Ariana Grande’s Eternal Sunshine was an immediate success. Debuting at number one on the Billboard 200 chart, Grande’s seventh album received almost 200 million streams in under a week. Now, a little over a year later, her release of Brighter Days Ahead has only amplified the album’s aura.
For the post-Wicked Arianators, let’s revisit the history of Eternal Sunshine: a play on words of the film, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. This film, dubbed as one of Grande’s favorites, portrays actors Jim Carrey and Kate Winslet having a medicinal procedure to remove each other from their memories.
Okay. Very meta, Ari.
Societally, we see Eternal Sunshine as a farewell to her former husband, Dalton Gomez, and the resignation she felt as she left him and moved on to a new chapter of her life. We have seen the press attack Ari’s look, personality, acting, and love life, and praise her singing, drive, style, and dedication through her Wicked press tour. Seriously, do we think that’s necessary right after she came out of a marriage?
Anyway, through the tribulations of Eternal Sunshine, Wicked Part One, and the whole Ethan Slater debacle, there was no expectation of Ari to drop a deluxe edition of her album- I guess 2024 really was a decade, because I feel like ES dropped ten years ago.
In Brighter Days Ahead, Grande released five new songs: intro (end of the world) [extended], twilight zone, warm, dandelion, past life, and Hampstead, as well as a 29-minute short film to accompany.
The film serves as a reprise to her music video for “we can’t be friends”, and uses childhood videos of Ariana, as well as old-age makeup. However, in this film, Peaches (or Ariana) is going to Brighter Days Inc. to get her memory restored of the man she once loved.
Whether this album is about Dalton Gomez, Mac Miller, or Ethan Slater, we see Ariana find herself in this album. Working through her dream show, press attacks, a divorce, and rumors of cheating, she clapped back with new tracks and a film that defended not only her honor, but her character: fueling rumors that Dalton broke her heart first.
Eternal Sunshine: Brighter Days Ahead really does fall true to its name: through all of the strife through the year, Ariana reminds us that better days are coming- we just have to see the sun come up.
You can stream Eternal Sunshine: Brighter Days Ahead on Spotify and Apple Music.