Sweetener (Ariana Grande)

EN “Sweetener” is the fourth studio album by American singer Ariana Grande, released on August 17, 2018 (it turned 3 years old yesterday!), by Republic Records. The album addresses themes such as romance, unhealthy relationships, femininity, anxiety and perseverance in the face of adversity. The disc features tracks in various genres, such as pop, R&B and trap, incorporating elements of house, funk, neo-soul and hip-hop, consisting mainly of uptempo melodies and downtempo ballads.

The album was released through three singles, the first choice being the track “No Tears Left to Cry", released on April 20, 2018. Written and produced by Ariana Grande, Max Martin, Savan Kotecha and Ilya Salmanzadeh it was more than obvious that a pop track would be coming from this team, continuing on an identical sound from some tracks on “Dangerous Woman”, which already had tracks produced by the same team. After the terrorist attack in Manchester, the artist wanted her first single since the shooting to be full of hope and address the incident, but not dwell on it. She added:

"I want it to be positive and talk about positivity and love. I don't have any tears left to cry.".

The second single was “God is a Woman”, another production of the previous team but this time also with Rickard Göransson in the mix, giving rise to another pop anthem, which intends to exalt women and their power. Initially the track would not be for Ariana, with the initial choice being the singer Camila Cabello, but it was eventually discarded, referring that the track did not seem suitable for her, and the demo version ended up leaking online. The track is full of small details, a hypnotic beat and some electronic screams, in which Ariana harmonizes with herself to draw listeners into the world she created for three and a half minutes. Finally, the third single was the track “Breathin”, another production by Savan Kotecha and Ilya Salmanzadeh, and this time with the help of Peter Svensson. It is without a doubt one of my favorite tracks on the album and is simply angelic and, as the title indicates, addresses the fact that breathing can help with the anxiety and is based on Ariana's personal experience. In addition, the video for the track has some funny details, that is, there is a signal where the words "Needy", "Remember" and "Imagine" are displayed, which would be the song titles of her fifth studio album " Thank U, Next” - however "Remember" was removed from the final track list and replaced with "Break Up with Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored".

The album also has some curiosities such as the track “R.E.M.” which was previously recorded by Beyoncé, with its demo version being leaked online some months after the release of Ariana’s album, but Beyoncé also felt that it didn't fit well with her project, and ended up rejecting it. Another curiosity is related to the track “pete davidson”, which as the name implies, was recorded for her lover at that time, where the word “happy” is repeated 22 times in just over a minute. Finally, with “Goodnight N Go", the artist uses a sample of the original Imogen Heap’s song as part of an original arrangement, but with extra harmonies and different musical structures, with a new verse written by Ariana.

Many criticized the compositions of Pharrell Williams, who would be the executive producer of the project, thinking they were dated, even compared to the compositions of “Hard Candy” (2008) by Madonna, and possibly this was one of the reasons for none of his compositions being chosen as a single, taking into account that Ariana wrote 10 of the 15 tracks in the project, with the other 5 being in charge of Pharrell. “Sweetener” ends with "Get Well Soon", the kind of self-help soul ballad you'd expect to complete a piece, just like Beyoncé usually does in her projects. Anyone who knows how gracefully Ariana handled the gruesome events at the Manchester show will recognize an equally graceful response to her own emotional consequences in this song. And it is here, after four albums, that the true variations of her voice and, by extension, of herself, flourish.

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