Ariana Grande has always had a knack for letting listeners in on the intimacies of her life. Whether it be through penning a song after a famous fiance, calling out exes in an upbeat track about moving on, or crafting lyrics around the experience of being with someone while attempting to fall out of love with a different person, she is no stranger to the art of wearing her heart on her sleeve. After releasing two extremely personal and successful albums with Sweetener and thank u, next, which each followed different traumatic events in the singer’s young life, her newest album Positions is her most lowkey and peaceful yet. Casually announced on October 14th through a tweet and followed up with a single and video drop on October 23rd, the album is Grande’s sixth studio release and her first since February 2019.
The central theme of Positions seems centered on newness: new love, newfound self-confidence and new beginnings after parsing through the chaos of grief and heartbreak. No less intimate in terms of its contents than her previous albums, Positions take a tender approach, switching the focus onto the healing and retrospection that comes after the doors to the past start to close. This retrospection takes many forms, often contradictory in nature. But we can’t blame Grande for this– grief is often messy and contradictory, and grief is all over this tracklist. For an album that is about moving on, grief still manages to seep into the seams, especially on tracks about falling in love with someone new.
On the album opener shut up, Grande announces to the listener not to pity her for her past: “All them demons help me see shit differently / So don’t be sad for me”. She quips about her haters shutting up, doing vocal run after vocal run with ease. In the silly innuendo filled track 34+35, Grande ventures into playful territory. “If I put it quite plainly / Just gimme them babies” she exclaims with pure glee to her object of affection. There’s also a call back to Sweetener track R.E.M with the line “You such a dream come true, true / Make a bitch wanna hit snooze, ooh”. It is by far the funniest song on the album. Don’t get it twisted though; the lightheartedness of 34+35 is by no means a good indication of the mood of the rest of the album.
The designated dance track on the album is definitely motive featuring Doja Cat. This track has an understated beat and acts as a slower jam, but still begs for the listener to hit the light-up dancefloor and twirl under a disco ball. On the surface, the lyrics reveal a distrust, albeit flirtatious, for her new lover: “Cause I see you tryin’, subliminally tryin’ / To see if I’m gon’ be the one that’s in your arms / … / Tell me what’s your motive?” A closer read reveals a deeper sense of distrust for her own desires, as if her partner confirming his undying love for her will do anything to set her own feelings straight: “I admit it’s exciting, parts of me kinda like it / But before I lead you on / Tell me, what’s your motive?”. Listeners get the vibe that she’ll lead him on regardless of his motives. The song is sensual and oozing with sweaty self-sabotage on Grande’s part.
On just like magic, she croons airily about manifestation: “I get everything I want ‘cause I attract it”. On the following track off the table featuring The Weeknd, the central question is “Will I ever love the same way again?” The two vocalists go back and forth on whether love is something that is achievable for them given their pasts: “Will you be there? (Yes I will be there for you) / Can I still love you? (Yes, I been hurt before, before) / Not yet healed or ready (not ready)”. This asks: how can she get what she wants if she can’t accept these desires from others or for herself? just like magic features a startling line that reminds the listener of Grande’s past, recalling on her own publicly documented grief: “Take my pen and write some love letter to Heaven”. Throughout every track, her vocal talent shines through.
Grande gets introspective on her ability to love again and be enough for her lover on tracks like safety net featuring Ty Dolla $ign, obvious, west side and six-thirty. None of these tracks stand out on the album as they bleed in and out of each other stylistically and sonically. The true bangers come in the moments when Grande puts her doubts on pause to indulge in her new love and lets her guard down. my hair is a sensual, old-school style R&B bop about letting someone pass over a threshold into new territory, as seen through letting her lover run his fingers through her hair. “This ain’t usually me (Usually me) / But I might let it down for ya / So run your hands through my hair”. Another fun track is love language, where Grande flirtatiously posits that “If you’re gonna keep speaking my love language / You can talk your shit all night”. It’s funky and groovy and begs the listener to slide onto a metaphorical dancefloor.
The remainder of the songs on the album are enjoyable enough. positions is fun and poppy (and will surely spawn a TikTok trend at some point), while nasty is the “serious” sex song counterpart to 34+35. Each does great things for Grande’s vocals, but none showcase her at her best quite like pov.
If you leave this review with the intrigue to listen to any song, make it pov. This track is overflowing with both an appreciation and awe for the way Grande’s new lover shows her love, and feels like akin to former album standouts like goodnight n go from Sweetener and ghostin from thank u, next. It showcases the best vocal performance on the entire album (besides the whistle note verse on my hair, although an argument can be made for the gratuitousness of such a vocal delivery). The track is touching, asking a question many have wondered quietly to themselves before: how does the person I love most see me? It’s a stunning conclusion to the album because it solidifies Grande’s progress towards loving again and ultimately loving herself as well. “I wanna love me / The way that you love me / … / I wanna trust me / The way that you trust me / … / I’d love to see me from your point of view”.
The central takeaway from the album is perfectly summarized in this line from the song, sung quietly but powerfully, as many of the hardest hitting lines on Positions are: “I’m getting used to receiving / Still getting good at not leaving / I’ma love you even though I’m scared / Learnin’ to be grateful for myself”.
This album is Ariana Grande’s quietest, but this quiet fits in with the general theme of 2020 – we get thrown off track and eventually have to find a way back to those we love and to ourselves. As pov finishes, the listener may get the sense as I did that Grande has found her way back to those and is inviting us to do the same. Positions is the delicate, healing album we all deserve to close out this ferocious year. You can listen to it here.