol and the butt of a joke, a victim and a victor. Petal captures all of that, with some of the R&B and hip-hop production reminiscent of Positions (the producer, ILYA, is one of her frequent collaborators), creating some stuck-in-your-head tunes, even if they\u2019re not what you expect from her. As the singer herself said<\/a>, her latest work is brimming with \u201cunfiltered rage,\u201d and \u201cHate That I Made You Love Me\u201d<\/a> was just a taste of it.<\/p>\n Here, two ELLE editors take a deep dive into Grande\u2019s Petal.<\/p>\n First Impressions<\/p>\n Erica Gonzales, deputy editor, digital content: I liked it. I didn\u2019t know what to expect, and I was worried, but I appreciate what she was trying to say with it.<\/p>\n Samuel Maude, content strategy manager: I definitely think this is a darker album for Ariana. There\u2019s no \u201cBreak Free\u201d or massive song that you just go, \u201cOh my gosh, that\u2019s going to be played at a gay bar in the country,\u201d or anything like that. So on my first listen, I was kind of missing that big giant vocal production. But when I listened again this morning and was more attuned to the lyrics, I really liked it. I think it\u2019s very well done.<\/p>\n EG: Even though it doesn\u2019t have a bunch of big \u201cBreak Free\u201d or \u201cGod Is a Woman\u201d-esque big, belty songs, there are certain melodies in the Ariana R&B repertoire that I love, like \u201cSafety Net,\u201d where she just hits a pocket and you\u2019re like, \u201cOh, that\u2019s going to be stuck in my head forever.\u201d I felt that way with \u201cStay\u201d and \u201cBig Feelings\u201d and \u201cLike I Do.\u201d<\/p>\n SM: This feels like it\u2019s in the celestial space production of Brighter Days Ahead with more of an R&B Positions feel. Also, I could feel the impact The Weeknd had on this album.<\/p>\n EG: I was not super familiar with ILYA, but apparently he worked on \u201cProblem,\u201d \u201cGod Is a Woman,\u201d \u201cSide to Side,\u201d \u201cNo Tears Left to Cry,\u201d \u201cBreathe In,\u201d and \u201cWe Can\u2019t Be Friends.\u201d<\/p>\n SM: Hit, hit, hit, hit, hit.<\/p>\n The Public\u2019s Reactions<\/p>\n SM: I\u2019m so curious to see the fan and public reaction to this album because it\u2019s going to be interesting.<\/p>\n EG: Speaking of the public reaction, that is very much the core of this whole project. \u201cHate That I Made You Love Me\u201d wasn\u2019t the best song on the album, but it was certainly the thesis statement. So by releasing it as a single, she was warning everybody or giving a preview, saying, \u201cThe album is going to be about this.\u201d And it definitely was. \u201cPetal,\u201d which seems like it\u2019s going to be the next single, definitely goes into that a lot more too.<\/p>\n \u201cHate That I Made You Love Me\u201d makes more sense in the context of the album. To go from a super romantic opener, \u201cKiss Me,\u201d to that, to \u201cPetal\u201d really sets up the whole thing.<\/p>\n And some of the lyrics I wrote down from \u201cPetal\u201d were \u201call of my favorite stories end in some kind of catastrophe,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s such a fucked situation,\u201d \u201cTell me who\u2019s to blame, is it the people or myself?\u201d \u201cAs long as she keeps getting it right, heartbreak won\u2019t bite. This is paradise.\u201d But she\u2019s also saying she knows she\u2019s not the victim. She says this is not a cry for help; \u201cI\u2019m practically drowning in my blessings,\u201d but she\u2019s still struggling.<\/p>\n SM: I felt like this is maybe her most introspective album yet.<\/p>\n She\u2019s currently touring, so I\u2019ve thought this entire time that the timing of this album didn\u2019t fully make sense to me in the scheme of her career. So to me, this feels like an album she needed to write.<\/p>\n EG: That also kind of ties into the last song on the album, where she kind of says, after all of this, there\u2019s still nobody else I\u2019d rather be. No one else I\u2019d rather do this with. She\u2019s speaking to her fans and her listeners directly. I feel like her releasing this album might not change anything; people\u2019s views or how they speak about her, how they treat her in public and in the press probably aren\u2019t going to change, but this is something she just had to say. She had to get all that off her chest.