To preface, this is an album review coming from a 10-year fan of Ariana, prepare for some bias but also a dive into what is to me, her best album yet, as well as the current album of the year (so far!). I bought hardcopies of all her albums, attended her concerts, and have her as an answer to a majority of security questions for various things (please do not hack me).
The album eternal sunshine comes from her love of the 2004 movie, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, which follows two lovers attempting to grieve their breakup by erasing their memories of each other and follows the highs and lows of the relationship. This reference by many is no shock due to the news of her divorce last summer and the media frenzy of her current relationship. It is a unique choice to create an online dogpile of hate for Grande for a grown man’s choices and conceptualized narrative, but that is a topic for a different time. Many fans speculate that her film references in the music refer to the grieving of her divorce through groovy tones that capture the love, hate, and yearning for perfect and attainable love. As a long-time fan, it captures emotions Grande never had, and dives deep into a personal love letter to the people around her, with vast emotions and humanity perfectly captured.
The album starts with “intro (end of the world), which questions, “How do I know if I am in the right relationship?.” The intro captures the feelings of uncertainty with a partner, layered with chilling harmonies that make it a classic intro track. It captures the vibe of the album in a beautiful way, which leads into the second track, “bye,” which is polarizing in its groovy tune and optimistic lyrics. This captures the immediate aftermath of a lost relationship. With no more effort to give, she packs her stuff and commemorates her strength to leave something that is simply not working. It is a strong dance track that can get people dancing, and even relating to the lyrical content.
We enter a more remorseful place with “don’t wanna break up,” where Grande seems to open up about emotional abandonment from her partner. This breathy high chorus stands out as a very transparent track, with a beautiful bridge capturing the highs of a broken relationship. This leads to the “Saturn Returns Interlude,” which is an excerpt of an astrologer that reflects Grande’s desire to figure out her life, both romantically and personally. It fades into a beautiful transition of the title track, “eternal sunshine,” a trap-infused anthem of moving on, but turning back to the past. This track captures the cyclical thoughts of moving on from something that was not working, but racking your brain to what could have been, and what that person is currently doing, wondering all of it. This track is reminiscent of her previous albums, 2019’s “thank u, next” and 2020’s “positions”, but elevated in terms of lyrical wordplay and content.
The song “supernatural” is where the album starts to take a term, towards embracing her sexually confident side that packs a punch of variety within the album. Her voice is elevated and collected on this track, as her belts are tasteful, and her voice used as an instrument brings it to the next level. It fades into “true story,” a concept song of taking the role of the villain, which many see as a cheeky play to her current place in the media. I personally see it as one of the album’s highlights, as well as the next track, “the boy is mine.” This is a track I think Grande is aware that her fans want from her, as her infamous leaked track “Fantasize” took over TikTok, where this is a reimagined version. The tempo changes, the variety between the crisp high and low notes, make it a formulaic Grande hit.
This mega track goes into “yes, and?”, her lead single from the era, a house-inspired banger about putting your best foot forward, and the world on mute. This being the first taste of eternal sunshine had people gasping over the bridge, which seems to be the defining moment of her addressing people hunching over her personal business. This confident banger goes into what is her second single, “we can’t be friends (wait for your love),” a heartbreak anthem of a catchy beat and stunning lyrical content. These lyrics can be applied in so many ways, whether it is a relationship that her video starring Evan Peters captures the movie she is conceptualizing or her relationship to the media. “You cling to your papers and pens, wait until you like me again,” leaving it up to a personal relationship with the song for fans, a crying dance anthem.
The dancing is cut off by the gut wrenching “i wish i hated you” which I personally deem her most mature song to date, wanting to hate a partner to make it easier to grieve, but their love overpowering. The sparkling instrumental makes it an emotional punch, as her voice cracking on the final chorus was enough for me to bawl. The second last song, “imperfect for you,” captures her most unique song to date, a trippy chorus of her deeper notes of her voice shining. A career highlight that that daunts some of her creative penned lyrics, flowing perfectly into her closer, “ordinary things” featuring her Nonna. This track is gorgeous, but the highlight is in the closing voice memo from her Nonna, that answers the question she starts the album with, knowing when the relationship is not right, when to leave.
Although we are nearing a week from its release from the point of writing, eternal sunshine is a glorious career highlight, an album that captures so many so many emotions, and her lyrically strongest work. I personally believe it will go down as her best work, the highs are extremely high, and the lows do not really exist. It is a concise concept album, sitting around 35 minutes, for many would be too short, but personally wraps up the current musical concept of her life. You can dance, you can cry, and you can relate, what else would you want in an album by arguably the best vocalist of the generation? For me, I am more than grateful to have anything from the singer-songwriter, but a self-produced body of work that is arguably the year’s best album (so far) surpasses any expectation I had.