Ariana Grande’s eighth studio album, Petal, was released during this summer and while she was on her Eternal Sunshine tour. The album received a lot of mixed reviews, but on my side of the internet, they were all positive reviews. It was criticized for being so different from her “usual” albums, but I thought that was the best part of it. It really showed a lot of her vulnerability, more than usual, and this was potentially the most information that she has ever given to us as listeners about what she’s thinking of and going through. The amount of growth she has been through thus far and resilience that she’s had to embrace through years of hate and comments from the media really showed on her tour and through this album. Which is why I believe Petal has been coined an album of fall.Â
Recently I’ve been seeing a lot of social media posts on fall being a time to re-invent, reflect, and grow. Ariana does some on this album, quite literally comparing herself to a flower blooming out of the pavement (that has been the visuals for this album). She goes into acceptance, romance, her own feelings, taking risks, and going on her own path versus doing what someone is telling her to do. Which can’t be easy to do, and Petal has inspired so many people online to realize the growth they have gone through and how much they were able to accomplish. The song “Oh Well” is a popular audio with her lyrics, “Let’s see who I can be without you.” And being that Ariana Grande is someone that I have been listening to since childhood, along with many other people, it is very inspiring to see her be this free and emotional, while inspiring other people. It’s also very empowering, which is important getting into the latter half of the year. Maybe it wasn’t a great year, maybe hard things happened, but you still have the rest of the year to make it better. You can still work on yourself and start fresh, just as if you were starting in January. Just because it’s October, it doesn’t mean you can’t start your journey of self-love, romance, reaching new goals, or taking chances.Â
I think the four songs in Petal that are fall coded are “Petal,” “Oh Well,” “Bad Thing (Bunny Hop),” and “Nowhere, Nobody.”Â
1. “Petal”
“Petal” of course being the first choice as it is also the name of the album. But this is the third song in the album, right after her very popular “Hate That I Made You Love Me”, which was released early to the album dropping. “Petal” at first was kind of odd to me, but as I kept listening to it, I fell in love with it. I think a good way to actually review and figure out the meaning of an album is to give the album at least three listen throughs and read the lyrics while listening. I did that for the entire album, and “Petal” really dived into that resilience that Ariana had to embrace and how despite any hardships, she still got through it and is still loving life. She also goes into rejecting those tropes that are pushed onto artists that their music will only be of real value or “worth listening to” if they go through some kind of tragedy or heartbreak all the time (which isn’t true). In the song and highlighted in the music video as well, is the music industry and how that life takes a toll, along with the exposure to rumors and comments, and how you still have to carry on. Which I’m sure a lot of people can relate to whether in the music industry or not.Â
2. “Oh Well”
“Oh Well” goes into shifting from an established dependency to self-reliance and growing out of toxic relationships. Saying “oh well” in this song to emotionally separate herself and saying it in a way that’s a lot drier and less kind than sarcasm, which is an important distinction because it’s walking away from something without being bitter. Then going into how she’s continuing to grow, “Can’t stop growing / So away from you” and starting to depend on herself, “I’ll meet my own needs / Though you’ve been trying to.” Ariana is showing exactly what happens when you realize that you’re trying to keep something going that’s not working anymore and start making those important shifts, especially for yourself. Which is where the popular social media trend previously mentioned started with the lyric, “Let’s see who I can be without you,” showcasing someone going through a difficult time or out of a hard relationship, then all of the growth and positive things that came out of that.Â
3. “Bad Thing (Bunny Hop)”
“Bad Thing (Bunny Hop)” may be one of my favorites from the album. Even though it’s fall and we tend to go into the slower songs and softer moods, you need that bit of whimsy still. And that is where this song comes in. This song is very upbeat and dives into themes of love: rediscovering it but also some speculation that it’s about her boyfriend, Ricky, who Ariana was in a relationship with previously in her “Dangerous Woman” era back in 2016. Hence the name “Bunny Hop”, potentially referencing the bunny years she wore. It’s a good song to dance to, shows that lightheartedness in an early love, and opening up about the risks of going into this new (but not entirely new) relationship.Â
4. “Nowhere, Nobody”
Then the best for last, in this article but also in the album as Ariana closes out Petal with “Nowhere, Nobody.” She started off the song with “Hard to believe in a perfect ending” but I think this song ended the album perfectly. It slowed everything down, which I think could be applied to life, making it a priority to go slow and be present as much as you can and aware, “I don’t care about tomorrow / I love you right now.” This was another song about relationships but more on the reality and acceptance of one, that relationships aren’t perfect and they may or may not work out, which is okay. A relationship is not supposed to be easy and she accepts that because that is something she truly wants. Even the journey is unknown and nobody knows what’s going to happen, it just matters that they go through the known and unknown together: “Then there’s nowhere, nobody else that I’d rather be with.”
Whether you’re in the middle of your journey of healing, self-love, resilience, or not, Petal is a great album to listen to as it turns to fall. It symbolizes a lot of what fall represents: letting go, change, reflection, and rest. Not only do you get an album to reflect on, you can reflect with it, and maybe get some new songs to add to your playlist out of it as well.