With Positions having been released on Oct. 30, 2020, Ariana Grande fans have long been awaiting new music from the artist. Finally, in the coming days, Grande will be making her return to music with the release of her seventh studio album, Eternal Sunshine. Here’s everything you need to know before it drops!
Release Date
Eternal Sunshine will be available on all streaming services starting March 8. While the 13-song tracklist has been revealed, the 30-year-old singer plans on withholding any upcoming singles until the album has been listened to by her fans.
Tracklist
Throughout February, Grande has been teasing the titles of songs off her album on her Instagram stories. However, on Feb. 27, she made an official post that compiled the songs that rounded out the album. She even surprised her fans with a feature from her 98-year-old grandma, Marjorie Grande, whom she and her fans affectionately refer to as Nonna. The full tracklist is included below.
- “intro (end of the world)”
- “bye”
- “don’t wanna break up again”
- “Saturn Returns Interlude”
- “eternal sunshine”
- “supernatural”
- “true story”
- “the boy is mine”
- “yes, and?”
- “we can’t be friends (wait for your love)”
- “i wish i hated you”
- “imperfect for you”
- “ordinary things” (feat. Nonna)
Singles
On Jan. 12, Grande released the ninth track of the album, “yes, and?”, as its first single to great acclaim. Sonically, the song is akin to Madonna’s 1990 hit “Vogue.” However, the music video draws from Paula Abdul’s 1989 music video for her song “Cold Hearted.” Drawing from two of the most successful women in pop music, Grande’s song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. With that being said, the “7 rings” singer stated that she will not be releasing any more singles prior to March 8.
Taking to Instagram on Feb. 5, she wrote, “my loves ♡ we are a little over a month away from Eternal Sunshine and I don’t think it’s possible to articulate how grateful I am for your love, support and excitement! I wanted to say . . . as hard as it is to resist the urge to share another song or single with you all asap, I would really love for you to experience the album in full this time. There will of course be more singles off of this project once it is out (and we may have a little surprise or two up our sleeves to hold you over until then so don’t you worry) but waiting a little longer for you to be able to listen fully through first really is my ideal way for you all to experience this body of work.”
Inspiration
When coming up with a name for her seventh album, Grande drew inspiration from the movie Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. The movie deals with the peace one may feel when painful memories of past relationships are erased. While comforting at first, the film explores how important it is for people to have negative experiences in their lives to grow as a person.
While some believe the premise of the movie aligns with the emotions she felt after separating from her ex-husband, Dalton Gomez, other eagle-eyed fans are suggesting there’s a double meaning to the title. Late rapper Mac Miller — who Grande dated from 2016 to 2018 — said in a 2013 interview, “I love Jim Carrey when he’s being serious. He killed this role. Whenever I’m talking to a girl, I always tell them to watch Eternal Sunshine. It cuts deep.” It’s theorized that Grande is paying homage and keeping the legacy of her former boyfriend and best friend alive through her music.
feb. 26 Appearance on Zach Sang Show
On Feb. 26, famous podcaster and internet personality Zach Sang uploaded an interview he conducted with Grande to his YouTube channel, Zach Sang Show. The 41-minute video covered new, exclusive information on Eternal Sunshine that shocked fans of the singer. From talking about the feelings that she experienced while recording the songs to explaining how the album came to fruition, here are some of the most important details from the interview.
When discussing the emotions she experienced while crafting the album — theorized to have stemmed from her divorce from Dalton Gomez in 2023 — Grande expressed to Sang, “The loss and grief that you hear on some of the album, some of the heartbreak stuff, there was so much love and transparency. That was something I really wanted to make sure was captured, wasn’t like a ‘f**k you’ at all and ever. Even track number two, I tried to make sure it was kind and giving credit for trying and for the goodness that there was. So, that was a tricky balance for me because I definitely had some sessions where I was writing more emotionally and reactively. But that’s also very human, so I didn’t want to erase all of it.”
The announcement of the album came as a surprise to many because Grande originally claimed that she wouldn’t release a new album until filming wrapped on Wicked, a two-part movie she’s co-starring in with Cynthia Erivo. However, with the SAG-AFTRA and WAG strikes putting a pause on the filming of Wicked, Grande had some spare time on her hands. During the break, she had the opportunity to meet up with Max Martin, the man who produced some of her biggest hits, such as “Bang Bang,” “Break Free,” and “Into You.”
Grande told Sang, “It all just kind of started pouring out, and after our first week together, I kept coming to the studio every day by myself. It just kinda kept organically happening that way, so I just decided to react and listen to that. I thought maybe it should come out if it’s coming out of me this way. Maybe it should be shared this way.”
With the impending release of the highly anticipated album just around the corner, this spring will be sure to bring eternal sunshine to Arianators worldwide!
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