<\/p>\n \u201cLike I Do\u201d<\/p>\n SM: Specifically with the phrase \u201cextra, extra,\u201d she\u2019s saying, \u201cI\u2019m giving you fodder to talk about. I\u2019m giving you my relationships, you\u2019re going to talk about them no matter what. You\u2019re going to talk about my body no matter what. You\u2019re going to talk about me no matter what.\u201d This is a very weird relationship that we as the public and Ariana Grande, the artist, have. You\u2019re not going to see those maybe more special moments or those things that make her life what it is. You\u2019re only seeing the things that she gives you.<\/p>\n I actually feel for her and I think of fame as oftentimes such a golden cage. Yes, you have then a bunch of money, but in a way, you\u2019re trapped. Your every move is scrutinized.<\/p>\n EG: Yeah. It reminds me of the Olivia Rodrigo song \u201cMaking the Bed,\u201d that feeling of, \u201cI feel crazy, but it\u2019s kind of my fault.\u201d It\u2019s a cage of my own making, to extend the metaphor.<\/p>\n \u201cOh Well\u201d<\/p>\n EG: It also seems like she\u2019s noting this problem and then going through different stages of grief or anger around it. \u201cOh Well,\u201d for example, when she\u2019s like, \u201cGood luck on your way to hell\u201d\u2014that\u2019s serious. She\u2019s angry. It\u2019s interesting that she\u2019s saying this in her music because if she said it in an interview or if she said it to the paparazzi swarming her on the street, it would immediately make her look like a villain or \u201cungrateful.\u201d But for her to say that in the context of her own song seems very intentional.<\/p>\n SM: Totally. And through the whole thing, I was sitting there thinking that, in many ways, the songs can be both about the public and about a lover.<\/p>\n In \u201cBig Feelings,\u201d she\u2019s saying, \u201cI made you feel these big feelings about me. I don\u2019t necessarily reciprocate them 100 percent back, but you\u2019re giving me stability and security.\u201d I think she says, \u201cI made a grown man cry\u201d in that. It\u2019s like when you have a relationship with someone where they have bigger feelings than you do, but they\u2019re also giving you this love that you honestly deserve, do you stay there because it\u2019s better for you?<\/p>\n EG: There was a line like that too in \u201cHate That I Made You Love Me\u201d that\u2019s, \u201cIs it really my fault you all gave me your hearts of your own accord?\u201d It\u2019s not her fault that you fell in love with her. And it, again, applies to literally a partner or a fan or somebody who\u2019s just consuming her music or in the media or whatever. It\u2019s super interesting. But I did think for a moment that \u201cBig Feelings\u201d and \u201cNever Get Over Me\u201d sound like they could be about Ethan Slater.<\/p>\n SM: I think about how invested the press and public were in that relationship; it\u2019s hard not to look at it with that specific relationship top of mind.<\/p>\n A Blend of Sounds<\/p>\n SM: I also like how she brings all these old-timey sounds into the album too.<\/p>\n EG: The piano break!<\/p>\n SM: It feels like it\u2019s from a different time in some areas. And then there are other areas where the production is very modern. She does such a good job of incorporating these sounds that make it feel like a movie. I thought the ordering of the tracks was very important here in a way that I haven\u2019t necessarily felt with an Ari album before. I felt like it told the story from start to finish.<\/p>\n EG: There were a lot of minor-key sounds and chord progressions here that reminded me of \u201cImperfect for You.\u201d She\u2019s done it before, but she uses sound to help paint a picture. And the little bloops and blops from the beginning of \u201cHate That I Made You Love Me\u201d were a recurring trend; they\u2019re also at the end of \u201cBad Thing (Bunny Hop).\u201d So it\u2019s cinematic and storytelling even when it comes to the little accents.<\/p>\n The Message in the Lyrics<\/p>\n EG: I feel like it\u2019s expanding on \u201cYes, And?\u201d from the last album. That was her trying to be nonchalant about the criticism when it was still tolerable. But now that it\u2019s gotten out of hand, she\u2019s saying something that\u2019s bolder and stronger, more aggressive.<\/p>\n SM: Agree. I\u2019m curious if it\u2019s what fans want, because on the Eternal Sunshine Tour, the moments that I keep seeing going viral on social media are when she opts up in \u201cBreak Free\u201d or when she\u2019s popping off on \u201cDangerous Woman\u201d and giving these huge vocal moments, but this is not that. I just am very curious to see the reaction.<\/p>\n EG: I agree. But I feel like people might just obsess over the lyrics, just about what she\u2019s saying, because they\u2019re so bold at times. \u201cYou don\u2019t deserve me.\u201d \u201cI won\u2019t give you your fantasy this time.\u201d All these very straightforward and straight-up angry lyrics.<\/p>\n SM: I have this fear that it\u2019s going to go over people\u2019s heads, and they\u2019re going to be like, \u201cOh my God, she wrote this whole album about Ethan.\u201d Guys, I definitely think he\u2019s a player in this album. Don\u2019t get me wrong. But this is not about him. It\u2019s about us.<\/p>\n EG: \u201cThis play is about us.\u201d<\/p>\n SM: This play is literally about us. It\u2019s about our relationship with her, our relationship with her as a celebrity. I also think she\u2019s in a place where that also won\u2019t alienate fans. She\u2019s big enough to where she can make this kind of statement. But if she had made this album earlier in her career, I think it would\u2019ve been bombastic. It makes sense that this album is coming now after she has been heavily scrutinized.<\/p>\n \u201cNowhere, Nobody\u201d<\/p>\n SM: It was such a romantic number. I also thought it was the perfect ending to the album. I think there\u2019s a line in it that was like, \u201cWhat\u2019s the finale going to be?\u201d Or something like that, like, \u201cI don\u2019t know how this is going to end, but I want to live in this moment with you.\u201d As a lover boy, I do that a bunch. This album really spoke to me. My friends always make fun of me. I fall for a boy and they\u2019re like, \u201cRed flag, red flag, red flag.\u201d And I\u2019m like, \u201cWho cares? Let\u2019s go for it!\u201d Maybe I need to find my inner Ariana Grande and start to be more contemplative about those red flags.<\/p>\n EG: In \u201cStay,\u201d she was like, \u201cWill you make me safe this time?\u201d Or something like that. And I feel like she\u2019s being very vulnerable about her insecurities about being abandoned, which could apply to a romantic relationship or supporters or friends, \u201cindustry friends.\u201d Like, \u201cCan I really trust you?\u201d<\/p>\n Layered Harmonies<\/p>\n SM: I was here for it. I also thought there was a lot of very beautiful vocal layering. A lot of good harmony throughout. That was very beautiful and showed that, I really think, she\u2019s a musician first. She understands music and understands how to make it effectively. I get very mad that she has not received a lot of Grammy love in her time because I do think her writing is very strong and she knows how to produce a track, and she is the driving force behind her music. So it makes me very sad that Eternal Sunshine wasn\u2019t up for Album of the Year and things like that because I think her music deserves a lot more love, which again, as an Ari super fan, of course I think, but\u2014<\/p>\n EG: But it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n SM: It\u2019s upsetting to me that I feel like the wider industry still doesn\u2019t fully recognize her as this incredible musician when I think she takes a lot of techniques from pop, jazz, musical theater, and really combines them into these incredible songs.<\/p>\n Grande\u2019s Enunciation<\/p>\n SM: She got so much flack early on\u2014and kind of still does\u2014for her lack of enunciation. Do you think we had that problem again here? Sometimes in these songs, it was hard for me to understand what she was saying, which I think is so her and almost a hallmark of her music sometimes. But there were those kinds of more floaty vocal lines here.<\/p>\n EG: I felt like it was kind of like a return to self or a return to form, like the old Ari is back. Glinda\u2019s leaving her body…. I did catch one \u201cyuh!\u201d<\/p>\n SM: Where? I couldn\u2019t find one.<\/p>\n EG: It\u2019s in \u201cPetal.\u201d<\/p>\n SM: Oh, missed it. Damn it. Reject modernity, embrace tradition.<\/p>\n This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.<\/p>\n